Determination of Inclination of Strut and Shear Strength

Using Variable Angle Truss Model

Introduction [1]
Shear flexure interaction in R/C beams can be expressed in terms of
mathematical model. The best model for slender beams with web
reinforcement is Truss Model. It provides an excellent model to show
forces in cracked R/C beams. Many international design codes for
reinforced concrete structures have used the truss model as basis for
design procedures for shear and flexure. The ECP doesn't explicitly
mention the truss model as a design tool, however, it include provisions
.that satisfy its requirements

dM=Q dx
dT

dM Q.dx

jd
jd

d
T . jd
dx

d (T )
d ( jd )
jd
T
dx
dx

;two extreme cases can be identified

if lever arm jd, remains constant as assumed in classical beam theory, -1
:then
Q

d (T )
jd
dx

and

d ( jd )
0
dx

This indicate that shear transfer with change in tension in steel

reinforcement and a constant lever arm this is called a shear transfer with
.""beam action
Q

d ( jd )
T
dx

the other extreme case occurs when

d (T )
0
dx

and -2

Which indicate that shear transfer with change in lever arm and constant
tension in steel reinforcement this is called a shear transfer with "arch
."action

It should be noted that arch action is not a shear mechanism in the sense
that it doesn't transfer a tangential force to a nearly parallel plane.
.However, it permits the transfer of load directly to support

A beam with inclined cracks develops compressive and tensile forces, C

and T, in its top and bottom "chords", vertical tension in stirrups "vertical
members" and inclined compressive forces in concrete "diagonals"
.between inclined cracks

According to the classical truss analogy, shear reinforcement ratio and

inclination of compression strut are two key quantities directly related to
obtaining the shear capacity of RC beams. For simplicity, we can assume
the compression struts to be inclined at 45 degree corresponding to the
first shear cracking angle. However, this assumption may lead to an
underestimation of the contribution from the shear reinforcement,
especially when the shear strength of lightly reinforced concrete beams
are required to be determined. So ACI 318 code suggested taking 30
degree as the strut inclination. This approach uses a constant strut angle
.over the entire shear span of beams
All empirical results indicate that cracks form at variable orientations and
at different regions of a beam, indicating the varying directions for
diagonal compression. Hence, a variable angle of inclination would be
.more realistic

Inclination of Strut in Variable Angle Truss Model [2]

Truss units can be formed along the shear span of a cracked slender beam
member. In each truss unit, the inclined diagonal strut transfers the shear
force to the vertical tension tie. The top and bottom chords are responsible
for its flexural resistance. The stiffness of the truss unit is the summation
of all the members that form the unit. Using this stiffness, the external
work done by each truss unit can be determined. This allows the
inclination angle of struts to be
examined by minimizing the external
.work done
Consider the truss unit subjected to a shear force V . it is assumed that the
shear reinforcement is uniformly distributed over the length of the
member so the axial rigidity of the tension tie is
( EA) t cot . w .n.E c Asa
( EA) t
where

is the axial rigidity of the tension tie;

is the inclination of
w
compression strut;
is the shear reinforcement ratio; n is the modular
ratio of Es/Ec; Es is the modulus of elasticity for steel; Ec is the modulus of
elasticity for concrete; Asa is the effective sectional area for shear of RC
beam.
For the inclined strut, the cross-sectional area is
Ast bw jd cos

Ast
where
is the cross-sectional area of the inclined strut; bw is the beam
.sectional width; jd is the flexural lever arm
Then the axial rigidity of the strut is
( EA) s bw jd cos E c cos E c Asa

For flexural members, the bottom tensile member is assumed to be at the

centroid of the bottom longitudinal bar, while the top compression
member is assumed to be at the centroid of the concrete stress block. For
the tensile member, the concrete in the region is normally cracked and
does not contribute significantly to axial rigidity as compared to the
regional reinforcement. Thus, the axial rigidity of the bottom tensile
member is
( EA) T E s As s nE c Ag

where

( EA)T

is the rigidity of the bottom tensile member; As is the area of

s

bottom longitudinal reinforcement;

is the bottom longitudinal
reinforcement ratio, ; Ag is the gross sectional area of reinforced concrete
.beam
there is a rigidity contribution from the compression reinforcement located
at the top compression member. Usually, the centroid of the compression
reinforcement differs from that of the concrete stress block. For simplicity,
the compression reinforcement is assumed to be at the centroid of the
concrete stress block. This simplification may cause a slightly different
external work done of the compression reinforcement when the centroid of
the stress block for concrete is deeper or shallower than that of the
position of the longitudinal reinforcement. Thus, the axial rigidity of the
top
compression
member
is
C

( EA) C (cbw As ) E c As E s Cbw E c ( n 1) As E s ( s (n 1)) E c Ag

h

( EA) c
where
is the axial rigidity of the top compression member; c is the
depth of concrete stress block at the ultimate moment capacity of the

As
beam section; h is the beam sectional depth;
s
.reinforcement; is

is area of top longitudinal

the top longitudinal reinforcement ratio

principle of virtual work is then applied to determine the deformation of

.the truss unit

The deformation of the truss unit is the sum of the member deformations
l
1
wn
( cot ) 2 cot
( ) 2 cot
4
jd
jd
sin

jdV [
jdV
jdV ]
c
w n cot E c Asa

nE
A
s
c
g
( s (n 1)) E c Ag
h
1

.where l is the updated shear span length; V is the applied shear force

jd cot

l
1
wn
( cot ) 2
( )2
jd
jd
sin 4

V [
V
V]
2
c

nE
A
w n cot E c Asa
s
c
g
( s (n 1)) E c Ag
h
1

Therefore, the stiffness of one typical truss unit about the drift angle is
k

1
l
( cot ) 2
jd

1
wn
( )2
jd
sin 4

2
s nEc Ag
w n cot Ec Asa ( c (n 1)) E A
s
c g
h
1

The inclination of the compression strut is very important as it affects the

shear capacity as well as the stiffness of a RC beam. A theoretical
determination of the angle is needed. The external work due to an applied
.unit shear force on the truss unit is the total deformation obtained
l
1
wn
( cot ) 2 cot
( ) 2 cot
4
jd
jd
sin
EWD 1.
jd
jd
jd
c
w n cot E c Asa
s nE c Ag

( s (n 1)) E c Ag
h
1

By differentiating with respect to and minimizing the external work done

the inclination of strut is found

d ( EWD )
o
d ( )

Eq. is a four degree-one variable equation in An analytical solution of this

equation is possible; however, a trial and error procedure is sufficient. The

solutions of
vary along the shear span of the beam as the variable L,
which represents the available shear span length, is different for each
truss unit. the solution starts from the loading point and moves towards
.the support in a shear span
for the first truss unit can be found by substituting the total shear span

length a to the variable L. With this

value, a check of jdcot
represents the length of this unit truss can be done. If the result

that jdcot is smaller than" a"(shear span), the solution procedure

continue for the next truss unit by updating the variable L with

which
shows
should
a new

value (a jdcot ). Then

for the next truss unit can be obtained again.
The process will be terminated when the check shows that the variable l

used to calculate
for a new truss unit is smaller than the length (jdcot )
of this newly formed truss unit (available shear span length is not enough
.for a new truss unit)
this theoretical method has two different characteristics for the evaluation

of

. Firstly, inclinations of the struts calculated from this method are

different along the shear span from the load point to the support(different
inclination of strut for different truss unit). This effectively produces a
variable angle truss model for the reinforced concrete beam. Secondly,
inclination of the struts can vary with increasing shear force level. Thus,
the change of direction in the development of diagonal compression can
be seen. This intends to correspond with the crack patterns observed in
.most of the RC beam tests

Concrete shear contribution [3]

In a standard truss model shown, one typical tension tie member ij in the
transverse direction is formed by lumping all the stirrups cut across by
section A_A. The compression strut that runs parallel to section A_A and
connected to member ij transfers the force to the tension tie. If all stirrups
reach yield when failure load is applied with all struts inclined at a same
angle, the distribution of stirrups would be considered ideal. Therefore, it is
appropriate to assume that all the stirrups have yielded and each develops
a force of Avfy. Based on these assumptions, the truss model capacity in
:shear Vs is obtained
Vs Av Fy

h
cot
s

It can be seen that the shear resistance mechanism in the standard truss
model mainly comes from the transverse ties or the stirrups. Hence, the
truss model ignores the shear resistance components from the concrete
contribution such as shear in the compression zone, aggregate interlock
across crack, and the dowel action. The modified truss model proposed
herein works the same way as the standard truss model in principle when
concrete shear contribution is null. Results of tests for proposed modified
truss model with concrete shear contribution null clearly indicate that at
the point of tension tie yielding, the shear capacity developed is
significantly lower than the experimental ultimate strength (only 58% of
.the ultimate shear capacity)

Thus, we conclude that that a truss model without considering the

concrete contribution in shear results in excessive conservation in shear
capacity. The additional strength required to capture the realistic behavior
of the rc beams utilizing the truss model could only come from the shear
resistance mechanism of the concrete contribution correctly incorporated.
The importance of the inclusion of some of the components of the
concrete shear failure mechanism to shear design has already been noted
in the current aci 318 design philosophy. Aci 318 specifies this contribution
:as

Vc (0.16 f c 17.2 w

Vu d
)bd 0.3 f cbd
Mu

The concrete contribution here remains constant throughout the

monotonic loading process. This is justified for high strength concrete as
the crack surface for high strength concrete is distinctly smoother,
indicating that the subsequent effect of wearing off of the aggregate
interlocking mechanism due to future loading is minimized. The dowel
action is always present, unless the longitudinal reinforcement is broken
apart. Therefore, the concrete contribution in shear can be reasonably
.recognized as a non-diminishing
the concrete contribution is assumed as the amount of force transferred
across cracks. Transverse tensile stress and strain were used to indirectly
incorporate this amount of force transferred across cracks into the shear
strength of reinforced concrete beams through the compatibility
conditions. By assuming a uniform distribution of transverse reinforcement

along cracks and that the tensile strain in the transverse direction is equal
to the strain in the transverse reinforcement, the tensile strain in the
transverse direction can be calculated as

Vs s
Av Es jd cot

y
where
is the strain in y-direction; Vs is the shear strength contribution
.from shear reinforcement; s is the spacing of transverse reinforcements

The principal stress directions are the direction of inclined strut ( ). At this
stage, the element has a compressive stress along the strut direction and
a tensile stress perpendicular to it. However, the directions of the principal
strains deviate from the principal stress directions. researchers have
summarized a number of experimental data and found that the direction
of the principal strains only differed from the principal stresses by 10
degree. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that the principal stress and
strain directions for an infinitesimal element of concrete coincide with
each other. The principal strain in the compressive direction is readily
.determined by the stress and geometrical condition of a strut

V
Vs Vc

jdbw Ec sin cos

jdbw Ec sin cos

where

values of

is the principle compressive strain in concrete. With the known

2
y
,

, and

, a Mohrs circle can then be constructed as shown

in to calculate the tensile strain

2( y 2 )
cos 2 1

This equation takes into consideration that

may be more than 45degree

vc

0.18 f c
1.64 f ci 0.82
w
0.31 24 *
a 16

where

f ci2
f c
0.31 24

w
a 16
*

a*
is the maximum aggregate size in millimeters; fci is the
f c

compressive stress on crack surface (assumed as zero in this model); is

the compressive strength of concrete and w is the average crack width
over the cracked surface. The crack width can be taken as
w 1 s

1
sin cos

s mx
s my

s mx 2(c x

sx
d
) 0.25k1 bx
10
s

s my 2(c y

d by
s
) 0.25k1
10
w

where k1 is equal to 0.4 for deformed reinforcing bars or 0.8 for plain
reinforcing bars; cx is the distance to longitudinal reinforcement; cy is the
distance to shear reinforcement; dbx is the bar diameter of longitudinal
reinforcement; dby is the bar diameter of shear reinforcement. The
vc
.calculated
Vc

is the shear stress transferred at cracks surface

jdbw
vc sin jdbwvc
sin

As we know, the height of the compressive zone of the section decreases

rapidly after the stirrups yielding, and there is a rapidly increasing
compressive stress of the diagonal concrete strut, till the strut crushes.
Because all the shear failure modes belong to brittle failure, the actual
shear strength at shear compression failure is a little higher than the shear
force at stirrups yielding. The shear force at stirrups yielding is taken as
the shear strength, which is a little conservative for design but without
.sacrificing accuracy

Solution algorithm for shear strength [4]

entering beam parameters like width, depth, span and support [a]
condition. calculate "c" from bending theory
a

As f y
0.85 f cb

a 0.8c
a

M u As f y (d )
2

d ( EWD )
o
d ( )

calculate

from[b]

Vs Av Fy

h
cot
s

[c]

.assume Vc with any reasonable value [d]

V
Vs Vc

jdbw Ec sin cos jdbw Ec sin cos

Vs s
Av Es jd cot

[e]

2( y 2 )
cos 2 1

w 1 s
s

1
sin cos

s mx
s my

s mx 2(c x

sx
d
) 0.25k1 bx
10
s

s my 2(c y

d by
s
) 0.25k1
10
w

vc

Vc

0.18 f c
1.64 f ci 0.82
w
0.31 24 *
a 16

jdbw
vc sin jdbw vc
sin

f ci2
f c
0.31 24

w
a 16
*

if new Vc equal or approach 5% to the assumed value. then, go to next

.step. if not use new Vc from the last eq. and repeat answer
Vu=Vs+Vc [f]

lnew= a - jdcot [g]

if L jdcot [h]

.go to next step. if not this mean that truss model terminate

Comparison with test results [5]

The validation of the proposed truss approach is demonstrated by
comparison with published experimental results from previous
investigations with respect to the shear strength and inclination angle of
compression strut at this state. Details of the RC beams can be found in

.Table


100

=CoV(coefficient of variation)

where

is standard deviation; is the mean. so as CoV decrease means less

Dispersion(near to experimental results) but if CoV increase mean more
.Dispersion(far from experimental results)

5.1Inclination angle of compression strut

the comparison between calculated inclinations of struts and the
experimentally recorded crack patterns for sample beams presented in
Table. the strut inclinations are observed to have similar orientations as
the cracks developed. The analytical results revealed that the proposed
variable-truss angle model was capable of capturing crack patterns of RC
beams with satisfactory accuracy. To further demonstrate the capacity of
the proposed variable-truss angle model in capturing the inclination angle
of compression struts along the RC beams, the maximum inclination angle
of compression strut observed from the experiments was compared with

the analytical result, the average value of the experimental to predicted

.shear-critical angle by the proposed approach is 0.97

Shear strength 5.2

The average value of the experimental to predicted shear strength by the
proposed model is 1.24, showing a fairly good correlation between the
proposed variable-truss angle model and the experimental data.
Importantly, most of the analytical results based on the proposed method
were on the safe side. This is due to not taking into account the dowel
action and shear carried by the compression zone in the concrete
contribution. The proposed model could be used to give a lower bound for
the shear capacity of the available experimental data

Conclusions [6]
The predicted developments of inclinations of compression struts along
the shear span of the RC beams agreed fairly well with the experimental
results. There is also good correlation between the shear strengths
obtained and the published experimental data with the average ratio of
experimental to predicted shear strength of the 71 RC beams being 1.24.
This proposed method provides a useful tool for obtaining the shear
.strength of RC beams