Non-linear analysis of shear-critical reinforced concrete beams using the softened membrane model

A method of analysis for predicting the shear strength and behaviour of shear-dominated reinforced concrete beams is presented in this paper. The proposed model is based on the softened membrane model that accounts for the Poisson's effect on the behaviour of reinforced concrete beams subjected to the combined effect of shear and flexure. The softened membrane model is appealing for modelling the shear behaviour of concrete elements as it is based on solid mechanics of materials fundamentals. The accuracy of the proposed mathematical model was validated against the experimental results of 66 reinforced concrete elements tested under pure shear as well as 167 shear-dominated RC beams available in the literature. Analysis results showed that the proposed model could satisfactorily predict the shear strength as well as the entire shear stress-shear strain behaviour of shear-dominated beams.