Shear strength of shear-critical rectangular hollow reinforced concrete columns: Experiments and analysis

Abstract

Rectangular hollow reinforced concrete (RC) columns have been used extensively for bridge structures. Inadequate transverse confinement and thin wall thickness lead to brittle shear failure, whilst limited studies have reported on the shear model. A hollow high-strength concrete and high-strength stirrups (HHSCS) column, which consisted of high-strength materials, were developed in this paper. The prior monotonic loading tests were conducted to investigate the shear performance on eight specimens. The test variables included aspect ratio, axial compression ratio, and transverse reinforcement ratio. The results revealed that all specimens experienced typical shear failure. On the basis of the modified truss-arch model, a theoretical formula was developed for estimating the shear strength of rectangular hollow RC columns. Also, six existing shear strength models were reviewed and compared with the proposed model using the test data including 37 shear-critical rectangular hollow RC columns. The comparison results showed that the proposed model provided high accuracy of shear strength whether shear-critical rectangular hollow RC columns with high-strength or normal-strength materials.