Strengthening of reinforced concrete beams in shear by the use of externally bonded steel plates: Part 2 – Design guidelines

Existing concrete structures may require strengthening or stiffening in order to increase their structural performance. One method for providing this enhanced capacity is to adhesively bond steel plates to the concrete surface. The results from experimental tests conducted to investigate the transfer of stress through a steel–concrete adhesive bond by Barnes and Mays [The transfer of stress through a steel to concrete adhesive bond. Int J Adhes Adhes 2001;21:495–502] combined with the shear strengthening and testing to failure of 30 reinforced concrete beams (Part 1 of this paper) was examined. By combining the results from each section of work, values for shear crack angle, effective anchorage length and mean shear stress levels in strengthened reinforced concrete beams were determined. These values were then used to develop a design method. This method can be used to determine the contribution to shear strength of continuous externally bonded steel plates in both rectangular and ‘T’ section reinforced concrete beams.