Shear strength of reinforced concrete beams without transverse reinforcement

A simplified analytical model to compute the shear strength of reinforced concrete members without stirrups is presented in this paper. The approach is based on basic principles of mechanics and a parametric study of experimental data. The main variables considered in the study are: the compressive strength of concrete; longitudinal reinforcement ratio; and shear span-to-effective depth ratio. Using the simplified analytical model an evaluation procedure, a parametrically derived equation and a simplified design equation are proposed to calculate the shear strength. The evaluation procedure and equations were compared with numerous test data and found to be in good agreement. In addition, the approach is shown to be accurate, yet simpler than a number of commonly used empirical and analytical expressions. Changes to shear strength expressions in the ACI Code are proposed.