Although studies on RC beams under shear have a history record of more than 100 years, many important issues in this context still remain that have evaded attention. The aim of the current study is to study a number of these less investigated aspects of the behavior of RC beams under shear. For this purpose, and based on the modified compression field theory, a computer program has been written to study the effects of transverse and longitudinal steel reinforcement and shear span, a/d, on the behavior of RC beams under shear. The results show that the shear capacity of the beam cannot be increased beyond an optimum amount of transverse steel ratio. This paper will try to provide a precise definition of this optimum transverse steel ratio. Another finding of the present study is that increasing tensile longitudinal steel ratio increases the amount of the optimum transverse steel ratio, while increasing a/d decreases the optimum transverse steel ratio.

Keywords: Reinforced concrete beam, Shear, Modified compression field theory, Optimum transverse steel ratio, Shear capacity

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