| This study deals with experimental and analytical investigation on reinforced concrete deep beams behavior under monotonic static load. The objective of this study is first to investigate whether the equations and design method of RC deep beams given in JRA (Japan Road Association) code can be enriched with proper modification by means of the new evidences of tested beams results or is already consistence and reliable in predicting RC deep beams behavior with a very small shear span to depth ratio. Second to revaluate scale or element size effect on shear strength of concrete elements addressed in the mentioned codes by new test results. On the other hand reliability and applicability of numerical simulation of such members with Finite Element Method is also examined in order to generalize this by means of parametric study on RC deep beams without necessities of new experimental evidences particularly test on very large scale members.Despite wide range of RC deep beams application in civil engineering project and prolonged research works on this subject, the behavior of these members have not yet been well clarified in various aspects nor well codified for design engineer and professionals who engage in design of such members in practice.To investigate some aspects of RC deep beams behavior and lateral reinforcement effects in improving shear behavior of those beams, a joint project was proposed by Hanshin Expressway Public Corporation (HEPC), Public Works research Institute (PWRI) and Kyushu Institute of Technology (KIT) to conduct experimental investigation on RC deep beams behavior to be extended to numerical simulation of those members. A number of reports and technical papers are already published by respective institutes but here only codified and analytical study on the experiments is reported. Two Japanese design codes which are employed for code-based investigation are that of JRA (Japan Road Association) and JSCE (Japan Society of Civil Engineers). Due to the obtained results of the first part JRA code however showed better prediction with a consistence procedure than that of JSCE. The results and evaluation with experiment are discussed in detail.On the other hand both codes include size effect in design procedure adequately.In order to conduct analytical study a specialized finite element package is employed for nonlinear finite element analysis. The program has capability of accepting user defined subroutine therefore different material models have been possible to be applied in this investigation. There have been a number of materials and crack models proposed by researchers so far but no consensus on what model best results on finite elements calculation. On the other hand the response differ quite considerably in each model and in some sensitive case such as shear failure analysis, they are suffering from inconsistency and scatter distribution of obtained results in terms of employed model in both strength and crack pattern prediction. To circumvent such difficulties a sensitivity analysis also has been conducted here to pick up the best model as well as numerical solution scheme for further parametric study on wider range of member size, material properties and loading condition. |
