Análise experimental da eficiência de bielas de concreto simples e armado em modelos locais e globais

Abstract

Reinforced concrete beams are usually designed by sectional analysis methods, where Bernoulli hypothesis is taken into account, assuming that strains are linearly distributed along the cross-sectional area of the element. However, many practical situations require distinct calculation alternatives, made by both fundamentally empirical code expressions and numerical or analytical solutions from the Strut-and-Tie Method. This is the case of deep beams, where a bottle-shaped strut is formed and the influence of its reinforcement ratio is generally discounted by the current design codes. Therefore, an experimental study was performed to assess the efficiency of plain and reinforced concrete struts, by local and global models, respectively represented by diamond-shape panels loaded in small bearing areas and deep beams, since in both the resistant mechanism seems to be directly related to the flow of stresses in the concrete strut. The results showed similar behaviors among the models regarding strains in concrete and reinforcement, as well as equivalent failure modes resulting from a splitting crack of the strut. With the increase of transverse reinforcement ratio, gains of ultimate strength, ductility and cracking control were observed, mainly for specimens with mesh reinforcement, as well as higher and safe results for the analysis by the strut efficiency factors. On the other hand, the assessment of shear strength by the design codes showed unconservative predictions with increasing transverse reinforcement. This way, it is confirmed that solutions by strut-and-tie models are more suitable methods for the efficient and safe design of structures with regions of disturbance in the stress-strain distribution.