A unified solution for shear design of FRP reinforced concrete structures

Abstract

Due to the complexities of the shear carrying mechanism in RC members, most shear design methods are derived empirically and do not physically simulate the actual shear failure mechanism. Consequently these empirical approaches can only be applied within the bounds of the testing population from which they were derived. This hinders the development of innovative materials such as FRP reinforcement or fiber-reinforced concrete that cannot be accommodated without a significant amount of testing for calibration which is both expensive and time consuming. To address this problem, a mechanics based segmental approach which simulates the behaviour seen in practice and can cope with any type of reinforcement and concrete has been proposed. On the basis of the shear transfer mechanism, a unified closed form solution is derived and is shown to be applicable for concrete structures reinforced with steel or FRP. The approach is validated against a database of 209 FRP and 626 steel reinforced experimental results and the proposed unified solution is shown to have great potential in shear design of concrete structures.