Abstract
An experimental study was performed to evaluate shear resistance of beams laterally reinforced with continuous hoops. The continuous hoops were used in beams to reduce the weight of reinforcing steel bars and the duration of reinforcement work. In the present study, equations for shear design of the continuous hoop and the details of continuous hoops reducing the amount of transverse reinforcement were examined. Four simply supported beams were designed to exhibit shear failure before flexural yielding. 600 MPa and 500 MPa high-strength bars were used for longitudinal and transverse reinforcements according to KCI 2012 design code. The test results showed that the shear resistance of the beam specimens with continuous hoops were comparable to that of the beam specimen with conventional U stirrups and cross-ties. Cracking patterns and failure aspects of the beam specimens with continuous hoops were almost identical to those of the conventional beam specimen with U stirrups, regardless of the inclination of continuous hoops and the clearance between longitudinal bars and transverse continuous hoops. In addition, the nominal shear strengths predicted by using the yield stress of bars 500 MPa correlated well with the maximum strength by test.