Numerical limit analysis of keyed shear joints in concrete structures

This paper concerns the shear capacity of keyed joints that are transversely reinforced with overlapping U-bar loops. It is known from experimental studies that the discontinuity of the transverse reinforcement affects the capacity and the failure mode. However, to the best knowledge of the authors, previous theoretical works and current design equations in standards do not account for this important effect. This paper introduces a detailed model based on finite element limit analysis to assess the effect of the discontinuous reinforcement. The model is based on the lower bound theorem and uses the modified Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion, which is formulated for second-order cone programming. The model provides a statically admissible stress field as well as the failure mode. Twenty-four different test specimens were modelled and the calculations compared with the experimental results. The results of the model show satisfactory agreement with the experimental observations. The model produces estimates of the shear capacity that are significantly better than those of the Eurocode 2 design equations.