Shear strengthening of RC beams with web-bonded continuous steel plates

This paper presents the results of an experimental program and a parametric study conducted on RC beams strengthened in shear with web-bonded continuous steel plates. An experimental investigation was conducted to assess the effectiveness of web-bonded continuous steel plates for shear strengthening of RC beams having internal stirrups. A two-dimensional nonlinear finite element model was developed to simulate the overall behavior of beams with epoxy bonded steel plates. In order to develop a design methodology for beams with web-bonded steel plates, a parametric study was conducted. Main parameters considered were concrete strength, plate thickness, plate depth-to-beam depth ratio, yield strength of steel plates, beam size and the internal shear reinforcement ratio. A formula to compute the shear strength of such beams was proposed by adding up the concrete contribution, shear reinforcement contribution and the contribution of steel plates. The validity of proposed formula was checked against the results from parametric study and the experiments. It was found that the proposed formula predicts the ultimate shear strength of RC beams with web-bonded continuous steel plates very well.