| In 2011, Roger Xu (UToronto) carried out an experimental study to investigate shear reinforcement ratios required to cause crushing of diagonal struts in high-strength reinforced concrete I-beams. Xu's experimental results were found to be inconclusive due to detailing issues resulting in flange splitting and web blow-out. This thesis outlines an experimental test programme completed in Spring 2012 to mitigate the issues encountered by Xu. Through experimental observation, data acquisition, and numerical analysis, the test program described in this thesis is shown to overcome the aforementioned issues. The study is expanded upon with an additional test series of rectangular beams aimed to examine the applicability of the maximum shear capacity provision of the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) A23.3-04 design standard. Test data suggests that the 0.25 f'c bwdv upper limit for shear reinforcement used in CSA A23.3-04 cannot be reliably attained when using high strength concrete. |
