Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Department of Transport
Crown Copyright 1991. The views expressed in this Report are not necessarily those of the Department of
Transport. Extracts from the text may be reproduced, except for commercial purposes, provided the source
is acknowledged.
Bridges Division
Structures Group
Transport and Road Research Laboratory
Crowthorne, Berkshire, RG11 6AU
1991
ISSN 0266-5247
Ownership of the Transport Research
Laboratory was transferred from the
Department of Transport to a subsidiary of
the Transport Research Foundation on 1st
April 1996.
Page Page
1.2 Shear strength and requirement for links 1 6.1 Basis of calculations 19
The contractor elected to demolish the main spans by The beams contained no reinforcement in the webs
breaking out the beams in units of three joined together except for a small amount in the end block regions. The
by the top slab and transverse prestressing. This natu- provision for interfacial shear between the beams and the
rally caused impact damage to the top and bottom edges slab was between one and three 12.7mm diameter round
of the outer beams, but the middle beam remained in bars bent into the shape of a saw-tooth (see Figure 2).
good condition. To recover the middle beam intact for
2
=:
-- L~
~ - = ~L.~
rain 5.2m ~sS,, '
8.1m 16.1m 8.1m I"/T ' - - T t "1
It
It " \\
/
rL t~ II
II " \\
,, ~
~----%
I I
r/-:'-'~
I I
~rnn~ ~n~7~
II li li III I II
U UU U I,.l U
Elevation
I~ 7.3m carriageway -- I
Section A-A
Motorway (~
10.3m overall w i d t h
Section B-B
r
A
//% /A~ ~ ~
V V ~ V V V
J
12.7mm diameter I 1
II II
• , •
I I
V~ LB
Part e l e v a t i o n o f long beam
• 470
Sawtooth reinforcement
i
reduces to 2 bars at " 254
distance 3.9m from end
470 and to 1 bar at 6.3m
i~ ~i
i oo !
15O
t
-t
t
32 5x311 32 i -5
452
C:O
52 No. pre-stressing
wires,CP7
95~ 19 44
t I 19
I t
1 !
4
Beam length 8 5 0 0
I I
II
I
II
I
,2.7~m 0,a~e,er I I Jl
1 I
470
Sawtooth reinforcement
reduces to 2 bars 2 . 8 m
f r o m end
~ 470
J ° ° I !
~ -."
J,ii,t
381
4xt ~o m
L~
Lo
4
76
51 19
f !
3 8 19
t t
Fig.2bDetails of beams
5
The long beams had eleven holes along their length for It is important to note that the design standards assume
transverse prestressing. For the tests, the transverse that:
wires and diaphragms were removed, and the holes
refilled with flowing mortar. Load positions were selected the limit of resistance of the concrete section is
for the shear tests so that the principal bending cracks reached when inclined cracks occur.
avoided the hole positions in areas of high shear. The
short beams contained six similar transverse holes which Any margin of resistance present in the concrete section
were treated in the same way. after cracking is ignored. To find the total strength of the
section, the resistance of any links provided above the
minimum requirement is taken into account by simple
addition to the concrete cracking resistance.
3 DESIGN RULES FOR SHEAR The method of calculation for design has remained
substantially the same since it was first adopted in
3.1 GENERAL PRINCIPLES CP 110:1972 (BSI, 1972). The origins are given in a
report by Reynolds et al (1974). Prior to that,
BS 5400: Part 4 requires two primary modes of shear CP 115:1959 (BSI, 1959) dealt with regions uncracked in
failure to be considered in the design of prestressed flexure by limiting the principle tensile stress, and gave a
beams. These are denoted by the symbols Vco and Vcr warning, but no specific guidance, about the shear
where: resistance of cracked sections.
VcoiS the ultimate shear resistance of a section that is The original data used to derive the method adopted by
uncracked in flexure; and CP 110 was obtained in the University of Illinois and first
reported in the period 1959 to 1961 (Sozen and Hawkins,
Vcr is the ultimate shear resistance of a section that is 1962). In that test series, 190 beams were tested to
cracked in flexure. failure. Hicks (1958) carried out a much smaller pro-
gramme at the Imperial College of Science and Technol-
For a beam of constant cross-section (including prestress ogy, London, but made similar observations about the
and reinforcement) the Vco resistance is constant and dependence of shear failure on shear span.
governs at short shear spans. Vcr reduces as the shear
span is increased and governs at larger shear spans.
3.2 SHEAR RESISTANCE WITHOUT
In addition, there is a limit placed on the maximum shear SHEAR LINKS
force to prevent crushing of the web, and a further
provision for shear within the transmission length. For The resistance of a section without shear links cannot be
flanged beams there is a requirement to check longitudi- calculated according to BS 5400: Part 4 because such
nal shear on any potentially weak planes. In composite sections are not permitted. However, the situation
beams, such as the ones tested in this series, longitudi- becomes clearer if reference is made to the literature, or
nal shear has to be checked at the interface between the the original edition of BS 5400: Part 4, published in 1978.
in-situ slab and the prestressed beam. This adopted a slightly different approach with respect to
shear steel.
The principles for calculating Vco and Vcr are the same as
those used in BS 8110 (BSI, 1985), although there are Clause 7.3.4.3 of that code permitted the use of pre-
some differences of detail. Figure 3, taken from the stressed beams without shear reinforcement in three
Handbook to BS 8110 (Rowe et al, 1987) shows dia- situations:
grammatically the generally accepted form of failure in
each mode. a) where the applied shear force at ultimate load, V,
was less than 0.5Vc; V c being the resistance of the
concrete section alone;
I'
is the breadth of the member which for T, I and L fpt is the stress due to the prestress at the tensile fibre
beams should be replaced by the breadth of the distance y from the centroid of the concrete section
which has a second moment of area of I; the value
web, bw;
of fpt is derived from the prestressing force after all
h is the overall depth of the member. losses have occurred, and in the expression above
is multiplied by the partial safety factor YfL as given
It is arguably more correct to calculate the worst principle implicitly in BS 5400.
tensile stress at any point in the web, allowing for flexural
stresses and non-uniform prestress. Clark (1983) notes, With partial safety factors and a conservative simplifica-
however, that the constant 0.67 applies to rectangular tion removed (Clark, 1983) the expression becomes:
beams and is conservative for I-beams, and this compen- Vcr = O.045bd f~cu 4" Mcr
sates for the slightly non-conservative practice used in (M / V - d / 2) where
the evaluation of the principle tensile stress.
The original equation (Hawkins, 1964) equated failure Clark (1983) describes measures that may be adopted to
with the occurrence of inclined flexural-shear cracks as account for the difference between monolithic and
shown in Figure 3. These are assumed to occur at a composite construction.
distance of d/2 from the critical load point taken in the
direction of reducing moment: ie at "shear span - d/2" For uncracked shear resistance, this entails computing
where M/V is the shear span. The second term in the the stress at the composite centroid but applying the load
above expression effectively calculates the shear force in two stages. Generally, the full dead load would be
consistent with flexural cracking in the soffit of the beam applied to the precast unit and the remaining load to the
at d/2 from the load. composite section.
The first term provides an additional component of shear For cracked shear resistance, load is again applied in two
force to enable the flexural crack in the bottom fibre to stages to compute the cracking moment and hence the
propagate into the web, thus becoming the critical second term in the expression for Vcr. For the first term in
flexure-shear crack. The constant 0.045 is obtained by the expression, a weighted mean strength for concrete
multiplying the code constant by the square root of ~'m for cube strength may be used.
concrete, 1~T_5.5.
Clarke and Evans (1983) report that the use of the
composite resistance is reasonable. For calculating the
3.5 WEB CRUSHING AND THE shear force at cracking, the use of the monolithic ap-
TRANSMISSION LENGTH ZONE proach can be slightly non-conservative. However, it is
conservative at failure because of the margin between
BS 5400: Part 4 clause 6.3.4.5 limits the nominal mean cracking and failure.
shear stress in the web of a prestressed beam to avoid
premature crushing. The code provides a table of For the calculations given in this report, the composite
maximum stresses that are derived from the same section has been used throughout.
formula as that used for reinforced concrete:
maximum shear stress = 0.75~ f~/f~-.. 3.7 INTERFACIAL SHEAR
For composite construction, it is necessary to ensure that
up to a given limiting value. there is adequate resistance against failure in longitudinal
shear at the interface between the pre-cast beam and the
Clarke and Taylor (1975) report that tests on prestressed
in-situ concrete. Clause 7.4.2.3 of BS 5400: Part 4
beams failing in web crushing indicate experimental
provides for an elastic calculation of the resistance of the
values of nominal stress between 1.04 and 4.5 times
interface at the ultimate limit state. The limiting longitudi-
0.75~Vf_/~., with a mean of 2.13.
~u nal shear force per unit length at the interface of the
precast beam and the in-situ slab is the lesser of:
In the transmission length zone, BS 5400: Part 4 allows
the shear resistance to be taken as the greater of two
k 1 fcuLs and
values:
v 1 Ls + 0.7 Ae fy
a) the resistance of the section considered as rein-
forced; where for a type 1 surface k 1 is 0.15, and for concrete of
grade 40 or more, v 1 is 0.8 N/mm2;
b) the resistance of the section assuming a linear
variation of prestress over the transmission length. L s is the length of the shear plane;
In the series of tests described in this report, the trans- A e is the area of fully anchored shear reinforcement
mission length was contained within the end block region. crossing the shear plane; and
Web crushing was not theoretically critical, especially
because of the large average margin in the code. There fy is the characteristic strength of the reinforcement.
was no distress in the tests. For these reasons the report
considers only the two primary modes of failure, Vco and BS 5400: Part 4 requires a minimum area of fully an-
Vcr. chored reinforcement of 0.15% of the area of contact.
The requirements for anchorage are given in Clause
3.6 COMPOSITE CONSTRUCTION 5.8.6.
BS 5400: Part 4, Clause 7.4 contains provisions for The assessment advice note, BA 44/90 states that test
composite construction: for example, prestressed beam data (Hughes, 1987) have shown that BS 5400: Part 4
with in-situ slab. Clause 7.4.2.2 permits the assumption contains values of k 1 and v 1 that allow implicitly for partial
8
safety factors of 1.6, and that there is a factor of 1.15 for There are a number of advantages in displacement
the steel in the second expression. control: measured strains and displacements form a more
consistent set, failure is more controlled, and it is safer for
In the assessment standard BD 44/90, the equations in observers who approach the beam to plot crack posi-
BS 5400: Part 4 are modified to allow explicitly for Tm so tions.
that reduced values may be used with worst credible
strengths: k 1 is enhanced to 0.24, and v~ is enhanced to During the last stages of loading, the displacement was
0.04fcu, but no more than 1.28 N/mm 2. The coefficient of increased continuously without interruption to avoid
0.7 in the second equation is increased to 0.8, and the affecting the failure. The falling branch of the load-
characteristic strength of the reinforcement proportioned displacement curve was obtained in a number of cases.
by the ratio of the anchorage available to that required by Displacement control was not perfect. In practice, sudden
Clause 5.8.6. failures could still occur.
-, \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
Displacement transducer
All dimensions in m
10
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11
TABLE 3 and substantially recovered. It would probably have
sustained a significant load at higher displacements. The
Core test results beam tested at 2.9m did not develop flexural-shear
cracks.
Long beams .Short beams
Beam No Web Slab Web Slab The beams tested at the long shear spans (5.7 and
6.95m) behaved in a similar way to those tested at an
1 93 - 96 70 intermediate shear span, the main difference being that
2 96 83 84 62 instability occurred in the top flange in both cases.
3 94 71 87 81
4 84 88 81 73 For the beam tested at 5.7m, this instability occurred at
5 74 57 (Damaged) the maximum load. Shortly before failure, severe cracks
6 86 68 (Repaired) appeared in the web at a shallow angle to the horizontal.
A further small increase was accompanied by widening of
Values given are the average effective cube strength (N/mm2) of the cracks. Finally the top flange buckled upwards (see
typically three 100mm cores taken from each beam and slab. Figure 9). At one stage in this test, failure in the long
shear span by the propagation of cracks at the transverse
stressing positions looked to be a possibility. These
lead to failure. The critical web cracks formed at the cracks and the bending cracks closed up partially when
maximum load. In all cases there was a substantial the jack was retracted.
capacity remaining after the maximum load had been
passed. The beam tested at 5.0m was unloaded to The beam tested at 6.95m appears to have been affected
preserve it after the maximum load had been achieved by weaknesses in two of the transverse prestressing
12
Shear span 5.0m Test L 5
7'
! ,'~_~=_= ~. _
(11 / ,
(It, lz)
! I I
Fig.5 (continued)
13
~ Shear span 2,6m Test $1
'-I
T
Test S2
t
Test S3
II
14
600- 600 -
A
z 400
400
i
o
R
c1
o.
<
200
< 200
Test L2
~hear span 4.1m
Test L1
Shear span 2.9m I I
50 100
I I
50 100 Displacement under load (mm)
Displacement underload (mm) L J
. . . . . Vcr
• . 800
A
A
Z 400 ~ 600~
/
. . . . . . Moo
O
D
400
{3.
< 200 <
200~
Test L4
Shear span 1.6m
50 100 150 5O
Displacement under load
Displacement under load (Mm)
(mm)
800
600
6OO
-o
400 '
o.
< 400
E
g
o
~d 200~
< 200
a %m Test L6
r span 2.1m
I I I
50 100 50
Displacement under load (ram) Displacement under load (mm)
15
400
...... Vcr
A
z
"o
?~ 200
e~
<
Test L7
Shear span 6.95m
I I I
1 O0 200
400 400
Vcr Vcr
I
5O 50 1O0
Displacement under load (mm) Displacement under load (ram)
Fig.7 (continued)
16
400
"{3
200
200
a
e~
< <
I-'f Test S1 X Test S2
Shear span 2.6m l Shear span 3,7m
I I I I I J i I I 1
20 40 60 10 30 50 70 90
Displacement under load (ram) Displacement under load (mm)
400 400
v
200
< < 200
/ / Shear span2.2m
I I I I I rll
20 40 60 , SheTes~r, $4
n .em,
Displa(~emnt under load (mm)
10 30 50
Displacement under load (mm)
800
,°°It
4OO
A
z
6OO
Vcr
I/ 0 20 30
200
Test $6
Displacement under load (rnm) Shear span .65m
I i I
5 10
Displacement under load
(mm)
17
T-~" L3
CB5S9
T--st L7
CR/663/89/7
positions as the failure plane passed through these there was no instability of the top flange, probably
areas. In spite of the long shear span, flexural-shear because it was so massive in comparison with the rest of
cracks did not have the opportunity to form. The maxi- the beam. Failure was more prominent in the top flange
mum load occurred at the formation of the major web under the load.
cracks, but instability did not occur immediately - as
indicated by the load-displacement graph. Figure 9 For the beams tested at the three longest shear spans,
shows the final shape of the beam after instability had failure was accompanied by severe cracking along the
occurred. web/bottom-flange junction. On the video recordings, the
instant that these cracks occurred can not be distin-
5.5 DESCRIPTION OF FAILURE FOR guished from the primary shear failure. However, they
appear to be a consequence of failure and not the cause.
SHORT BEAMS The test at 1.6m shear span (Test $4) showed some
signs of cracking along the web.
For the beams tested at 0.65 and 1.2m. failure was
similar to that at the short shear spans in the long beams. Figure 10 shows test S1 after failure.
In neither case did flexural-shear cracks form. The load
displacement graphs indicate that the failure was sudden.
Unlike the long beams, the web cracks did not form until
5.6 DAMAGED AND REPAIRED
shortly before failure. The beam tested at 1.2m jammed BEAMS
against the bearing after failure and was able to sustain a
further period of loading at larger displacements. Tests L8 and L9 were done on a damaged beam and a
repaired beam. In both cases, a shear span of 5.0m was
The remaining beams failed in a similar way to the long adopted, the same as for the undamaged beam in test
beams loaded at intermediate shear spans. All the L5. Figure 1 1 illustrates the condition of the beams before
specified types of crack occurred. Unlike the long beams, and after repair.
18
T;~s~ $1
R602/89/5
i } > !
Cross-sections Four wires slack/not properly bonded at this end of beam
[ 11 11 11 II II
./ etej
D2 ~>3
I
~4 t>~
° o
1>6 t>7
Cross-sections
19
The damaged beam had up to about half of the top flange 6 STRENGTH CALCULATIONS
and one third of the bottom flange missing. The
prestressing wires were largely intact, but many were
exposed. It had a measured shear strength of approxi-
6.1 BASIS OF CALCULATIONS
mately 3/4 of the undamaged beam tested at the same BS 5400: Part 4 was used for the primary calculations of
shear span. There was no recorded flexural cracking, shear strength and cracking moment. Some calculations
probably because most of the original soffit under the were done using the standard directly, with partial safety
load was missing, and failure occurred at a load only factors included, and others with factors excluded.
slightly above the cracking load for the undamaged Appropriate values were used for characteristic strength
beam. and mean strength of concrete.
The repaired beam was similarly damaged, but was Some calculations were also carried out using BD 44/90
repaired before testing by restoring the original cross which permits the use of a "worst credible" concrete
section using plain unstressed concrete. A small number strength and reduced partial safety factors.
of 6mm bars were inserted in the top flange to ensure
that the new concrete was tied to the old. The measured
shear strength of the repaired beam was slightly above
6.2 CALCULATED SHEAR STRENGTH
that of the undamaged beam, although as expected
For the factored calculations, the expressions in
flexural cracking occurred at a lower load because the
BS 5400: Part 4 were used with characteristic strengths
concrete at the soffit was not prestressed.
of 45 and 60 N/mm 2 for the slab and beam concrete
respectively. These values were deduced from the design
5.7 PRE-CRACKED WEBS calculations allowing for ageing of the concrete and
would probably have been assumed for assessment in
On a number of occasions pre-existing cracks in the web the absence of further information.
of the long beams caused, or threatened to cause,
premature failure. This did not happen in the short For the unfactored calculations mean strengths of 75
beams. N/mm 2 for the slab and 90 N/mm 2 are used for all beams.
Table 3 gives the core test results from each beam.
The problem first arose in test L3. A crack in a transverse
prestressing position on the long shear span side opened For BD 44/90 calculations "worst credible" strengths of 60
and propagated as failure was approached. It did not, N/mm 2 and 75 N/mm 2 are assumed. These values were
however, influence failure which occurred in the short obtained from the effective in-situ cube strengths by
shear span side. On completion of this test the long shear inspection and by considering values for the characteris-
span side of the beam contained a number of typical tic strength obtained from a "mean - 1.64 x standard
flexural-shear cracks and web-shear cracks. deviation" calculation, the damaged beam being ignored.
Test L4 was carried out on the other end of the same Table 4 gives values of calculated ultimate shear strength
beam, but using a short shear span (1.6m). The beam and a comparison with measured strengths at failure. In
was strapped on the long shear span side to give this table, the measured dimensions of the top flange and
strength to the cracked region, which was consequently the deeper section nearer the support are taken into
not expected to influence the second test. However, extra account.
strapping was necessary during the test because a shear
crack in the bottom of the web, in the previously-tested 6.3 FLEXURAL CRACKING
end, began to propagate towards the load point. It had
not been thought of as a problem initially because its Figures 12a and 12b contain a comparison of the meas-
slope was in the opposite direction to the expected shear ured and calculated shear forces at flexural cracking. The
cracks in the second test. calculated shear force at ultimate moment and the shear
force at failure are also shown. In these graphs, the
Test L7 has been described in 5.4. Cracking in the calculated values were obtained from the standard beam
transverse prestress positions is believed to have caused dimensions. For calculating shear-span/depth ratios, the
failure at a lower load than would otherwise have been overall depth at mid-span has been used.
the case.
It must emphasized that the cracking moment has been
For test Lg, the repaired beam was left in the original calculated assuming a monolithic section (ie the compos-
damaged condition for a length near the support on the ite section resists the dead and live loads) as permitted in
long shear span side (see figure 11). During loading, a BS 5400: Part 4. This tends to over-estimate the theoreti-
crack in the web in the damaged area began to propa- cal cracking load. It can be seen in the figure that there is
gate and almost caused failure at a shear force of 230 kN a reasonably good agreement between the theoretical
(as measured on the short shear span side). The load and measured values. This implies that there may have
was removed and the beam strapped before continuing been a higher effective prestress in the beams than
the test. assumed and/or that the cracking resistance of the
concrete has been underestimated. However, the
comparisons indicate that the assumptions provide a
satisfactory basis for calculating shear strength.
20
~o
oo ~-
o
gof0g
o~ z ~ o ~ o
0
oo
g ~ . . . . . ~ , , ,
m,~.c
OOo ~ o
~c0
_~ z
.~= o O~o
~ogo
_~ co (/]
o~ 00
z ~ o o ~ ~ o ~ ~ ~ o o ~
0
,.,1
II1
I- o~ S- -g
~:~o
0
~ o o ~ o ~ ~ ~
0
8
~ . . . . . ~ ' ' '
noO ~o
-g
=
o z
8
~gg .... g ~ , , ,
f]) 0
"o(J o
o~
o
~c~.~
o o o
~g-~ o
Nmo
~3 o
~m
x: i~.
21
a) Long Beams
1000
m Mu
k • Failure
800
k _~__ lrv~i/lexure crack
600
o.
400
..c
o')
200
0 ! I I I I r I I I
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Shear span/depth
b) Short beams
1000
.... Mcr
800 • Failure
._~ll~ Jr- lr~tu flexure crack
600
cL
400
f~
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Shear span/depth
22
6.4 ULTIMATE MOMENT The full lines indicate the factored resistance using
concrete strengths of 45 and 60 N/mm 2 and the broken
Figure 12a for the long beams indicates that, in all cases, lines the calculated capacity with partial safety factors
shear failure occurred at less than the calculated ultimate removed and concrete strengths of 75 and 90 N/mm 2.
moment. However, as the shear spans become larger, Two curves are given for the cracked resistance, Vcr.
the shear force at failure approaches the value calculated One has been obtained using the equation given in BS
for ultimate moment. The exception is the measured 5400 and the other using the equation with the d/2 term
shear force for failure at the largest shear span, test L7, restored. This corresponds to the equation given in
where a flexural failure was thought possible. It is BD 44/90 (Department of Transport, 1990a).
believed that this beam failed prematurely in shear
because of the weakness in the transverse stress Wherever Vco governs, there is a substantial reserve of
positions (see 5.4). strength for both sizes of beam. Where Vcr governs, the
measured resistance of the beam is greater than the
For the short beams, the measured shear force at failure unfactored calculation including the d/2 term. Even where
exceeds the calculated shear force for ultimate moment Vco governs the measured resistance is greater than the
in four out of the six tests (see Figure 12b). Examination calculated resistance using the equation without the d/2
of the crack patterns at failure, however, indicate that the term. It may be concluded that BD 44/90 is conservative,
failures were in shear and not bending, although bending but less so than BS 5400: Part 4.
failure was close.
Values for the measured resistance of the damaged and
repaired beams are not plotted on Figure 14(a). Inspec-
6.5 SHEAR CRACKING
tion of Table 4 reveals that the calculated strength of the
Figures 13a and 13b illustrate graphically the relationship damaged beam in the cracked mode is almost the same
between the measured cracking forces and the calcu- as the calculated strength of the undamaged beam. In
lated shear resistances, Vco and Vcr. In these figures, the the uncracked mode the calculated strength is higher
calculated resistances are given for the unfactored than that of the undamaged beam.
calculation using the mean concrete strength and with d/2
It was assumed in the calculations that the prestressing
included in the expression for Vcr (see 3.4). It must be
wires were effective when uncovered. For Vco the web
remembered that the calculated resistance is actually the
was assumed to retain its full width over the whole depth
value at cracking: web cracking for Vco and flexural-shear
although the overall cross-sectional area was reduced.
cracking for Vcr.
The resulting increase in prestress raised the calculated
The main conclusion to be drawn from these graphs is resistance. For Vcr a small loss in overall depth was
that shear cracking is predicted reasonably well and assumed as well as a reduction in area. The net effect on
conservatively. the calculated resistance was small.
Web shear cracks occurred in all tests, as indicated. For the repaired beam the calculated values given are
Flexural-shear cracks did not form much below a shear- those for a standard monolithic section. A multi-stage
span/depth ratio of three. Above a ratio of three there is calculation would also be possible, allowing for the
little or no margin between web cracking and failure load, changes to load and prestress as concrete was added
although in some cases the displacement was much and removed.
greater at failure than cracking.
6.7 INTERFACIAL SHEAR STRENGTH
In the regions governed by Vcr, flexural cracking at d/2 is
represented reasonably well by the Vcr curve. Wherever During the tests there was no sign of failure at the
flexural-shear cracking was present, the measured value interface between the beams and in-situ slab. However,
is above this curve. Here, as in 6.3, a monolithic section because of the unusual nature of the interface shear
has been assumed in the calculations. reinforcement in the beams, consideration was given to
their resistance in this mode.
For the regions governed by Vco, the behaviour of the two
sizes of beam was different. The long beams cracked in Calculations were carried out using the method given in
the web at a shear force barely above the calculated Vco BS 5400: Part 4 and also as modified in BD 44/90. Elastic
resistance, whereas the short beams remained free from theory was used to compute the applied shear stress as
web cracks until a significantly higher relative load. required by both standards, and a type 1 surface was
assumed. Table 5 contains values of calculated resist-
6.6 COMPARISON OF MEASURED ance at short shear spans with and without the interracial
shear steel considered as effective.
AND CALCULATED SHEAR
STRENGTHS The interfacial steel (sawtooth shaped bars, see Figure 2)
may not be treated as the equivalent of links as they do
Figures14a and 14b contain a comparison of the meas- not enclose any longitudinal reinforcement. Hughes
ured and calculated shear capacities for the long and (1987) considers interfacial shear reinforcement to act as
short beams. a series of ties rather than dowels. The ties ensure that
the shear resistance of the concrete interface is
23
a) Long beams
1000
Vet
.... Moo
800 .~ 0 Flex/shear crack
_}_~ • Failure
400
200
0 t ~ I ~ I I ~ I
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Shear span/depth
b) Short beams
1000
Vcr
.... Vco
800 ~ Flex/shear crack
.~ • Failure
400
.E
[]
200 ........
0 I T I I I I f I I
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Shear span/depth
24
a) L o n g beams
1000
400
200
0 I I P } } I I I
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Shearspan/depth
b) S h o r t b e a m s
1000
• ~ .... Moo
li - - Factored Vco
600 i
>. • ~ Failure
%• tt
o.
",\
P,
400
co
..
200
0 I I I I I 1 I I I
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Shear s p a n / d e p t h
2
(75/90 N/mm concrete strength, unfactored calculation)
25
TABLE 5
Calculated vertical shear force for interfacial shear failure
developed. This implies that, to be fully effective, there the concrete slab or beam. Under these assumptions the
must be sufficient resistance against pulling out to sustain bars were judged to be fully anchored at all the assumed
the yield stress in the steel. concrete strengths.
Two methods were used to test, theoretically, whether It can be seen in Table 6 that with the steel excluded
the bars could be considered as fully anchored. One was from the calculations, interfacial shear governs at short
to consider the reinforcement to be equivalent to a bend, shear spans. When the steel is included, however,
tangential to the sawtooth at the concrete interface, and interfacial shear is not critical. In the tests the calculated
to apply Clause 5.8.6.9 of BD 44/90. Another was to interfacial shear resistance with steel was exceeded, for
consider the resistance to pulling out of a small part of the shorter shear spans.
TABLE 6
Comparison of vertical shear force for vertical and longitudinal shear failure
26
6.8 WORST CREDIBLE STRENGTH spans, and anchorage failure is affected. However, the
crack position is more likely to be accurate for shorter
Table 4 contains the results of shear calculations using shear spans where pull-out may be more critical.
worst credible strength values with the reduced partial
safety factors permitted in BD 44/90 (1.2 for concrete, 1.1 Combining Regan's and Nielsen's methods improved the
for steel and, by implication, an allowance of 1.15 for correlation with the present test results a little, but a free
shrinkage etc). In all cases the calculation produced a choice of Nielsen's effectiveness factor was still required.
safe estimate of the ultimate shear resistance. The table However, if in an assessment it is intended to allow a
provides values of the ratio of measured to calculated higher shear force than Vco at short shear spans, on the
resistance expressed as a percentage. basis of the data in this report and elsewhere in the
literature, it would be sensible to check the anchorage of
For the long beams, the mean ratio is 140% when the the tendons by Regan's method.
measured resistance is compared with calculated Vcr. If it
is assumed that the relationship is not systematic but
follows a normal distribution a "characteristic" value of
this ratio can be obtained (mean - 1.64 x standard 7 DISCUSSION
deviation). This ratio is over 100%, which implies that the
worst credible strength approach gives safe results using 7.1 FAILURE MODE
Vcr throughout.
Using BS 5400: Part 4 and Figure 3 as a guide, it might
The same conclusion is reached for the short beams
have been expected that:
except when the shortest shear span is included in the
calculations. In this case, the shortest shear span has a Uncracked shear failures would result from tests at
ratio of only 84%. However, this rises to 130% if the a short shear span (shear-span/depth less than 3),
expression excluding d/2 is employed. characterised by web cracks joining the load point
to the support;
It is concluded that, for these particular beams, the worst
credible strength calculation gives a safe result for Vcr Cracked shear failure would result from tests at a
where this normally governs. If the d/2 term is omitted, long shear span, characterised by diagonal flexure/
the calculation gives a safe result throughout the range of shear cracks close to the load point; and
shear spans. Where Vco governs, and is adopted as the
limit, the worst credible approach would be more con- Flexural failures might result from loading near the
servative. beam centre, with cracking beneath the load and a
local failure plane.
6.9 ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF
CALCULATING SHEAR In practice, shear failure occurred in all cases, the
primary cause being the propagation of web cracks.
RESISTANCE
There were generally two systems of cracking present in
There is scope for a more rational way of calculating the the beams as failure was reached.
ultimate resistance of members in shear (Collins and
Mitchell, 1986). One method is described by Nielsen Flexural cracks beneath and on either side of the
(1984). It relies on the beam acting as a tied arch as applied load emanating from the bottom flange; and
discussed in 7.1 and requires the wires to be fully
anchored. There are two expressions for ultimate resist- One or more pronounced inclined shear cracks in
ance depending on whether or not the tendons fail. They the web.
are primarily dependent on shear span and an effective-
ness parameter for the concrete resistance. An attempt The two systems of cracking were independent and did
was made to apply the method to the present results not combine.
without success. The general form of the curve obtained
is consistent with the measured data in Figures 14a and Web cracking is a characteristic of Vco but the reduction
14b (ie the shear resistance reduces with increase in of shear resistance with increase in shear span, as
shear span) but no satisfactory overall fit was possible measured in the tests, is a characteristic of Vcr. The
even when the effectiveness factor was allowed to take mode of failure was not, therefore, wholly of one type or
any value. the other.
Regan (1990) has suggested a method for determining It is fortunate that the Vcr calculation provides a satisfac-
the resistance to anchorage failure of the prestressing tory estimate of shear resistance even though the
wires in the tied arch model. This depends on determin- assumption that failure stems from flexural-shear crack-
ing the available bond length according to the position of ing is not correct.
the primary shear crack, which is assumed to run in a
straight line between the load point and the support. It The resistance of the beams after web cracking can be
can be seen from 5.2 that the position of the primary explained by means of an alternative load path: the tied
shear crack is not reliable, particularly for long shear arch. It is assumed that an arch or strut is formed within
27
the concrete connecting the load point to the support, 7.4 EFFECTIVENESS OF THE Vcr
equilibrium being maintained by the tension in the
prestressing wires.
CALCULATION
Numerically, the calculation for Vcr (mean strength,
This would explain why the resistance of beams tested at
unfactored, d/2 included) provides a reasonable lower
relatively short shear spans greatly exceeded the web-
bound to the measured failure loads over the longer
cracking load. It would also explain why the beams tested
shear spans, although the theoretical basis for this is
at longer shear spans were able to sustain the maximum
weak.
load after formation of the critical web cracks, or in some
cases offer a residual resistance at a large displacement
BS 5400: Part 4 equates failure with the formation of
after the maximum load had been passed. Finally, it is
flexural-shear cracks, and ignores any further resistance
consistent with instability failure observed in the top
in the beam. In those cases where flexural-shear cracks
flange of the long beams tested at the two longest shear
occurred in the tests, the measured shear force at
spans. cracking is indicated quite well by the calculation. How-
ever, the failure plane did not pass through the flexural-
7.2 DUCTILITY shear cracks, and their formation is not directly con-
nected with the load path by which the beams sustain
For all but the shortest shear spans (in the region where load after cracking. All that can be said is that, for longer
Vco governs) there was a measure of ductility observed in shear spans, failure is unlikely to occur before flexural-
the tests. This appeared as a large flexural displacement shear cracks form.
before failure or a residual strength and displacement
capacity after the maximum load was passed. Bearing in mind that the web cracking mode of failure
m
was common to all the tests, it is interesting to note that
If the flexural strength of a beam is high in relation to the the Vcr calculation with d/2 gives a safe estimate of failure
shear strength (and the stiffness is also high) there is load down to a shear-span/depth ratio of 2.0. If the
likely to be less displacement and hence less observed expression without the d/2 term is used, the calculated
ductility at failure. However, tied arch behaviour can allow curve in figures 14(a) and 14(b) are acceptable lower
additional displacement as failure is approached. bounds to all the measured resistances.
Ductility permits redistribution to take place within a For these particular beams, therefore, it would have been
structure in the case of a local structural inadequacy or safe to assess the shear capacity at short shear spans
overload. The absence of web reinforcement may have using the equation for Vcr without the d/2 term rather than
reduced ductility in these beams but their behaviour gave the Vco equation. However, taking into account the fact
no cause for concern in this respect. that the large beams cracked in the web at a shear force
given by the Vco calculation, it would be advisable to
There was less displacement for the short shear spans
ensure that the Vco shear resistance was not exceeded
and failure was quite sudden; but shear cracks appeared
with serviceability limit state loading.
in the webs well before failure, and the margin of resist-
ance above the calculated Vco values was large. This, to
a degree, compensates for the lower ductility.
7.5 DAMAGED AND REPAIRED
BEAMS
7.3 EFFECTIVENESS OF THE Vco
The strength of the damaged beam was obtained for a
CALCULATION long shear span, 5.0m. In this position, its measured
strength was about 3/4 of the strength of the undamaged
The calculation for Vco in BS 5400: Part 4, which equates
beam, which is encouraging given the seriousness of the
failure with web cracking, provides a conservative
damage. As explained in 6.6 the strength, calculated
estimate for the ultimate shear resistance over short
according to the principles in BS 5400: Part 4 is slightly
shear spans for these particular beams. In the tests,
higher than the undamaged beam in uncracked shear
cracks formed in the web as expected, and the primary
and only slightly less in cracked shear.
failure plane followed the line of these cracks. To this
extent, the Vco calculation provides a reasonable model The strength calculations are not satisfactory because in
for the behaviour of the beams, although their strength is the tests the damaged beam was clearly inferior to the
underestimated. undamaged beam. The lower strength of the concrete in
the damaged beam may have had an influence on the
For the long beams, web cracking was predicted reason-
behaviour, but is not entirely responsible. The calculation
ably well but the ultimate resistance was considerably
is not rational because failure of this beam occurred
higher. For the short beams, web cracking and ultimate
before flexure or flexural-shear cracks developed.
resistance were both considerably higher than calculated.
The repaired test was rather artificial, because it seems
unlikely that such extensive damage would be repaired in
practice. There is also the question of durability. How-
ever, it is encouraging that the behaviour of the damaged
beam was reasonable in the test and the repair effective
28
at the ultimate limit state. It should be noted that cracking sion that the interface reinforcement was effective.
occurred at a low load in the unstressed concrete, as Calculations indicate that without the steel, the interface
would be expected. should have initiated or participated in failure.
For large shear spans the Vcr calculat=on is numerically 7.8 COMPARISON WITH SHEAR
satisfactory for a normal beam even when flexural-shear
cracking does not occur. However, calculations for TESTS IN THE LITERATURE
damaged or repaired beams which rely on establishing
There are many examples in the literature, spanning the
the difference in flexural-shear cracking are not necessar-
last three decades, of shear tests on prestressed con-
ily correct or relevant to the ultimate resistance. A more
crete beams. A large number of these, particularly in the
rational approach to the ultimate limit state is desirable.
early years, concerned beams with no shear links in the
webs (eg Hicks, 1958; Hawkins, 1964; Arthur, 1965; Kar,
7.6 PRECRACKED WEBS 1969; Mahgoub, 1975; Elzanaty et al, 1986). Through
these tests it has been established that there is a reliable
In general the measured values of shear strength are
measure of shear strength in beams with no links.
substantially above the resistance calculated according to
BS 5400:Part 4. The margin is least for the long beam Many of the tests reported have ended in sudden failure.
test L7 which had a shear span/depth ratio of 8 (see This is not a desirable mode of behaviour in beams
Figure 12a). The special factor in this test was the intended for use in a working structure. Consequently, it
presence of web cracks resulting from the separation has lead to conservatism in shear design and require-
process. ments for minimum links in code rules. Reynolds (1974),
for example, notes that a small amount of web reinforce-
The effect of pre-cracked webs is an unfavourable aspect
ment improves strength and ductility, and recommends
of the observed behaviour. In the test L7, it appeared that
its inclusion.
web cracks propagated from the transverse hole posi-
tions and initiated a failure plane between the support The suddenness of failure is, however, a subjective
and the load point. matter. In the present tests the final failures could be
described as sudden: but except for the shortest shear
This was the only beam in which the transverse hole
spans there was ample warning given by the large
positions had an adverse effect on the final measured
displacements and extensive cracking. Similar observa-
resistance, although two other beams were affected by
tions made by other authors suggest that their "sudden"
pre-cracking. In those cases the beams had been
failures were similar.
damaged by previous tests at the other end. Premature
failure was avoided by attaching steel straps. There has been widespread agreement among authors
that the difference in shear force between cracking and
It is suggested therefore that caution should be exercised
failure in a beam without links is variable and cannot be
when assessing beams that have structural cracks in the
relied on in design. For example, tests reported by Arthur
webs, in cases where there is no shear steel present or
(1965) on relatively small beams indicated a ratio of
the amount is significantly below the normal minimum.
ultimate shear force to cracking shear force in the range
Where the beams are contiguous and webs cannot be
1- 1.7 at short shear spans and 1- 1.2 for long shear
inspected there is less likelihood of a problem because
spans. It is agreed that the ratio depends on many factors
transverse redistribution is likely to occur before failure of
that are difficult to quantify for practical use. This is
the deck. It is not suggested that steps should be taken to
reflected in the current design and assessment standards
inspect the webs of contiguous beams.
which equate failure with cracking.
7.7 INTERFACIAL SHEAR Results from the present tests indicate that, for the
particular beams tested, there was a useful margin
At no time in any of the tests was there any indication of between cracking and failure in many cases; but for the
unsatisfactory behaviour of the interface between the long shear-span tests there is no practical way of using
prestressed beam and in-situ slab in spite of the non- this in assessment. For beams tested at short shear
standard reinforcement. span, other authors have found that a principle tensile
stress calculation (Vco type) generally underestimates the
Calculations described in 6.7 might be used to demon- cracking load (eg Mahgoub, 1975). In the present beams,
strate the effectiveness of the steel in similar situations. this was the case for the short beams but not the long
beams. However, the long beams possessed a large
The steel provided was clearly sufficient to maintain the
margin of strength beyond cracking that compensated for
integrity of the interface during the life of the structure
the early cracking.
and the demolition processes. There should be little
doubt about a similar detail behaving in a comparable Many of the characteristics observed in the present tests
way in other bridges. have been found in previous work. It is clear that dividing
the manner of failure into two modes in BS 5400: Part 4
At the very least, the presence of the steel enabled the is a simplification. Behaviour can vary depending on the
concrete interface to function as intended. Furthermore,
cross-section (Hawkins, 1964). For rectangular beams it
the magnitude of the test failure loads lead to the conclu-
29
is more likely that flexural-shear cracks will lead directly flexural-shear cracking less so as strength increases: but
to failure, whereas for an I-beam web cracking becomes the effect does not appear to be large. High strength in
increasingly more likely as the web thickness is reduced the paper refers to cylinder compressive strengths
in proportion to the other dimensions. between 40 and 80 N/mm 2.
Arching action has long been recognised and is men- Bennett et al (1989) considered fatigue. They report that
tioned by many authors. CP 115:1959 (Clause 311) reinforcement was necessary to control web cracks under
refers to the possibility of developing resistance by repeated loading. However, they note that:
arching action, but gives no guidance for doing this.
Nielsen (1984) and Regan and Yu (1973) present There is little stress in links before the formation of
methods of calculation. cracks.
Instability of the top flange has been reported (Bennett et The static inclined cracking load will usually be
al, 1989, Regan and Yu, 1973 and Sethunarayanan, appreciably greater than the maximum service load
1960) and also failure at the "wrong" end of beams. Two in bridges designed to British practice (eg BS 5400:
tests reported by Clarke and Evans (1983) fall into the Parts 2 and 4).
latter category. The beams had previously been tested at
the other end and damage had been sustained. It is not The risk of fatigue cracking in concrete under
clear whether or not the problem was caused by the normal service conditions is negligible:
propagation of existing cracks, but there was a weakness
that led to unexpected failure. It may be concluded that there is a negligible risk of
cracking occurring in unreinforced webs under highway
Slippage of the tendons has been observed by a number loading when assessed in accordance with BS 5400:
of authors including Kaufman and Ramirez (1988), Part 4 or BD 44/90. The absence of links should therefore
Maruyama and Rizkalla (1988), and Bennett et al (1989). not increase the risk of fatigue damage or consequent
The importance of the shear crack crossing the line of the loss of resistance.
tendons in the transition zone is generally recognised,
and is taken into account by Regan (1990) (see 6.9).
30
Caution should be exercised when assessing beams with BSI, 1981. Assessment of concrete strength in existing
no shear reinforcement and structurally cracked webs. structures. BS 6089: 1981. London: British Standards
Institution.
The interfacial resistance between the precast beams
and in-situ slab was sufficient to ensure that failure did BSI, 1984. Steel, concrete and composite bridges. Code
not take place in longitudinal shear. The sawtooth bars, of practice for design of concrete bridges. BS 5400: Part
which were considered to be fully anchored, appeared to 4: 1984. London: British Standards Institution.
make a significant contribution to strength. The anchor-
age of bars such as these could be checked using the BSI, 1985. Structural use of concrete. Code of Practice
method given in BD 44/90 and an appropriate allowance for design and construction. BS 8110: Part 1: 1985.
made for them in assessment. London: British Standards Institution.
ARTHUR, P D, 1965. The shear strength of pre- CLARKE, J L and D J EVANS, 1983. Vertical shear
tensioned I beams with unreinforced webs. Magazine of strength of composite beams. Cement and Concrete
Concrete Research, 17 (53) (December). Association Tech. Report 556. Slough: Cement and
Concrete Association.
BAZANT, Z P and Z CAO, 1986. Size effect of shear
failure in prestressed concrete beams. Tech. Paper 83- CLARKE, J L and H P J TAYLOR, 1975. Web crushing -
27. ACI Journal, 83 (March-April). 260-268. a review of research. Cement and Concrete Association
Tech. Report 42.509. Slough: Cement and Concrete
BENNETT, E W et al, 1989. Vertical shear strength of Association.
composite prestressed concrete bridge beams: M-beam
with added deck. TRRL Contractor Report 174. COLLINS, M P and D MITCHELL, 1986. A rational
Crowthorne: Transport and Road Research Laboratory. approach to shear design - the 1984 Canadian code
provisions. ACl Tech Paper 83-80, (November-Decem-
BSI, 1959. The Structural Use of Prestressed Concrete in ber). 925-933.
Buildings. CP 115: 1959. London: British Standards
Institution. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT, 1990a. Departmental
Standard BD 44/90. The assessment of highway bridges
BSI, 1972. The structural use of concrete. Design, and structures. London: Department of Transport.
materials and workmanship. CP 110: Part 1: 1972.
London: British Standards Institution. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT 1990b. Departmental
Advice Note BA 44/90. The use of Departmental Stand-
BSI, 1978a. Steel, concrete and composite bridges. ard BD 44/90 for the assessment of highway bridges and
Specification for loads. BS 5400: Part2: 1978. London: structures. London: Department of Transport.
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ELZANATY, A H et al, 1986. Shear capacity of pre-
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4: 1978. London: British Standards Institution. 368.
BSI, 1978c. Steel, concrete and composite bridges. HAWKINS, N M, 1964. The shear provisions of AS CA35-
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(September). 103-116.
31
HICKS, A B, 1958. The influence of shear span and SOZEN, M A and N M HAWKINS, 1962. Discussion of a
concrete strength upon the shear resistance of a pre- paper by ACI-ASCE Committee 326. Shear and diagonal
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