A study on the safety of the shear capacity design of reinforced concrete beam-column joints

The shear failure probabilities of reinforced concrete beam-column joints have been investigated by Monte Carlo method. The theoretical shear strength of joints is based on the softened strut-and-tie model proposed by Hwang and Lee (2002). The random variables included in this study are the strengths of concrete, the ultimate compression strain of concrete, the strengths of reinforcement, the dimensions of cross-section, and the model error of theoretical shear strength of joints. The shear failure probabilities of joints with SD 280 flexural reinforcement in the beams designed using the ACI Code are all higher than 0.04. The joints designed according to the softened strut-and-tie model are safer than those designed according to the ACI Code. The shear failure probabilities of exterior joints are higher than those of interior joints. The shear failure probabilities of joints with SD 280 flexural reinforcement in the beams are higher than those of joints with SD 420 flexural reinforcement.