A new expression for the shear capacity of reinforced concrete beams without stirrups was derived by calculating the aggregate interlock capacity across the major diagonal crack of the beam, a procedure somewhat similar to those based on the modified compression field theory. Two formulas were obtained from the simplification of this expression. All three relations capture the dependence of shear strength on the size of the beam, the ratio of shear span to beam depth, longitudinal reinforcement ratio, maximum aggregate size, and concrete strength. The limits of these formulas agree well with the limit solutions of shear failure load for very small and very large beams based on plastic and fracture mechanics solutions, respectively. The proposed relations were calibrated by least-squares fitting of the existing experimental database (consisting of 398 data points) and resulted in low coefficients of variation. The simplest version is suitable for design codes.Key words: reinforced concrete, shear strength, beams, aggregate interlock, crack opening, size effect.
User's Guide: Fracture Mechanics Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Beams (FMARCB)
