European design rules for point loads near supports evaluated with data from shear tests on non-slender beams with vertical stirrups

This paper includes a presentation of a shear test database that contains 278 tests conducted on reinforced concrete beams with vertical stirrups and no horizontal skin reinforcement. These beams are commonly referred to as non-slender beams since they were tested using loading arrangements that created shear span-to-depth ratios a/d < 2.4. In an effort to arrive at a database that can be used for the purposes of evaluating the accuracy and conservativeness of design provisions, several control and filtering criteria were applied. After this process, 178 beams remained in the evaluation database. The analyses conducted using this database indicated that the application of the strut-and-tie models (STM) of Eurocode 2 (EC2) to non-slender beams with stirrups is unconservative, i.e. the database analyses yielded results that were above the desired 5 % fractile. Almost all unconservative strength estimations were obtained for test specimens containing large numbers of stirrups. Conversely, statistical evaluations showed that the FIP Recommendations model for beams with point loads near supports is conservative.