Experimental and Theoretical Shear Strength of Simply Supported Reinforced Concrete Beam

The study was conducted to evaluate the experimental and theoretical shear strength of a simply supported reinforced concrete beam with and without shear reinforcement in accordance with Eurocode 2 design criteria. Fifteen (15) reinforced concrete beams of dimension 750mm x 150mm x 150mm reinforced with diameter 12mm size bars were cast at various reinforcement ratios (i.e. 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0%, 2.5%, and 3.0%), while preliminary and mechanical tests were conducted on the materials (i.e. cement, fine and coarse aggregate, and reinforcement bars) in accordance with relevant codes and standards. The outcome from the findings showed that the cement, fine aggregate and coarse aggregate used to cast the reinforced concrete beam were well graded and satisfies the requirement of code specification. More results showed that the average diameter of the reinforcement bars are 11.67mm, the mean tensile and ultimate strength of the reinforcement bars are 389.73N/mm2 and 640.80N/mm2 respectively, while the mean reinforcement steel elongation is 14.23% which mostly met code requirement indicating suitability of the reinforcement bars usage in concrete. Furthermore, the result from the findings showed that the Eurocode 2 (EC2) design criteria of beams without shear reinforcement were lower than the experimental value, while EC2 design criteria for beams with shear reinforcement was close to the experimental value.