Title: Minimum Reinforcement for Preventing Splitting Failure in Bottle-Shaped Struts

Author(s): Dipak Kumar Sahoo, Bhupinder Singh, and Pradeep Bhargava

Publication: Structural Journal

Volume: 108

Issue: 2

Appears on pages(s): 206-216

Keywords: bottle-shaped strut; isolated strut; splitting failure; strut-and-tie model

DOI: 10.14359/51664256

Date: 3/1/2011

Abstract:
Splitting failure due to transverse tension in bottle-shaped struts is brittle and catastrophic. Ideally, web reinforcement oriented normal to the strut axis is best placed to resist transverse tension and prevent a splitting failure. However, there is a lack of unanimity in current design codes and the literature with regard to the role of the web reinforcement. An analytical expression for minimum transverse reinforcement required to prevent splitting failure in bottle-shaped struts is derived in terms of the strengths of concrete and steel reinforcement and validated experimentally through isolated strut tests. The isolated strut tests also served to highlight the role of web reinforcement in the load-deformation response of bottle-shaped struts. The proposed expression for minimum reinforcement is comparable with an analogous expression in the literature, and it offers designer flexibility in the choice of the grades of concrete and web reinforcement. The minimum reinforcement requirements in current design codes are also shown to be lower than the predictions of the proposed expression.