RESEARCH ARTICLE


Remarks on the Current Theory of Shear Strength of Variable Depth Beams



A. Paglietti*, G. Carta
Department of Structural Engineering, University of Cagliari, piazza DArmi, 09123 Cagliari, Italy.


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Creative Commons License
© 2009 Paglietti and Carta.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Structural Engineering, University of Cagliari, piazza DArmi, 09123 Cagliari, Italy; E-mail: paglietti@unica.it


Abstract

Though still in use today, the method of the effective shearing force to evaluate the maximum shear stress in variable depth beams does not stand close scrutiny. It can lead to overestimating the shearing strength of these beams, although it is suggested as a viable procedure by many otherwise excellent codes of practice worldwide. This paper should help to put the record straight. It should warn the practitioner against the general inadequacy of such a method and prompt the drafters of structural concrete codes of practice into acting to eliminate this erroneous though persisting designing procedure.

Keywords: Variable depth beams, Effective shearing force, Tapered beams, Building codes.