The Effectiveness of Welded Inclined Bars as Shearreinforcement in Rectangular Concrete Beam

This paper present some results and discusses the shear resisting capacity of welded inclined bars as shear reinforcement as compared to the conventional method of the use of stirrups to resist shear in rectangular concrete beams. Shear failure in reinforced concrete beam is one of the most undesirable modes of failure due to its rapid progression. The shear failure is difficult to predict accurately despite extensive experimental researches made and several experimental results reveals that shear failure of a reinforced concrete beam is very complex and involving numerous parameters such as shear span to depth ratio (a/d), tension steel ratio (ρ), compressive strength of concrete (fck), size of coarse aggregate, density of concrete, size of beams, tensile strength of concrete, support conditions, clear span to depth ratio (L/d), grade of tension reinforcement and end anchorage of tension reinforcement. The nominal shear capacity depends upon the amount, location and spacing of shear reinforcement provided and hence, the welded inclined bars was used as shear reinforcement for the beam at 500mm span from the point load to the supports in different angles of 450 and 600 with different spacing of 200mm and 125mm inclined to the opposite direction of the diagonal crack in which welded inclined bars provides about 22% to 31% increased in ultimate load capacity of the beam and shear resistance increased at the rate of 54% to 58% as compared to the conventional method. The results obtained and the observation made in this study suggests that welded inclined bars can successfully be used to improve shear resisting capacity of rectangular concrete beams in construction.