Shear transfer across a crack in reinforced high-strength concrete

In this study, the shear transfer behavior of reinforced concrete across a crack is investigated both analytically and experimentally by conducting tests on 19 precracked push-off specimens. The major parameters considered are the compressive strength of concrete and reinforcement parameter through the shear plane. Test results indicate that the behavior of a crack (in terms of stress-displacement relations) during shear transfer is characterized by four significant events. The mechanisms involved in each of these events are described. It has been shown that an independent increase either in concrete strength or reinforcement parameter stiffens the initial (after taking off the slack created by the precrack) straight portion of the curve, raises the linear response to a higher load level and increases the ultimate strength and the corresponding deformation, but the slope of the branch where frictional slip occurs remains relatively unchanged. A large pool of test data on reinforced concrete has been collated from the available literature. These, together with the test data generated in this study, have been analyzed and modeled embracing concrete strength up to about 110 MPa for predicting the ultimate shear transfer strength across a crack. A comparison of theoretical predictions with available test results shows good agreement.