Shear-resistant design of biaxially loaded RC beams Available to Purchase

A method is derived to design reinforced concrete beams with rectangular cross-sections and usual side-aligned stirrups against biaxial shear forces. It is based on spatial strut and tie models that describe the increase of stirrup and concrete stresses occurring, if resultant shear forces act inclined to the principal axes of the cross-section. Interpolation factors model these increases in dependence upon related inclinations. They generalise the resistances of the tensile and of the compressive shear strut, as it is exemplarily shown for the formulae of the ‘Standard Method’ in Eurocode 2. The method is verified with experimental and numerical data and applied to a typical example. A design by components—separately treating the two principal directions—does not only misjudge the actual nonlinear physical behaviour, it also evidently overestimates resistances and makes designs unsafe.