A study on the safety of shear design of reinforced concrete beams

The shear failure probabilities of reinforced concrete beams have been investigated by Monte Carlo technique. The shear strength provided by the concrete is based on the theoretical model developed by Tureyen and Frosch (2003). The random variables included in this study are the strength of concrete, the strength of reinforcing steel, the dimension of cross-section, the model error of theoretical shear strength provided by the concrete, and the loading. This study shows that based on the new material statistical data (2003) in North America, the shear failure probabilities are acceptable for beams designed using the ACI 318-02 Code. Based on the old material statistical data (1979) in North America the shear failure probabilities of beams designed using the ACI Code are relatively high. For the safety of shear design of reinforced concrete beams, the ACI 318-02 Code is better than the ACI 318-99 Code.