CONTRIBUTION OF INNER STIRRUPS WITH THE HANGER STEEL REINFORCEMENT ON THE BEHAVIOUR OF LEDGE BEAM

Abstract

Ledge beams are commonly used as spandrels in precast concrete structures. The design of ledge beams according to the ACI Building code and PCI assumes that the outer branches of vertical stirrup are resisting torsion stress and acting as a hanger for the ledge part. The contribution of the inner vertical branches of stirrups as a hanger for the ledge part is neglected. Therefore, the outer vertical stirrups have a great amount with respect to the internal stirrups. The experimental program was designed to study the contribution of the internal vertical stirrups on the hanging action of the ledge. The test specimens consisted of six simply supported beams with 2700 mm span. All beams have a total height of 380 mm and a web width