EFFECT OF AXIAL TENSION ON THE SHEAR STRENGTH OF REINFORCED CONCRETE SLABS

Abstract

For the aesthetics of buildings, modern architectural constraints are pushing engineers to provide longer clear spans without expansion joints. In some cases, the building is chosen to be continuous for better lateral load resistance and rigid frame action. The absence of expansion joints leads to the occurrence of axial stress in addition to the shear stress simultaneously on the reinforced concrete members as a result of temperature change, shrinkage in the restrained members, and so on. Few experimental work addressing the effect of axial stress on the shear strength of reinforced concrete (RC) slabs were reported in the literature. Most of the experiments that were found in the literature were conducted on reinforced concrete (RC) beams. The axial stresses may be compressive or tensile stresses. It is well known that the axial compression force increases the shear capacity for RC structures without shear reinforcement and the axial tension force reduces the shear capacity. Compression forces increase the compression area and delay the formation of cracks giving the structure greater shear capacity. On the other hand, the compression area is reduced by the tension forces, which reduces the shear capacity of RC structures. In the previous studies, the effect of the axial tension load on shear resistance was studied far less than the influence of compressive loads. Until now, it is not