Analysis and Design of Simply Supported Deep Beams Using Strut and Tie Method

Generally structural members can be broadly divided into two regions, namely B or Bernoulli regions where the strain distributions are linear and D or Disturbed regions where the strain distributions are nonlinear. A beam whose depth is comparable to span is known as deep beam and these structural elements belong to D regions. It has been recently understood that the strut and tie method (STM) is an effective tool for the design of both B and D regions. The present code recommendations are inadequate for the design of deep beams. In this paper simple equations using STM are developed for finding the area of main steel required to have a balanced type of failure and to find the ultimate capacity of deep beams failing in different failure modes. These equations are compared with experimental results and a good agreement is found.