8/12/2024

Concrete Design
Autumn 2024

Shear Design in Reinforced

Concrete Beams
By
Dr. Suleiman Al Hunaity

Department of Civil Engineering

Faculty of Engineering

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 1

LECTURE 6 - OUTLINE

• Introduction
• Shear stresses in Concrete Beams
• Shear strength of Concrete
• Web Reinforcement and Shear Cracking
• Behavior of Beams with Web Reinforcement
• Design for Shear
• ACI Code Requirements for Shear Design.
• Example 6.1
• Example 6.2

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 2

1
 8/12/2024

Shear Design of RC Beams

Shear stresses in beams

• When a simple beam is loaded, bending moments and shear forces
develop along the beam.
• To carry the loads safely, the beam must be designed for both
actions.
• Flexural design is considered first to establish the dimensions of the
beam section and the main reinforcement needed, as explained in
the previous chapter.
• The beam is then designed for shear

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 3

Shear Design of RC Beams

Shear stresses in beams

• If shear reinforcement is not provided, shear failure may occur.

• Shear failure is brittle i.e., it is characterized by small deflections

and lack of ductility, giving little or no warning before failure.

• On the other hand, flexural failure is characterized by a gradual

increase in deflection and cracking, thus giving warning before total
failure.

• Therefore, the design for shear must ensure that shear failure does
not occur before flexural failure.

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 4

2
 8/12/2024

Shear Design of RC Beams

Shear stresses in beams
The general formula for the shear stress in a homogeneous beam is given by

𝑉𝑄
𝑣= Eq. 1
𝐼𝑏
Where:
V is the total shear at section considered
Q is the statical moment about neutral axis of that portion of cross section lying
between line through point in question parallel to neutral axis and nearest
face, upper or lower, of beam.
I is the moment of inertia of cross
section about neutral axis.
B is the width of beam at given point.

Figure 1. Shear stress distribution

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 5

Shear Design of RC Beams

Shear stresses in beams

• Shear forces acting on a
beam generate tensile
and compressive stresses
in concrete.

• Concrete resists the

compressive stresses due
to its inherent high
compressive strength.

• Alternatively, shear
reinforcement resists the
tension stress produced
by shear force.
Figure 2. Stress trajectories in homogeneous
rectangular beam.

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 6

3
 8/12/2024

Shear Design of RC Beams

Shear cracks in beams
• Beams in general develop two
types of cracks; Flexural cracks
and shear cracks.

• Flexural and shear cracks form

when the tensile stress caused
by bending exceeds the tensile
strength of the concrete.

• Flexural cracks are normally

vertical (𝜗 = 90°).

• Shear cracks form diagonally at

a 45 degrees angle (𝜗 = 45°).
Thus, shear cracks are referred
to as diagonal cracks.
Figure 3. Diagonal tension cracking in
reinforced concrete beams.
Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 7

Shear Design of RC Beams

Shear strength of plain concrete, Vc
• The nominal shear strength (Vn) of a reinforced concrete beam is taken as the
contribution of the concrete shear strength (Vc) in addition to shear strength
provided by shear reinforcement (Vs), i.e.,

𝜑𝑉 = 𝜑(𝑉 + 𝑉 ) Eq. 2

And
𝜑𝑉 ≥ 𝑉

• Concrete shear strength was primarily based on test data.

• The shear strength provided by the concrete, Vc , is considered to equal an

average shear stress strength (normally = 0.1667𝜆 𝑓′ ) times the effective
cross-sectional area of the member, bwd, where f’c is in MPa, bw is the width
of a rectangular beam or of the web of a T-beam or an I-beam.
Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 8

4
 8/12/2024

Shear Design of RC Beams

Shear strength of plain concrete, Vc
• Accordingly, the concrete shear strength is given by Eq. 3 (SI units)

𝜆 𝑓′ Eq. 3
𝑉 = 𝑏 𝑑
6
• However, tests showed that bending moments throughout the beam span
affect the concrete shear strength.

• In regions of high bending moment extensive flexural cracks will be evident. As a

result, the uncracked area of the beam cross section will be greatly reduced, and
the nominal shear strength, Vc is also reduced.

• In regions where the moment is small, however, the cross section will be either
uncracked or slightly cracked, and a large portion of the cross section is available
to resist shear. Thus, higher concrete shear strengths are attained.

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 9

Shear Design of RC Beams

Shear strength of plain concrete, Vc

• To account for effect of the bending moment on the concrete shear strength,
ACI code introduced the following equation.

𝑉𝑑 𝑏 𝑑 Eq. 4
𝑉 = 𝜆 𝑓 + 120𝜌 ≤ 0.3𝜆 𝑓′ 𝑏 𝑑
𝑀 7

• Where, 𝜌 = 𝐴 /𝑏 𝑑 and 𝑀 , 𝑉 are calculated at desired location along the

beam span, and ≤ 1.0.

• Eq. 4 is tedious and can only be used in computer applications like MATLAB.

• Therefore, Eq. 3 will be used throughout this course to design beams against
shear.

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 10

10

5
 8/12/2024

Shear Design of RC Beams

Web shear reinforcement
• There exist different types of shear reinforcement (we call them stirrups)
1. Open hoop stirrups (a)
2. Closed hoop stirrups (b) and (c)
3. Hangers (vertical stirrups) (d)
4. Other types (e)
• The max. allowable yield strength of shear strength in 550 MPa but usually
taken as 420 MPa.
• The max. between stirrup legs is 2d. Where d is effective depth.
(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

Fig. 4. Type of stirrups in general

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 11

11

Shear Design of RC Beams

Fig. 5. Type of stirrups according to ACI318 – 19
Web shear
reinforcement
• It is noted that
the stirrups
discussed in this
chapter are
considered to be
unsatisfactory in
seismic areas.

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 12

12

6
 8/12/2024

Shear Design of RC Beams

Behavior of beams with web shear reinforcement:
• Diagonal cracks will occur in beams with shear reinforcing at almost the same
loads at which they occur in beams of the same size without shear reinforcing.

• The shear reinforcing makes its presence known only after the cracks begin to
form. At that time, beams must have sufficient shear reinforcing to resist the
shear force not resisted by the concrete.

• After a shear crack has developed in a beam, only a little shear can be
transferred across the crack unless web reinforcing is used to bridge the gap.

Fig. 6. Truss Analogy

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 13

13

Shear Design of RC Beams

Benefits of shear reinforcement
1. The steel reinforcing passing across the cracks carries shear directly.

2. The reinforcing keeps the cracks from becoming larger, and this enables the
concrete to transfer shear across the cracks by aggregate interlock.

3. The stirrups wrapped around the core of concrete act like hoops and thus
increase the beam’s strength and ductility. In a related fashion, the stirrups
tie the longitudinal bars into the concrete core of the beam and restrain
them from prying off the covering concrete.

4. The holding together of the concrete on the two sides of the cracks helps
keep the cracks from moving into the compression zone of the beam.
Remember that other than for deformed wire fabric, the yield stress of the
web reinforcing is limited to 420 MPa to limit the width of the cracks.

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 14

14

7
 8/12/2024

Shear Design of RC Beams

Shear strength provided by shear reinforcement, Vs
• As we have seen before, the nominal shear strength of an RC beam is
provided by concrete and stirrups.
𝜑𝑉 = 𝜑(𝑉 + 𝑉 ) Eq. 5
• Shear reinforcement shear strength if defined
𝑉 =𝐴 𝑓 𝑛

Where, fyt is the yield stress of the stirrups, Av the cross-sectional area of the
shear reinforcement, and n is the number of stirrups. n is calculated as follows:
𝑑
𝑛=
𝑠
Where d is the effective depth

and s is the stirrup spacing.

Fig. 7. Beam with diagonal crack and
vertical stirrups.
Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 15

15

Shear Design of RC Beams

Shear strength provided by shear reinforcement, Vs

• Then Vs is given as
𝐴 𝑓 𝑑
𝑉 = Eq. 6
𝑠
• On the other hand, the amount of shear force required to be resisted by Vs is
calculated as follows;
𝜑𝑉 ≥ 𝑉

and
𝑉 = 𝜑(𝑉 + 𝑉 )

Re-arrange for Vs

𝑉
𝑉 = −𝑉 Eq. 7
𝜑

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 16

16

8
 8/12/2024

Shear Design of RC Beams

ACI requirements for shear design of beams
1. According to ACI318 – 19, the critical shear section is located at d distance
from the face of support.

Fig. 8. Location of critical section for shear design.

2. ACI code imposes a minimum shear reinforcement, Av, min, in beam to prevent
yielding of stirrups or even snapping immediately after the formation of an
inclined crack.

𝑓′ 𝑏 𝑠 0.35𝑏 𝑠
𝐴 , = 𝑚𝑎𝑥. 𝑜𝑓 Eq. 8
16𝑓 𝑓

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 17

17

Shear Design of RC Beams

ACI requirements for shear design of beams
3. ACI also imposes a maximum spacing criterion for stirrups. The reason for
that is make sure each crack is crossed by at least one stirrup leg.

• The maximum value of spacing depends on the shear strength, Vs, provided by
stirrups. See Table 1 below
Table 1. Maximum spacing of legs of shear reinforcement

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 18

18

9
 8/12/2024

Shear Design of RC Beams

ACI requirements for shear design of beams

4. ACI also limits shear strength provided by stirrups to 𝑓′ 𝑏 𝑑.

• shear strength of a beam cannot be increased indefinitely by adding

more and more shear reinforcing, because the concrete will eventually
disintegrate no matter how much shear reinforcing is added.

• In other words, if 𝑉 calculated in Eq. 7 exceed this limit, the dimensions

of the beam must be increased (increase bw, d, or both).
2
𝑉 ≥ 𝑓′ 𝑏 𝑑 Eq. 9
3

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 19

19

Shear Design of RC Beams

ACI requirements for shear design of beams

5. ACI code defines the following limits to provide shear reinforcement:

a) If 𝑉 ≤ 0.5 × 𝜑𝑉 then no shear reinforcement is required.

b) If 0.5 × 𝜑𝑉 ≤ 𝑉 ≤ 𝑉 , then minimum shear reinforcement should be

provided.

c) If 𝑉 ≥ 𝑉 , then shear reinforcement must be provided as required.

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 20

20

10
 8/12/2024

Shear Design of RC Beams

Summary of Steps Involved in Vertical Stirrup Design
1. Draw Vu diagram.

2. Calculate Vu at a distance d from the support.

3. Calculate Concrete shear strength; 𝑉 = 𝑏 𝑑

4. Stirrups are needed if 𝑉 ≤ 0.5𝜑𝑉

5. If stirrups are needed, calculate Vs ,where 𝑉 = −𝑉

6. Check if 𝑉 ≥ 𝑓′ 𝑏 𝑑, if so, then change the section dimensions

(increase bw and/or h).

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 21

21

Shear Design of RC Beams

Summary of Steps Involved in Vertical Stirrup Design

7. Calculate stirrups spacing

1. Calculate required spacing, sreq’d, 𝑠 =

2. Determine maximum spacing to provide minimum area of shear reinforcement.

16𝑓 𝐴 3𝐴 𝑓
𝑠 , = 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 ( 𝑜𝑟 )
𝑏 𝑓 𝑏

3. Determine maximum spacing according to ACI 318-19 Table 1.

• If 𝑉 ≤ 0.33 𝑓 𝑏 𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑠 , = 𝑑 ⁄2 𝑜𝑟 600 𝑚𝑚

• If 𝑉 > 0.33 𝑓 𝑏 𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑠 , = 𝑑 ⁄4 𝑜𝑟 300 𝑚𝑚

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 22

22

11
 8/12/2024

Shear Design of RC Beams

Example 6.1

For the beam and loads given, select stirrup spacings if f’c = 21 MPa and fyt =
420 MPa. The dead loads shown include beam weights.

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity
23

23

Shear Design of RC Beams

Example 6.2

For the beam and loads given, select stirrup spacings if f’c = 21 MPa and fyt =
420 MPa. The dead loads shown include beam weights.

Dr Suleiman AlHunaity 24

24

12