Experimental study on the effect of flange geometry on the shear strength of reinforced concrete T-beams subjected to concentrated loads

This paper presents results of an experimental investigation into the effect of flange geometry on the shear strength of point-loaded, reinforced concrete T-beams. A procedure to normalise the ultimate strength and calculate a concrete contribution is implemented. This is used to discuss the effect of varying the ratio of flange width to web width and the ratio of flange depth to effective depth on the shear strength of a reinforced concrete T-beam. An increase in the ratio of flange width to web width is shown to produce an accompanying increase in the ultimate strength of a reinforced concrete T-beam, providing the ratio of flange depth to effective depth is above a certain minimum value. This increase in shear resistance with an increase in the ratio of flange width to web width continues until the flange is wide enough to allow formation of a failure mechanism whereby the load point punches through the flange.Key words: shear, T-beams, flange, reinforcing, strength, failure mechanisms.