The present paper proposes a solution methodology to predict the shear stress-shear strain curves of reinforced concrete (RC) elements (panels) using a truss model. The proposed solution procedure calculates the concrete constitutive relationships by transforming the concrete stresses and strains from the principal direction of concrete stresses to the principal direction of the applied stresses. As a result, the algorithm predicts the shear responses of RC elements having a large difference between the amounts of steel in two perpendicular directions. To check the success of the proposed methodology, the experimental shear stress-strain and shear stress-normal strain curves of 12 RC elements as well as the shear strengths of 170 beams reported in the literature are compared with their corresponding predicted results using the new algorithm of the truss model. The results show that the proposed algorithm accurately predicts the variation of the concrete strain of 12 reinforced elements and the shear strength of 170 beams.
INTRODUCTIONThe post-cracking behaviour of a reinforced concrete (RC) member subjected to shear and bending was first simulated by a truss model theory at the turn of the century by Ritter and Morsch. The theory assumes that the cracked concrete separates into a series of struts, so that the shear resistance of the RC member is provided by an internal truss mechanism. Along with the original truss model theory of Ritter and Morsch, many compatibility-aided truss models, such as the compression field theory (CFT, 1,2 modified compression field theory 3 (MCFT)), the rotating-angle softened-truss model (RA-STM 4 ), and the fixed-angle softened-truss model (FA-STM 5,6 ) were developed to predict the shear strengths as well as the deformations of RC membrane elements (panels) subjected to shear and normal stresses.