Behavior of full-scale self-consolidating concrete beams in shear

An experimental investigation was conducted to study the shear strength and cracking behavior of full-scale beams made with self-consolidating concrete (SCC) as well as normal concrete (NC). A total of 20 flexurally reinforced concrete beams, with no shear reinforcement, were tested under mid-span concentrated load until shear failure occurred. The experimental test parameters included concrete type/coarse aggregate content, beam depth and the longitudinal reinforcing steel ratio. The beam depth ranged from 150 to 750 mm while the shear span-to-depth ratio (a/d) was kept constant in all beams. The two longitudinal reinforcing steel ratios used were 1% and 2%. The performance of SCC/NC beams was evaluated based on the results of crack pattern, crack widths, loads at the first flexure/diagonal cracking, ultimate shear resistance, and failure modes. The ultimate shear strength of SCC beams was found to be slightly lower than that of NC beams and the difference was more pronounced with the reduction of longitudinal steel reinforcement and with the increase of beam depth. The performance of code based equations in predicting the shear resistance of SCC/NC beams is also presented. The recommendations of this paper can be of special interest to designers considering the use of SCC in structural applications.