Shear capacity and ductility of high strength reinforced concrete beams

Concrete with compressive strength in the range of 80 MPa has been used in practice particularly in North America and Japan. Nowadays, concrete with strengths over 100 MPa can be achieved with the use of pozzolanic additives such as silica fume. It is now well known that the engineering mechanical properties of concrete are significantly increased as compressive strength is increased. Despite the amount of research that has been carried out on the behaviour of high strength reinforced concrete (HSRC) additional work on the behaviour of structural elements subjected to shear is required. Also, as the shear ductility is an essential indicator for structures in high-seismic regions, information regarding shear ductility of HSRC would be particularly useful for such regions. In this respect, the investigation reported herein attempts to address this concern. A Series of tests was carried out in order to investigate the characteristic of shear critical HSRC beams with the following objectives: Critically examine the applicability of the recommendations of different codes of practice on the shear capacity of beams where concrete strengths were far beyond the limits used in their development. Examine the Effect of different parameters on the shear capacity of reinforced high strength concrete beams. Evaluate the shear ductility of high strength reinforced concrete beams.