Shear strength finite element investigation of concrete beams with proposed horizontal shear reinforcements in webs

In this paper, the horizontal web reinforcement is proposed as shear reinforcement along the depth of the beam according to oblique section shear mechanism and analyze its shear performance using the finite element software ANSYS. The research shows that the horizontal web reinforcements can carry the horizontal component of the principal tension stress and stirrups carry the vertical component. The horizontal web reinforcements and stirrups together form the integrated shear model to limit the diagonal cracks development as well as reduce the width of diagonal cracks. It proposed the formula of calculating width of diagonal cracks in conjunction with finite element results.