• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.685-692
• /
• 2007

When the shear force governs the response of an RC element, as in the case of a low-rise shear wall, the effect of shear on the element's response is thought to be responsible for the 'pinching effect' in the hysteretic loops. However, it was recently shown that this undesirable pinching effect can be eliminated in the hysteretic load-deformation curves of a shear-dominant element if the steel grid orientation is properly aligned in the direction of the applied principal stresses. In this paper, the presence and absence of the pinching mechanism in the hysteretic loops of the shear stress-strain curves of RC elements was explained rationally using a compatibility aided truss model. The analytical results indicate that the pinching effect of the RC elements is strongly related to the direction of the steel arrangement. The area of the energy dissertation does not increase proportionally to the difference between the direction of the principal compressive stress and the direction of the steel arrangement.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.17 no.6 s.90
• /
• pp.983-992
• /
• 2005

The shear failure modes of fiber reinforced polymer(FRP) strengthened concrete beams are quite different to those of the beams strengthened with steel stirrups. When the beams are strengthened with larger amount of FRP composites, the beams normally fail in shear due to concrete crushing before the FRP reaches its rupture strain. In order to predict the shear strength of such beams, the actual rupture strain must be known. The equations previously reported in the technical literature adopt an effective reduction factor for the rupture strain. These equations may not be applicable to FRP strengthened RC beams that are beyond the experimental application limits, because most of these equations are empirical in nature. This paper presents the results of an analytical study on the performance of reinforced concrete beams externally wrapped with FRP composites and internally reinforced with conventional steel stirrups.