Shear Capacity of Concrete Beams Reinforced with Continuous FRP Rectangular Spirals

The failure modes and the shear capacity of concrete beams reinforced with FRP reinforcement were discussed through an experimental investigation, in which continuous FRP rectangular spirals were used for shear reinforcement, while ordinary deformed steel bars are used for longitudinal reinforcement. Six concrete beams reinforced with FRP spirals were tested, the main variables considered were the shear reinforcement ratios, the shear span to depth ratios and the longitudinal reinforcement ratios. Two concrete beams of equal shear capacity which reinforced with continuous steel rectangular spirals were also tested to compare the behavior of concrete beams reinforced with different materials of spirals. All beams were tested as simply supported members subjected to a three-point load, the span of the beams varied in terms of different shear span to depth ratios. The test results show that the shear capacity and shear failure modes are greatly influenced by the shear reinforcement ratios and the shear span to depth ratios, the shear resistance provided by steel spirals is higher than that provided by FRP spirals in the case of equal shear capacity of beams, which is attributed to the differences in material properties and may result in different shear failure types. Based on the experimental program, four mechanical models are derived to give more accurate predictions of the shear capacity of test beams, the calculation results of these models are compared with that of the existing shear formulas or equations for concrete beams reinforced with FRP stirrups or spirals. The rotating-angle softened truss model, the strut-and-tie model, the shear formulas derived from the truss-arch model and Zsutty equations are suggested through comparison.