(a) Frictional forces on the crack surface (b) Infinitesimal element on the crack surface

Fig. 4 Shear-friction mechanism

the shear transfer across rough crack surfaces by the friction mechanism. As the inclined cracks
develop into the uncracked region, the two cracked parts of the beam move relatively to each other as
shown in Fig. 4(a). This relative displacement along the rough crack surface is resisted mainly by
aggregate interlock, and the shear reinforcement prevents excessive opening of the shear crack to
make the interlocking mechanism possible. Both the uncracked compression zone and the dowel
action also provide additional confinements to the displacements. Shear failure occurs when crack
widths become so large that the friction mechanism no longer controls the relative movement of the
two cracked parts.
Fig. 4(a) shows the friction forces and two infinitesimal elements involving the crack surface.
These two elements are under different states of stress. Since uniaxial tension is applied to the lower-
left element, it cannot transmit friction forces across the crack. On the contrary, the upper-right
element is under uniaxial compressive stress which is in equilibrium on the crack surface .
. 2
(ja = (jc Sin a (4)
'l"a = (jc sinacosa (S)
where (jc is uniaxial stress along the average crack orientation, and (ja' 'l"a are the frictional
stresses normal and tangential to the crack surface, respectively.
Since shear-friction resistance is the sum of 'l"a in the direction of average crack path, its
magnitude depends on the COSa of the deviation angle of the individual contact surface. As shown in
Fig. S, crack orientation constantly changes from the average crack path due to the roughness of
shear crack. For the relative displacement of the two cracked bodies shown in Fig. 4, parts of the
crack surfaces which deviate in the counter-clockwise direction contribute to the shear-friction
mechanism. If the crack deviations across the entire crack surface are assumed to cancel out, only
half of the crack surface can be used to evaluate friction force, and shear-friction in the direction of
average crack path, 'l"f' is obtained by calculating the mean value of the counter-clockwise deviation
angle. Various probability density functions, called "contact density functions," have been used to
describe the distribution of local deviation angle. These functions p(O) have the following properties
(3):
a. Symmetry about 0 = O.
b. p(O) = 0 outside the region -tr/2::;; 0 ::;; +tr/2

c. [!!p(O)dO = 1
2

Li and Maekawa found that the cosine function satisfies all the required properties of the contact
density function and suggested taking p(O) = O.Scos(O) in the region -tr/2::;; 0::;; +tr/2. Their final
model was reported to produce excellent correlation with specimens having f;::;; SO MPa (3). However,

as(-)

Fig. S Crack orientations in a shear crack

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since the crack profiles are less tortuous for higher strength, a different function is needed for high
strength concrete. This paper uses Li and Maekawa's contact density function to find the average
angle of local crack deviation, and depends on the effective coefficient to explain the effect of concrete
strength.

gacosada
aavg = = 32.7° (6)
gcosada
'!"f = CTc sin32.7°cos 2 32.7° = 0.206CTc (7)
According to Eq.(7), shear-friction capacity of a rough surface is only about 20 percent of the
uniaxial compressive stress present in the direction of average crack angle. This uniaxial compression
is in the same direction as the diagonal compression strut in the traditional truss model but is resisted
by the cracked concrete element.
Based on the above arguments, the following assumptions are made to describe the overall
response of reinforced concrete beams to shear loading.
a. The shear-friction mechanism is responsible for the additional shear capacity to the truss
model for slender reinforced concrete beams with inclined shear cracks.
b. The dowel action of longitudinal reinforcement and the uncracked compression zone
contribute to the prevention of excessive opening of the inclined shear cracks, and are
included in the shear-friction mechanism.
c. Frictional resistance is uniformly distributed along the effective contact area of the crack
surface and depends on the strength of the concrete.
The first assumption can be expressed as:
V=~+v, (8)
where ~, V, are the shear components carried by truss action and friction mechanism, respectively.
According to the second assumption, Vf comprises the resistance by aggregate interlock, dowel
action and the uncracked compression region. When combining Eq.(7) with the concept of effective
contact area (Ae ), the magnitude of friction can be calculated as:
F= '!"fAa
= 0.206CT bw (0.5d) (9)
c sin(}

= 0.1 03v,f; ~wd

sm(}
where CTc is replaced by v,f;, the effective strength of concrete in resisting shear on an inclined
crack surface.
Eq.(9) is different from the usual friction equation, which has been adopted by many codes and
previous researches and is given by:
F=J1N (10)
where J1 is the coefficient of friction and N is the normal compressive force on the contact surface.
Because this normal force on the contact surface is indispensable for the friction mechanism to be
available, there have been various attempts to determine the source of normal forces. These forces
include shear-resisting forces of shear reinforcement and tensile forces of longitudinal reinforcement.
However, the shear-friction mechanism on the inclined shear cracks of reinforced concrete members
is different from the usual friction theory in that it involves force transfer across the crack surface, and
thus depends more on the concrete strength than the normal forces on the contact surface.
The truss component ~ is calculated using the same approach as that of the traditional truss
model except that the inclined angle of the diagonal strut, i.e. the crack angle, is determined for the
case of balanced failure of the stirrup, crack surface and longitudinal reinforcement. For the free body
diagram of Fig. 6, equilibrium requirements for the left free body yield T' = 0.5~ cot(} + F cos () .
Summing the moments of forces applied to the right free body about the point at the upper right end
gives:

A/y·d - T'·d +FCOS(}.~ -(~ + FSin(})( a- ~ cot(}) = 0 (11 )

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