Shear database for prestressed concrete members

Development of shear databases attracted a great deal of attention in the shear research community within the last decade. Although a few shear databases have already been developed by several research groups, there is no comprehensive shear database that is focused on prestressed concrete members. This thesis aims to develop a shear database for prestressed concrete members with an intensive literature review. This literature review resulted in a database that contained a total of 1,696 tests reported in North America, Japan, and Europe from 1954 to 2010. The database was used to evaluate shear design provisions available in North America, Japan, and Europe. The variations in measured versus calculated shear strength using twelve shear design equations were analyzed. The analysis results indicated that design expressions based on the Modified Compression Filed Theory (MCFT) produced the best performance to estimate the shear strength of prestressed concrete members with sufficient shear reinforcement. The MCFT-based design expressions, however, provided unconservative strength estimations for members that failed in shear but exhibited signs of horizontal shear damage and/or anchorage zone distress. The ACI 318-08 detailed method was found to be less conservative than the MCFT-based design expressions. Additionally, on the basis of a careful examination of test results included in the database, a new limit for the minimum shear reinforcement was proposed. The database was also used to investigate the shear behavior of prestressed concrete members. This investigation revealed that there was no evidence of size effect in the shear strength of prestressed concrete members with sufficient shear reinforcement. Additionally, it was found that prestress force and shear reinforcement increased the shear strength although there was an upper limit on the effectiveness of shear reinforcement.