Fracture Mechanics of Concrete Structures

Proceedings FRAMCOS-3
AEDIFICATIO Publishers, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany

SIZE EFFECTS OF REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS

IN SHEAR

B. H. Oh, S. J. Jeon, K. 0. Hong,

Department of Civil Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul,
Korea
D. B. Kim,
Department of Civil Engineering, Ansung National University,
Kyungki-do, Korea

Abstract
The theory of fracture mechanics enables to deal with the size
effect problem more rationally. Some studies on the shear
behavior of concrete beam exist. However, it is very difficult to
find comprehensive experimental studies on the size effect of
reinforced concrete beams.
The purpose of the present study is to explore more
realistically the size effect of reinforced concrete beam under shear
loading. To this end, a series of tests have been conducted, and
the major test variables are the relative depth of beam, shear
reinforcement ratio, and longitudinal reinforcement ratio. The test
results indicate that the size effect is never small and exhibit
rather large effect. A size effect formula is derived to predict the
shear resistance of reinforced concrete beam. The proposed
formula shows good correlation with experimental data. '_[he
present study indicates that less size effect is observed for
moderately reinforced concrete beam.
Key words : size effect, shear, reinforced concrete

2075
I Introduction

The size effect of reinforced concrete beam in shear has been

studied by several researchers(Bazant and Sun).
In regard to the size effect of shear, several formulas have
been proposed and some of which are derived by dimensional
analysis and similitude arguments from simplifying assumption,
namely that energy loss due to cracking is a function of both the
fracture length and the area of the cracking zone which is
assumed to have a constant width at its front, proportional to the
maximum aggregate size(Bazant and Oh).
The present study focuses on the size effect of reinforced
concrete beam in shear. To this end, a comprehensive experimental
study has been conducted. The test result is analyzed and a
prediction formula derived.

2 Test procedure

2.1 Major parameters of experiments

Major experimental variables are the effective depth(size) of the
beam(d), longitudinal reinforcement ratio(p), and shear
reinforcement ratio (Pv).
The test specimens have compressive strength of 280 kg/cm2 (28
MPa), maximum aggregate size(da) of 25mm, and W/C ratio of
43%, respectively. The specimen is three-point loaded by Material
Testing System(MTS).

2.2 Design and fabrication of test specimens

The dimensions and details of test specimens are shown in Tables
1 and 2. The longitudinal reinforcement ratio .P is varied from
zero to Pmax by zero, Pmm(200/fy, where fy in psi), 0.5Pmax, PmaxC0.75.P
b, where Pb is balanced reinforcement ratio}.
The shear reinforcement ratio Pv defined by Av/bs, where Av is
area of one stirrup, b is width of the member, and s is spacing of
stirrups, is appropriately increased according to the increase of .P.

2076
 Table 1. Dimensions of test specimens

Effective
Type of Length(L) Span(S) Width(b) Height(h)
Depth(d)
Specimen (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm)
(cm)
A 90 80 20 10 13
B 180 160 20 20 25
c 260 240 20 30 35
D 340 320 20 40 45
Shear span(a/d) is 4 for all specimens

Table 2. Details of test specimens

Longitudinal Shear Effective

Specimen
Reinforcement Reinforcement Depth(d)
Index
Ratio(p) Ratio(Pv) (cm)
RODlO 10
ROD20 20
0 0
ROD30 30
ROD40 40
RlDlO 10
RlD20 20
Pmin 0.00150
RlD30 30
R1D40 40
R2D10 10
R2D20 20
0.5Pmax 0.00194
R2D30 30
R2D40 40
R3Dl0 10
R3D20 20
Pmax 0.00301
R3D30 30
R3D40 40

2077
3 Test results

To observe the size effect experimentally in shear behavior of

reinforced concrete beam, the logarithmic value of relative shear,
log(V max/V n), and relative beam depth, log(d/da), are plotted
according to each steel ratio as shown in Fig. 1. The V max is the
measured maximum shear force and V n is the nominal shear
strength based on design code described below.
Fig. 1 indicates that the size effect is greatly observed. Fig. 2
shows that the normally reinforced beam(p=0.5Pmax) exhibits less
size effect than other members .

.2 .2
I
P=O p= Pmin
0 0
c c
;;;:... -.2 ;;.... -.2 '-

>< >< ........... r--...

0#
E -.4 e -.4 -......__
c c
s:
ClJ
-.6

-.8
.7
-
i
.9
-- !-----,r--..
1.1 1.3 1.5
ClJ
..s -.6

-.8
.7 .9 1.1
~L

1.3
-

1.5
log(d I d 3 ) log(d Ida)

.2 .2

0 0
c
;;.... -.2
... ... - c
;;.... -.2
><
5 -.4
--5 ><
-.4
c ClJ
cCl!
..=: -.6 ..s -.6
P=0.5 Pmax P= P ax
-.8 -.8
.7 .9 1.1 1.3 1.5 .7 .9 1.1 1.3 1.5
log(d I d 3 ) log(d Ida)

Fig. 1. Test results on the size effect of RC beams

in shear for various steel ratios

2078
 0.2

-
?:.=
0

-0.2
:;..:
Co::I

>s
,,_. -0.4
OJ)
0
~ -0.6

-0.8
0.7 0.9 1.1 1.3 1.5

Log( did a)

Fig. 2. Comparison of test results in shear

4 Theoretical prediction formula for size effect in shear

The size effect formula in shear strength of reinforced concrete

beams can be written as follows.

ao ) (1)
V max -
v.( Y d
l + A.oda
where,
Vn Ve+ Vs (2)

As} yd
Vs (3)
s
Ve (0.50~ + 176 PVud )bd {kg) (4)
Mu

In Egn (1), V max is ultimate shear strength at failure, and V c is

shear strength of concrete given by ACI and KSCE codes. The
coefficients ao and Ao are functions of the longitudinal
reinforcement ratio P, shear reinforcement ratio Pv, and can be
assumed as follows.

2079
 «o (5)

(6)

From the measured values of test members, the values of Go

and in each longitudinal and shear reinforcement ratio can be
as the points in Fig. 3 and 4. Then, the unknowns in
and (6) can be determinded by the regression of P/Pv, Go

ao =J0.484 + 0.0721 P/Pv)

0-'--~--"~~--'-~~-'-~~.-J.._~----J

0 2 4 6 8 10
P/Pv
3.

2
+ 0.329( PIR )- .0203( PIR)

2 4 6 8 10
P/Pv
4.

2080
 To compare the test results with other studies, we define
nominal shear strength as conventional form in which same
the steel contribution, based on the 45° Truss Model is
different V c, the concrete contribution, is used on each
study.
The shear strength equation proposed by Bazant, and
Pfeiffer 1s,

t .~
V c = [6 .5 P ( Vf c, +
.I -e
3000y (a/d)5
) I
V1 +
+ vd/25da
o.2/da 1
bd

The shear strength equation proposed by Bazant and

0 1 + v0.2/da
Vcvl + 25(l+pv/Po)da
Ve V chd (lb)
where,

v~ 6.5p1 <v'f.:' + 3000V <a!d)5 )

_L = a 0 [1 + tanh(2 da 5 .6)]
Po

The proposed formula in this study shows good correlation with

test data and especially matches well in the case of P equal to
max(0.75Pb). However, other formulas show some deviation from test
data.

5 Conclusion

The shear tests have been conducted in three point

condition to study the size effect of reinforced concrete in
shear. The major test variables are the effective depth of the
beam(d), longitudinal reinforcement ratio(p), and
reinforcement ratio(Pv). The size effect formula for the
resistance of reinforced concrete beams is derived and
with test data as well as other studies. The proposed formulas
show relatively good agreement with test data. The present
indicates that the size effect is generally pronounced in shear of
reinforced concrete beam and the effect is little bit less
moderately reinforced concrete beams.

2081
 -.4-~--.....----...,..---....----. -.1 ...----.....----...-----...,..------.
P=O

~
s"" E
~ -.g
.£
*-+- test data
proposed eq.
C
~ -.5 +
*test data
proposed eq. •--r-~~---=---.,.----;
Bazant, Kini
-fllf- -II- Bazant, Kim X
+ Bazant, Sun • Bazant, Sun
-+- Zutty -+-_ Zutty
-1--L------'--~--'-----' -. 7_....._ _ ___.__..__ _..__ ___.
.7 .9 l.l 1.3 1.5 .7 .9 1.1 1.3 1.5
log(d I d 3 ) log(d I d 3 )

.2-r----..,.----,----,------.

.1 - - t - - - - t - = " " " " " ' " ' : - - - t - - - - t - -

o-.-----+----+--~ ~-a--,------,

><
><
"'
~ *test data C
El
*test data
~ -.2 -+- pmposed eq. eJJ -.2 +proposed eq.t----+------+----~
-ill- Bazant, Kim .£ -IR- Bazant, Kim
+ Bazant, Sun -.3 • Bazant, Sun 1-----+------t-----1
--+- Zutty -+- Zutty
-.4 __..____ _ _ __.~_.__ _ __.___ __, -.4 ~---__.__..__ _ _..___ __.
.7 .9 l.l 1.3 1.5 .7 .9 1.3 1.5
log(d Ida)

Fig. 5. Comparison of proposed formula with other studies

6 References

Bazant, Z.P ., Kim, J .K. and Pfeiffer, P.A. (1986) Determination of

properties from size effect test, Journal of Structural
Engineering, ASCE, 112, 2, 289-307.

Bazant, Z.P. and Oh, B.H. (1983) Crack band theory in fracture of
concrete, Materials and Structures, 16, 93, 155-177.

Bazant, Z.P. and Sun, H.H. (1987) Size effett in diagonal shear
failure influence of aggregate size and stirrups, ACI
Material Journal, 84, 4, 259-272.

Oh, B.H. (1984) Nonlinear fracture analysis of concrete

structures, KSCE Journal, 4, 4, 1-11.

2082