Shear Strength of Reinforced Concrete Beams Without Stirrups

The shear strength of reinforced concrete beams is related to the shear capacity of concrete, concrete compressive strength, tension reinforcement ratio, shear span to depth (a/d) ratio and size effect or depth factor. This study presents experimental work to investigate the shear strength of longitudinally reinforced concrete beams without stirrups of varying shear span to depth ratio under 2-point loading. A total of 3 RC beams are casted with 2T12 bottom steel reinforcement without any internal stirrups. A constant shear force is loaded throughout the shear span. Parameters such as concrete grade, ratio of tension reinforcement, size effect factor and aggregate interlock aspects are kept constant. The 3 beams with a/d ratio of 2.5, 3.0 and 4.0 failed at a load of 23.44 kN, 20.265 kN and 18.145 kN respectively.