Shear Behavior of High Strength Self-Compacting Concrete Slender Beams Without Web Reinforcement

High Strength Self-Compacting Concrete (HSSCC) is known for its various advantages and becoming very common among construction industries. Because of the various advantages of HSSCC, many researchers are working on improving the overall performance of HSSCC. But, since it is quite a relatively new material, shear design guidelines for high strength are not available in major design codes. These guidelines may not even be safe and adequate to use in designing HSSCC beams. The shear behaviour of HSSCC beams differs much from normal SCC beams. Thus, a systematic analysis of the shear behaviour of HSSCC beams is very important. In this experimental program, the shear behaviour of slender HSSCC beams without web reinforcement was studied by casting 27 beams for three mixes having compressive strength 70 MPa, 80 MPa and 90 MPa and without transverse reinforcement. In the present article, the various parameters discussed includes- failure loads of the beams, shear strength and failure angles, cracking patterns and failure modes, the effect of longitudinal steel ratio and shear span to depth (a/d) ratio on the shear strength of beams and load-deflection curves.