HOW SAFE ARE OUR LARGE, LIGHTLY REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS, SLABS, AND FOOTINGS? DISCUSSIONS

Four discussions of a paper with the aforementioned title by M.P. Collins and D. Kuchma, published in this journal (Volume 96, Number 4, July-August 1999), are presented. The first discusser suggests an approach for developing more accurate shear strength criteria for flexural members, and thus improving the current American Concrete Institute (ACI) 318 procedure, using a simplified procedure that is practical to apply, either by hand calculations or by computer-assisted calculations. The second discusser points out that Australian practice has recognized the influence of tensile steel ratio and the member depth on shear strength for nearly 25 years, and raises a serious concern with regard to the authors' beam test data. While the third discusser agrees with the authors' findings that the shear stress at failure decreases as the member becomes larger and as the percentage of longitudinal reinforcement becomes lower, the discussion outlines several reservations regarding the explanation behind their feelings. The fourth discusser questions the applicability of the authors' test result to real structures and the proposed design expressions.

Language

  • English

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Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00793991
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Contract Numbers: NSC 88-2211-E-011-011, OGP0194454, CMS-9900338
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Jun 14 2000 12:00AM