Shear strengthening of reinforced concrete beams using steel plates bonded on beam web: experiments and analysis

Experiments for shear strengthening of reinforced concrete beams using epoxy-bonded continuous horizontal steel plates were carried out. Two control beams and 10 beams with steel plates bonded to their webs were tested. A two-dimensional non-linear finite element analysis is also described. From the experiments and analysis, it was confirmed that continuous steel plates bonded externally to beam webs are effective for the shear strengthening of RC beams. It was observed that the shear strength increases with increasing plate thickness and plate depth. A maximum 84% increase in ultimate shear strength was observed over that of the control beam without steel plates. In the case of relatively thin plates bonded to the beam web, the present numerical analysis accurately predicts the ultimate shear strength as well as overall shear and flexural behaviour. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.