Engineering Model for SFRC Shear Strength Based on MC2010 MCFT Approach

Abstract

Recent developments and ongoing research in the field of steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) have led to its implementation into national and international design codes and guidelines. Since fibres are promising as an alternative for (minimum) shear reinforcement, special attention is given towards new shear design provisions for FRC elements. Although these design models are available and validated with respect to research results, the application of fibres as shear reinforcement for both reinforced and prestressed concrete beams is rather limited in daily practice, due to lack of experience in the engineering community with respect to these design guidelines, as well as limited insight in their accuracy.

In perspective to a PhD study of the second author, the most important shear design models available for SFRC (RILEM, Model Code, Plasticity Model) are verified in terms of accuracy of the models against a shear test database containing 99 SFRC elements (69 reinforced concrete and 30 prestressed concrete). Based on the obtained insights, a simplified engineering model is proposed for further evaluation by the research community. This model, which predicts the shear capacity of SFRC beams without stirrups, can be regarded as a closed form version of the modified compression field theory (MCFT) approach presented in fib Model Code 2010.