Title: Reinforced Concrete Slab Shear Prediction Competition: Entries and Discussion

Author(s): Thomas Jaeger and Peter Marti

Publication: Structural Journal

Volume: 106

Issue: 3

Appears on pages(s): 309-318

Keywords: deformation capacity; reinforced concrete; reinforcement; shear; slabs; stiffness; stirrups; strength; testing.

DOI: 10.14359/56495

Date: 5/1/2009

Abstract:
Eight of 28 large-scale shear tests on reinforced concrete slabs conducted at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland, were used for an international competition to predict expected load-deformation response. This paper presents details of the competition as well as the entries received, and it compares and evaluates the results of the competition. The authors’ own hand-calculation analysis of the experiments, based on common methods described in the literature, is also included. The prediction competition revealed that the modeling of cracked reinforced concrete still poses significant problems, even for experienced researchers equipped with sophisticated analytical tools. In particular, the considerable stiffness reduction resulting from a deviation of the principal moment (and herein, shear) direction from the direction of the in-plane reinforcement and the associated shear strength reduction of members without transverse reinforcement, as well as the substantial improvement of the deformation capacity due to transverse reinforcement, were not predicted by most participants.