Toward an Improved Understanding of Shear-Friction Behavior

The philosophy of design that flexural failure is preferred to be prior to shear failure has been accepted and adopted in building codes in many countries of the world, such as code for seismic design of buildings (GB50011-2010) of China, ACI 318-11 of the US, and NZS4203 of New Zealand. Therefore, much research focusing on shear strength of reinforced concrete members has been conducted, such as Krolicki et al. (2011), Alejandre and Alcocer (2010), and Kassem and Elsheikh (2010). As is mentioned by the authors, a shear-carrying mechanism is present when shear is transferred across a concrete interface subject to Mode II displacement, which is referred to as "shear friction" by the authors. Indeed it is a complex phenomenon for a mechanism of shear friction. Based on an in-depth review of previous work conducted by others, the authors studied the nature of shear-friction behavior through an experimental program of typical push-off specimens considering the use of high-yield-strength reinforcing steel.