Construction

and Building

Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 296–307

MATERIALS
www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Shear strengthening of RC beams with

web-bonded continuous steel plates
a,* b
Bimal Babu Adhikary , Hiroshi Mutsuyoshi
a
Encotech Engineering Consultants, Inc., Austin, TX 78759, USA
b
Department of Civil and Env. Engineering, Saitama University, Saitama 338-8570, Japan

Received 11 August 2004; received in revised form 20 November 2004; accepted 31 January 2005
Available online 21 March 2005

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an experimental program and a parametric study conducted on RC beams strengthened in shear
with web-bonded continuous steel plates. An experimental investigation was conducted to assess the effectiveness of web-bonded
continuous steel plates for shear strengthening of RC beams having internal stirrups. A two-dimensional nonlinear finite element
model was developed to simulate the overall behavior of beams with epoxy bonded steel plates. In order to develop a design meth-
odology for beams with web-bonded steel plates, a parametric study was conducted. Main parameters considered were concrete
strength, plate thickness, plate depth-to-beam depth ratio, yield strength of steel plates, beam size and the internal shear reinforce-
ment ratio. A formula to compute the shear strength of such beams was proposed by adding up the concrete contribution, shear
reinforcement contribution and the contribution of steel plates. The validity of proposed formula was checked against the results
from parametric study and the experiments. It was found that the proposed formula predicts the ultimate shear strength of RC
beams with web-bonded continuous steel plates very well.

2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Epoxy adhesive; FEM; Numerical analysis; RC beams; Shear strengthening; Steel plates

1. Introduction load carrying capacities. As a result, large numbers of

Many reinforced concrete bridge structures con-
structed in the past in different parts of the world are
no longer considered safe due to heavier loads and in-
creased traffic. Moreover, there has been continuous
upgrading of design codes in many countries over the
years. In addition, deterioration of existing concrete
structures due to reinforcement corrosion, carbonation,
freeze and thaw, etc., is a serious problem. All these fac-
tors render existing bridge structures deficient in their
*
Corresponding author. Present address: 12113 Metric Blvd. # 435,
Austin, TX 78758-8623, USA. Tel.: +1 512 338 1101; fax: +1 512 338
1160.
E-mail addresses: bimal@encotechengineering.com, melnepal@
yahoo.com (B.B. Adhikary).
concrete bridges all over the world are in need of either
replacement or strengthening. Replacement cost of these
bridges amounts to billions of dollars. In view of the fis-
cal stringency and the time to be spent in replacement,
strengthening of these bridges with appropriate method
is obviously the matter of choice.
Bonding of steel plates or fiber reinforced polymer
(FRP) composites with suitable epoxy adhesive is one
of the widely used techniques for strengthening RC
beams. A beam can be bonded with steel or FRP plates
on either the soffit or the web. Generally, the soffit bond-
ing is preferred for flexural strengthening of beams,
while web bonding is done for shear strengthening.
For shear strengthening of beams, different schemes
can be employed, such as bonding vertical or inclined
strips, full plate bonding over the shear span (shear

0950-0618/$ - see front matter
2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2005.01.026
 B.B. Adhikary, H. Mutsuyoshi / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 296–307 297

Nomenclature

a shear span Mu moment in the section

Av area of shear reinforcement sv spacing of shear reinforcement
bw beam web width savg. average shear stress
d effective depth of beam smax. maximum shear stress
fc0 concrete compressive strength tp thickness of plate both sides of web
fyp yield stress of steel plate pv shear reinforcement ratio
fyv yield stress of shear reinforcement pw longitudinal reinforcement ratio
hp depth of steel plate as inclination of shear reinforcement to horizon-
h section depth of beam tal in degree
j modifying factor Z lever arm
Md decompression moment

wing) or bonding continuous plates on the web. These plates are discussed. Finally, a design formula to com-
different schemes for flexural and shear strengthening pute the shear strength of beams with web-bonded con-
of RC beams are shown in Fig. 1. Most of the research tinuous steel plates is presented. A comparison between
done in the past on strengthening of existing RC beams the shear strengths computed using the proposed for-
focused on flexural strengthening [1–9] and very few mula and FEM as well as the experimental results is
studies have specifically addressed the topic of shear made.
strengthening [10–13].
Bonding of continuous steel plates, aligned parallel to
beam axis is a convenient and effective method for 2. Experimental investigation
enhancing both the flexural and shear strengths of RC
beams. Effectiveness of this particular technique for The experimental program consisted of testing of two
shear strengthening of RC beams having no internal sets of beams, differing in the provision of internal shear
shear reinforcement has been confirmed in a previous reinforcement. In the first set, without shear reinforce-
study by the authors [13]. In continuation, test results ment, a total of twelve beams, in two series A and B,
are presented for additional beams having internal shear were tested [13]. The beam size used was 150 mm(b) ·
reinforcement in this paper. 200 mm(h) · 2600 mm(l), as shown in Fig. 2. The beams
This paper also presents a nonlinear FEM model in both series were reinforced with two D13 bars (de-
developed to analyze the RC beams with web-bonded formed bars 13 mm in diameter) in the compression
steel plates and simulation results of beams tested by zone, whereas two D22 bars (deformed bars 22 mm in
the authors. Further, it presents the results of a paramet- diameter) were provided in Series-A and three D22 bars
ric study accounting for the effects of plate depth/beam
depth ratio, plate thickness, concrete strength and inter-
nal shear reinforcement ratio. The effects of each param-
D13 170 200 D13 170 D22 170 200
eter on shear strength of beams with web-bonded steel 200
hp D22 hp D22 hp D22

150 150 150

Series-A Series-B Series-C
(a) Beam cross sections
(Dimensions in mm)

Anchor bolt Steel plate Epoxy adhesive 510 920 510

(a) Fl exural strengthening P P Steel plates

Expansion anchor

1940
2600
Vertical/Inclined strips Shear wings Continuous horizontal plate (2400 for series-C)
(b) Shear strengthening (b) Beam loading details
(Dimensions in mm)
Fig. 1. Different strengthening schemes of concrete beams by epoxy
bonding of steel plates. Fig. 2. Beam sections, steel plate bonding and loading details.
298 B.B. Adhikary, H. Mutsuyoshi / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 296–307

in Series-B in the tension zone. Beams A-1 and B-1 were Table 2
control beams without steel plates, while the other Properties of epoxy adhesive (after 7 days of curing)
beams had bonded steel plates. In the second set, a total Tensile Compressive Shear Elastic
of five beams were tested. The experimental program strength (MPa) strength (MPa) strength (MPa) modulus (GPa)
carried out for this set of beams (denoted as series C) 49.0 72.0 15.60 2.13
is described in detail in subsequent sections.

2.1. Details of test beams Table 3

Experimental variables
A total of five beams were tested in this set. The beam Beam Concrete Plate Plate Anchor spacing
size used was 150 mm(b) · 200 mm(h) · 2400 mm(l) as no. strength thickness depth (mm)/layer
(MPa) (mm) (mm)
shown in Fig. 2. The beams were reinforced with two
D22 bars in the compression zone and three D22 bars C-1 38.6 – – –
C-2 42.5 2.3 100 610/single
in the tension zone. The beams were provided with 2-leg- C-3 41.5 4.5 100 610/single
ged D6 (deformed bars 6 mm in diameter) shear rein- C-4 37.6 6.0 100 610/single
forcement at 170 mm spacing in both shear spans. C-5 42.0 2.3 150 610/double
However, all the beams were designed to fail in shear,
even after strengthening with steel plates to make it pos-
sible to estimate the increase in shear strength after 2.2. Testing procedure and instrumentation
strengthening. Beam C-1 was kept as control beam and
other beams were bonded with steel plates. Two All beams were tested under four-point loading over
2200 mm long steel plates having thickness 2.3, 4.5 and a span of 1940 mm. The ratio of shear span to effective
6.0 mm were bonded to the webs of the beams using depth (a/d) was kept constant 3 in all tests. Strains in
epoxy adhesive. Two different plate depths, i.e., 100 tensile reinforcement, in steel plates at different loca-
and 150 mm were investigated. The properties of rein- tions, and in concrete, were recorded. Strain gages were
forcement and steel plates are shown in Table 1. Before attached to the bottom edge and the mid-depth point of
bonding the steel plates, both sides of the beam web were the steel plates at the middle of each shear span as well
roughened by a mechanical grinding machine and as at the middle of the beam span in the longitudinal
cleaned thoroughly with acetone. The bonding faces direction. Mid-span displacement of beams was mea-
of the steel plates were also sandblasted and cleaned sured with the help of a linear variable displacement
thoroughly with acetone. transducer (LVDT). LVDT gages were also used to
The steel plates were positioned on both sides of the measure the out-of-plane displacement at four locations
beam web with a clearance of 2 mm between the con- to measure the buckling of steel plates. Crack initiation
crete face and the steel plate. In order to fix the steel and propagation were monitored by visual inspection
plates tightly to the beams, M10 expansion anchors during testing and crack pattern was marked.
(diameter: 10 mm, length: 50 mm) were used. The gaps
around three sides of the plates were sealed with a seal- 2.3. Test results and discussion
ing tape, and epoxy adhesive was slowly poured into the
space between the plate and the concrete. Once the space 2.3.1. Failure modes and ultimate loads
was fully filled with adhesive, the anchors were tightened Table 4 shows the experimental results for all the
and capped. The beams were cured under laboratory beams. All beams failed in shear mode as expected.
conditions for at least 14 days before loading. Properties The failure of control beam occurred in usual manner
of the epoxy adhesive used for bonding are shown in for a beam with shear reinforcement. The first visible
Table 2 and test variables in experimental program are shear crack occurred at a load of 36.7 kN. With increas-
summarized in Table 3. ing load, cracking gradually became severe and strains

Table 1 Table 4
Properties of reinforcement and steel plates Experimental results
Reinforcement or Yield strength Elastic modulus Beam Diagonal crack Ultimate shear Relative
steel plates (MPa) (GPa) no. strength (kN) strength (kN) strength
6 mm diameter bar 346 192 C-1 36.7 98.2 1.00
22 mm diameter bar 391 186 C-2 63.7 116.4 1.19
2.3 mm thick plate 378 209 C-3 63.3 106.3 1.08
4.5 mm thick plate 382 198 C-4 63.7 126.4 1.29
6.0 mm thick plate 398 210 C-5 80.8 132.4 1.35
 B.B. Adhikary, H. Mutsuyoshi / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 296–307 299

in stirrups showed rapid increase. Ultimately, this par-
ticular beam failed at a shear force of 98.2 kN. Other
beams with bonded steel plates also showed similar
crack patterns, but the cracks were fewer in numbers.
Failure occurred due to a major shear crack at the loca-
tion above the steel plate. Near the ultimate state, steel
plates were detached and buckled outward, while the
concrete in shear span crushed between the two consec-
utive shear cracks. Since the anchor bolts were located
outside the shear span, the effect of bolts was not signif-
icant. However, if the bolts are provided within the
shear span and spaced more closely, it affects the buck-
ling length of steel plate, which might have significant
impact on the ultimate shear strength of the beams.
Fig. 3 shows the typical failure of a test beam. The
beams with thicker plates showed larger shear strengths
except for beam C-3, which showed somewhat lower
strength. The lower strength of this beam may be due
to the defects in bonding operation, which caused the less
than perfect bonding of steel plates to concrete. The
highest shear strength was obtained for the beam with
150 mm deep steel plates. It is thus clear that the best
possible way to enhance the shear strength is to use dee-
per plates rather than the thicker plates. The maximum
increase in shear strength compared with the control
beam was about 35% for beam C-5 (plate thickness:
2.3 mm, depth: 150 mm). However, this increase in shear
strength is rather small than in case of beams tested with-
case of beams with internal shear reinforcement, stirrups
and steel plates, both share the additional stresses once
the concrete cracks in shear span.
2.3.2. Load displacement behavior
Fig. 4 shows the relationship between load and mid-
span displacement for all test beams. Beams with
bonded steel plates showed greater stiffness throughout
loading than the control beam. Beams with thicker
plates and greater plate depth are stiffer than the beams
with thinner plates and lower plate depth. It is found
that the maximum decrease in deflection in the service
load range (about 58 kN) for beam C-4 is about 34%
compared to control beam C-1. On the other hand, for
beams C-2 and C-5, it is about 25% and the difference
between these two beams is very small. The reduction
in deflection near the ultimate load is almost 40% in
the case of beam C-4.
2.3.3. Load strain behavior
Fig. 5 shows the relationship between the load and
horizontal strain at bottom of the plate in the center
140
120
100
Load (kN)

out internal shear reinforcement [13]. This is due to the 80

fact that the final failure of beam occurs because of
post-cracking strength degradation, excessive shear slip, 60
Control (C-1)
and failure of concrete strut. In the case of beams with- Pl. 100-2.3thk. (C-2)
40
out shear reinforcement, the control beam fails as soon Pl. 100-4.5 thk. (C-3)
Pl. 100-6.0 thk. (C-4)
as the first critical shear crack forms. Steel plates solely 20 Pl. 150-2.3 thk. (C-5)
take up the additional stresses once concrete cracks in
0
the case of plate bonded beams. Steel plates provide very 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
effective bridging across the cracks, leading to relatively Displacement (mm)
higher contribution of plates to shear strength. In the
Fig. 4. Load versus mid-span displacement relationships for test
beams.

140

120

100
Load (kN)

80

60
Pl. 100-2.3 (C-2)
40 Pl. 100-4.5 (C-3)
Pl. 100-6.0 (C-4)
20 Pl. 150-2.3 (C-5)

0
0 500 1000 1500 2000
Strain (microstrain)
Fig. 3. Typical failure of RC beam with web-bonded continuous steel
plates. Fig. 5. Steel plate strain in mid-span of beam (horizontal).
300 B.B. Adhikary, H. Mutsuyoshi / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 296–307

140 seen that the strain increases slowly till the occurrence of
diagonal cracks. Once diagonal cracks occur, there is a
120 change in the slope of the curve showing greater partic-
100 ipation of steel plate in resisting the external shear force.
Beams with thicker and deeper plates showed smaller
Load (kN)

80 strains for the same load range. In beams C-2 and

60 C-5, plates yielded at some locations, whereas in beams
Pl. 100-2.3 (C-2)
with thicker plates yielding did not occur. Fig. 8 shows
40 Pl. 100-4.5 (C-3) the strains in internal stirrups at left shear span at the
Pl. 100-6.0 (C-4) bottom of beam near the location of shear cracks. This
20 Pl. 150-2.3 (C-5)
figure clearly shows the points of initiation of shear
0 cracks, from where the slopes of all these curves change
0 500 1000 1500 2000 significantly.
Strain (microstrain)
Fig. 6. Steel plate strain in mid of left shear span (horizontal).
3. Numerical analysis

of beam span. This figure shows that the strain increases
with load gradually until failure occurs. The beam with
thicker plates showed smaller strains than the beam with
thinner plates and control beam. Figs. 6 and 7 show the
horizontal plate strains at bottom of plate at mid of left
shear span and mid of right shear span, respectively. It is
140
120
A nonlinear two-dimensional finite element model
was used to simulate the behavior of beams strength-
ened with epoxy bonded steel plates. Eight-node ele-
ments were used for reinforced concrete and steel
plates. Two special elements were implemented to model
the interface between concrete and steel plate and the ef-
fects of anchor bolts. These elements with respective
material models, along with the reinforced concrete
plate (RC) element model [14] were used in the finite ele-
ment analysis.

100 3.1. Finite elements

Load (kN)

80
A sixteen-node adhesive interface element was em-
60 ployed to model the concrete–adhesive–steel interface
Pl. 100-2.3 (C-2) based on the joint element by Justo et al. [15] and Triche
40 Pl. 100-4.5 (C-3)
Pl. 100-6.0 (C-4) and Richardson [16]. This joint element is based on the
20 Pl. 150-2.3 (C-5) relative displacements of two contact surfaces connect-
0 ing the steel plate and concrete and has zero thickness.
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 The relative displacements are considered in two tangen-
Strain (microstrain) tial directions. To model the behavior of anchor bolt at
Fig. 7. Steel plate strain in mid of right shear span (horizontal).
concrete–epoxy–steel interface, a bolt crossing joint
(BOCJ) element is used following Marence and Swo-
boda [17]. This is a two-node element, which connects
140 the opposite two nodes at the interface. BOCJ element
is modeled as two tangential springs having shear stiff-
120 ness according to the displacements on the interface.
100
3.2. Material models
Load (kN)

80

60 The reinforced concrete plate (RC) element model

Control (C-1)
Pl. 100-2.3 (C-2) [14,18] was used for the reinforced concrete. The model
40 Pl. 100-4.5 (C-3) deals macroscopically with cracks and reinforcements
Pl. 100-6.0 (C-4)
20 Pl. 150-2.3 (C-5) by expressing the average stress and average strain rela-
tionship in reinforced concrete control volume. The
0 model considers two-way smeared cracking perpendicu-
0 5000 10000 15000
lar to each other. The bond behavior between the steel
Strain (microstrain)
and concrete has been modeled intrinsically and effects
Fig. 8. Strains in internal shear reinforcement. of tension stiffening and shear stiffening have been
 B.B. Adhikary, H. Mutsuyoshi / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 296–307 301

incorporated. The following failure criteria have been P

used for RC plate element. These values are proposed RC elements
by Shawky and Maekawa [19] based on simulation of
many experimental results.

Tension failure: when tensile strain perpendicular to

crack reaches its maximum value set as 3%.

Compression failure: when compressive strain paral-
lel to crack reaches its maximum value set as 1%. Steel and interface elements

Shear failure: the failure due to shear slip along a
crack plane when the shear strain along the crack
plane reaches its maximum value taken as 2%.

The externally epoxy bonded steel plate was modeled

as an isotropic elasto-perfectly-plastic material with von
MisesÕ yield criterion. The adhesive interface element is
modeled as liner elastic material. The shear behavior
of the interface element is assumed to be linear elastic till
failure, in view of brittle nature of such joints. Shear
stiffness in both directions for interface is taken as
60 MPa/mm, following Ziraba et al. [20]. Local debond-
ing of steel plate from concrete is modeled using a max-
imum strength failure criterion. The value of cut-off
strength is taken as 5 MPa in this analysis [21,22]. Elas-
tic-perfectly-plastic material model is assumed for bolt
crossing joint element.
3.3. Finite element simulation
All the material properties for concrete, reinforce-
ment, and steel plates used in numerical simulation were
as obtained from the coupon tests. Due to the symmetry
of geometry and loading pattern, only half portion of
each beam was analyzed and appropriate boundary con-
dition was imposed along the line of symmetry. After
conducting a preliminary analysis for the mesh sensitiv-
ity, a total of 40 elements were used for modeling the
reinforced concrete. Adhesive interface elements, steel
plates and anchor bolts (BOCJ elements) were defined
Fig. 9. Finite element mesh used for beams.
depending on plate geometry and provision of anchor-
age. To achieve this, three layers of coincident nodes
were defined at each coordinate. The middle layer nodes
were used for reinforced concrete elements, whereas out-
side nodes were used for steel plate elements. Steel plate
elements at both sides were connected with reinforced
concrete elements with adhesive interface elements. An-
other set of analysis was also conducted without the
interface element and BOCJ element, i.e., a condition
of perfect bond was assumed. In this set of simulation,
steel plate elements were directly super-imposed on RC
plate elements by using the same nodes to define the ele-
ments as that of concrete elements. A plane stress anal-
ysis in load control scheme was conducted till failure.
The finite element mesh used is shown in Fig. 9.
3.4. Results of analysis and discussion
Numerical failure modes, ultimate failure loads, and
load versus mid-span displacement relationships were
compared with the experimental results. The ultimate

Table 5
Failure loads from the experiment and analysis for beams in first set
Beam no. Exp. (kN)/mode FEMa (kN)/mode FEMb (kN)/mode FEM a/Exp. FEM b/Exp.
A-1 44.4/shear 47.00/shear – 1.06 –
A-2 55.2/shear 59.8/shear 56.8/shear 1.08 1.03
A-3 62.2/shear 64.7/shear 62.7/shear 1.04 1.01
A-4 63.1/shear 64.7/shear 62.7/shear 1.02 0.99
A-5 83.4/shear 84.3/shear 82.4/shear 1.01 0.99
A-6 79.1/shear 83.6/shear 81.3/shear 1.06 1.03
A-7 93.5/flexure 107.6/flexure 104.6/flexure 1.15 1.12
B-1 50.5/shear 52.4/shear – 1.04 –
B-2 58.8/shear 65.7/shear 62.7/shear 1.12 1.06
B-3 74.38/shear 76.5/shear 73.5/shear 1.03 0.99
B-4 74.38/shear 79.4/shear 77.4/shear 1.07 1.04
B-5 126.3/flexure 127.0/flexure 126.0/flexure 1.00 1.00
a
FEM analysis with perfect bond assumption.
b
FEM analysis with interface element.
302 B.B. Adhikary, H. Mutsuyoshi / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 296–307

Table 6
Failure loads from the experiment and analysis for beams in second set
Beam no. Exp. (kN)/mode FEMa (kN)/mode FEMb (kN)/mode FEM a/Exp. FEM b/Exp.
C-1 98.3/shear 98.0/shear 98.0/shear 0.99 0.99
C-2 116.4/shear 118.4/shear 116.6/shear 1.02 1.00
C-3 104.9/shear 125.4/shear 122.5/shear 1.20 1.17
C-4 126.3/shear 128.4/shear 126.4/shear 1.02 1.00
C-5 132.4/shear 156.8/flexure 132.3/shear 1.18 1.00
a
FEM analysis with perfect bond assumption.
b
FEM analysis with interface element.

140 140

120 120

100
100
80
Load (kN)

Load (kN)
80
60
60
FEM (Perfect bond) 40
40 Experiment
FEM (Interface) 20 FEM (Interface)
20 Experiment
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Strain (micro)
Displacement (mm) Fig. 12. Horizontal plate strain at mid span of beam C-2.
Fig. 10. Relationship between the load and mid-span displacement for
beam C-3.
140

120
180
100
160
140
Load (kN)

80

120
60
Load (kN)

100
40
80 Experiment

60 FEM(Perfect bond) 20 FEM (Interface)

FEM(Interface)
40 Experiment 0
0 500 1000 1500 2000
20
Strain (micro)
0
0 10 20 30 40 Fig. 13. Top concrete fiber strain at mid span of beam C-2.
Displacement (mm)

Fig. 11. Relationship between the load and mid-span displacement for
beam C-5.
loads and failure modes as predicted by FEM analysis
along with the experimental results are presented in Ta-
bles 5 and 6 for first and second set of beams, respec-
tively. It is seen that the FEM analysis with perfect
bond assumption slightly overestimates the failure
loads, however the model with interface element pre-
dicts the ultimate failure loads and failure modes of
all beams quite accurately. For beam C-5, the failure
mode predicted from perfect bond analysis is flexural
one, which is erroneous, since the experimental failure
mode is shear. The failure load is also overestimated. It
is thus confirmed that though the perfect bond analysis
is satisfactory in general, but the analysis with interface
element is superior in overall performance. Figs. 10
and 11 show the load versus mid-span displacement
relationships for two typical beams from experiments
and FEM analyses. It is seen that there is a close agree-
ment between the experimental curves and the analyti-
cal curves. These figures clearly show the accuracy of
 B.B. Adhikary, H. Mutsuyoshi / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 296–307 303

a a
tp/2
Asv P P
As'
d h @ sv
As
hp
L
bw L+200
L+400
(a) Cross-section.
(b) Longitudinal section.
Fig. 14. Model beam used for parametric study.

the model with interface element over that of the per- achieve this, the beams were designed to have high flex-
fect bond analysis. Figs. 12 and 13 show the horizontal ural strength. The design was carried out according to
plate strain at bottom of plate at the center of beam the JSCE design code [23]. Table 7 shows the parameters
span and concrete strain at top fiber at center of beam used in the analysis, where shear reinforcement ratio pv
span from the experiment and from the analysis with (%) is defined as follows
interface element for beam C-2. There are excellent Av
agreements between the experimental and analytical pv ¼  100: ð1Þ
sv d
curves.

4.2. Results from parametric study

4. Parametric study
To study the effects of various parameters on ultimate
shear strength of beams with web-bonded steel plates; a
parametric study was conducted. From the experiments,
it is seen that the increment in shear strength of plated
beam depends on a number of factors such as plate
depth across the beam section, plate thickness, and the
amount of internal shear reinforcement. Also, concrete
strength and yield strength of steel plates influence the
shear strength of such beams. The nonlinear FEM
model described above was used for the parametric study.
The parameters considered were concrete strength, yield
strength of steel plate, plate thickness, plate depth to
beam depth ratio, size of beam section and the shear
reinforcement ratio.
4.1. Model beam and parameters
For the purpose of parametric study, a model beam
was used as shown in Fig. 14. The beams were designed
to ensure shear failure even for strengthened beams. To
4.2.1. Effect of concrete strength
The shear strength of plate-bonded beam has directly
proportional relationship with the concrete strength.
Since the concrete contribution to shear strength is a di-
rect function of concrete strength, as concrete strength
becomes higher, the shear strength also increases. This
relationship is shown in Fig. 15.
4.2.2. Effect of plate depth/beam depth ratio
This is considered the most important parameter in
shear strengthening using web-bonded continuous steel
plates. The larger this ratio is, the higher is the contribu-
tion of steel plate in shear strength of beam. Obviously,
deeper plates provide better confinement to concrete as
well as the direct bearing area for shear stress develop-
ment in plates. Plates with lower hp/h ratios serve more
as external flexural reinforcement than as shear rein-
forcement. However, for ratio greater than 0.75, the
contribution of steel plate to shear strength is not much
different. This is particularly a merit of this system for T-
beams and beams below slab, where full web bonding is

Table 7
Parameters considered in the parametric study
No. Parameters Range of values Number of cases
1 Concrete strength ÔfcÕ (MPa) 25–70 4
2 Yield strength of plate ÔfypÕ (MPa) 235–500 3
3 Plate thickness/beam width Ôtp/bwÕ 0.0046–0.27 10
4 Plate depth/beam depth Ôhp/hÕ 0.25–1.0 4
5 Shear reinforcement ratio ÔpvÕ (%) 0.2–0.8 4
6 Beam size (bw · h) (mm · mm) 150 · 200–1000 · 2000 4
Analyzed cases 554
304 B.B. Adhikary, H. Mutsuyoshi / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 296–307

1200 tp= 2.3 mm tp= 4.5 mm tp= 6.0 mm 1400 hp /h= 0.25 hp/h= 0.50
tp= 10 .0 mm tp= 20 .0 mm hp/h= 0.75 hp/h= 1.00
1200
1000
1000
Shear strength (kN)

Shear strength (kN)

800
800

600 600

400
400
S ize 300m m x600m m , As v=0.0, hp /h=0.5 200
S ize 30 0m m x600 m m , As v=0.0,fc'=25 MP a
200 0
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 0 5 10 15 20 25
Concrete strength (MPa) Plate thickness (mm)
Fig. 15. Relationship between the shear strength and concrete Fig. 17. Relationship between the shear strength and plate thickness.
strength.

600

Shear contribution of plate (kN)

not possible. The effect of this factor on shear strength 300X600, fc'=35 MPa, tp=2.3 mm hp/h=0.25
of beams is shown in Fig. 16. 500 hp/h=0.50
hp/h=0.75
4.2.3. Effect of plate thickness 400 hp/h=1.00

The effect of plate thickness on shear strength of

300
beams is shown in Fig. 17. It is seen that the shear
strength increases with plate thickness. The slopes of 200
the curves suggest that for higher hp/h ratios, the incre-
ment is higher. Increasing the plate thickness seems to 100
increase the shear strengths of beams, however, it is bet-
0
ter to use deeper plates rather than thicker ones for same
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
plate cross-sectional area. Moreover, the debonding
type of failure becomes a problem if very thick plates Shear reinforcement ratio (%)
are used without adequate mechanical anchorages. Fig. 18. Relationship between the shear contribution of steel plate and
shear reinforcement ratio.
4.2.4. Effect of internal shear reinforcement
From the experiments conducted by the authors [13],
loss of aggregate interlock and post-cracking strength
it was observed that the increase in shear strength of
degradation of concrete, the amount of internal shear
beams without shear reinforcement was higher than
reinforcement affects the extent of increment in shear
the beams with internal shear reinforcement. Since the
strength. When steel plate contribution is separated
failure of beam occurs due the opening of shear cracks,
from the nominal shear strength by subtracting the con-
crete contribution and the shear reinforcement contribu-
1600 tp= 2.3 mm
tion, it was found that the beams without shear
tp= 4.5 mm reinforcement showed higher contribution than the
1400
tp= 6.0 mm beams with shear reinforcement. Fig. 18 shows the effect
1200 tp= 10.0 mm of internal shear reinforcement ratio in the shear force
Shear Strength (kN)

1000 tp= 20.0 mm taken by steel plate. It is found that the plateÕs contribu-
tion to the total shear strength decreases with increasing
800
the internal shear reinforcement ratio.
600

400
5. Shear strength of plate bonded RC beams
200
S ize 300m m x600m m , As v=0.0, fc'=35 MP a
0 5.1. Expression for shear strength
0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20
hp/h The ultimate shear strength of RC beams with web-
Fig. 16. Relationship between the shear strength and plate depth/beam bonded continuous horizontal steel plates is computed
depth ratio. by adding the contributions from concrete, internal
 B.B. Adhikary, H. Mutsuyoshi / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 296–307 305

shear reinforcement and the external steel plates. Nom- 1

smax : ¼ fyp : ð7Þ
inal shear strength of plate-bonded beam is given as fol- 2
lows Moreover, from Eqs. (5)–(7), we can write
V n ¼ V c þ V s þ V p: ð2Þ 1
V p ¼ fyp hp tp : ð8Þ
The contribution of concrete (Vc) and internal shear 3
reinforcement (Vs) are computed following Okamura– However, the steel plates are not fully anchored in con-
Higai formula [24] (Eq. (3)) and truss analogy (Eq. crete, unlike the internal shear reinforcement, so they
(4)), respectively. are unable to develop their full yielding stress across

 their depth. Furthermore, to introduce the effects of pos-
1:4
V c ¼ 0:20fc01=3 ð1 þ bp þ bd þ bn Þ 0:75 þ bw d; ð3Þ sible slip between the concrete and steel plate, which
a=d
leads to local debonding of plates; a modification factor
pffiffiffi j is introduced into Eq. (8). The factor depends on sev-
bp ¼ pw  1 6 0:732;
eral parameters as listed in Table 7. The final expression
2M d for shear contribution of steel plate at ultimate state
bd ¼ d 1=4  1; ðd in metersÞ and bn ¼ ;
Mu takes the form given by the following equation
V s ¼ ½Av fyv ðsin as þ cos as Þ=sv Z: ð4Þ 1
V p ¼ jfyp hp tp : ð9Þ
3
The expression for shear contribution of web-bonded
continuous steel plates to the shear strength of beam From the multiple regression analysis of 554 data as
(Vp) is given by summing up the shear stresses in steel mentioned in Table 7, value of j is given by the follow-
plates over its depth and thickness ing equation
   
V p ¼ savg: hp tp ; ð5Þ hp tp
j ¼ 0:68  0:27pv þ 0:28  1:95
h bw
where, hp is the depth of the steel plates across the sec-  
fyp
tion, tp is the thickness of the plates at both sides of  0:007 0 : ð10Þ
fc
the beam web and savg. is the average shear stress in steel
plates. For quadratic distribution of shear stress over
the plate depth, the relationship between the maximum 5.2. Evaluation of proposed formula
stress (smax.) and average stress is written as follows.
2 To evaluate the accuracy of the proposed formula for
savg ¼ smax : ð6Þ ultimate shear strength of RC beams with web-bonded
3
continuous steel plates, a comparison is made with the
Maximum shear stress in steel plate is related to uniaxial numerical results from parametric study and the experi-
yield strength (fyp) by TrescaÕs yield criterion as given in mental results. Fig. 19 shows the correlation graph be-
the following equation tween the shear strength of beams predicted by the

18000

15000
V kN (Analysis)

12000

9000

6000

3000
R 2=0.95

0
0 3000 6000 9000 12000 15000 18000
V kN (Formula)

Fig. 19. Correlation between the shear strength computed from formula and from analysis.
306 B.B. Adhikary, H. Mutsuyoshi / Construction and Building Materials 20 (2006) 296–307

Table 8
Ultimate shear strengths of beams (beams failing in flexure are excluded)
Beam no. Formula (kN) FEMa (kN) Experiment (kN) Formula/Experiment Formula/FEM
A-2 54.5 56.8 55.3 0.98 0.96
A-3 61.4 62.7 57.2 1.07 0.98
A-4 69.0 62.7 63.1 1.09 1.10
A-5 88.6 82.4 83.4 1.06 1.07
A-6 89.2 81.3 79.1 1.13 1.10
B-2 55.1 62.7 58.9 0.94 0.88
B-3 63.2 73.5 74.4 0.85 0.86
B-4 70.4 77.4 74.4 0.95 0.91
C-2 103.9 116.6 116.4 0.89 0.89
C-3 133.3 122.5 106.3 1.25 1.09
C-4 150.1 128.4 126.4 1.19 1.17
C-5 128.5 132.3 132.4 0.97 0.97
a
FEM results presented from the analysis using interface element.

1. 6 bonded steel plates increases with increasing plate depth

Formula/Experiment or FEM

Experiment and thickness across the beam section. It is found that

1. 4
1. 2
1. 0
0. 8
0. 6
0. 4
40 60 80 100
Experimental Shear strength (kN)
Fig. 20. Accuracy of proposed formula with the experimental results.
proposed formula and from the results of finite element
analysis. It is seen that the proposed formula predicts
the ultimate shear strengths of beams quite well.
Table 8 shows the shear strengths of strengthened
beams from the proposed formula along with the
FEM and the experimental results. It is seen that the
proposed formula predicts the shear strengths of these
beams very well. The predicted values are within rea-
sonable agreement both with the experimental and
FEM results. Fig. 20 shows the normalized graph for
shear strengths predicted from the proposed formula
and the experimental shear strengths. It is seen that
the ratios of shear strengths of beams from the pro-
posed formula to that of experiments are within the
reasonable limit.
FEM beams should be reinforced with plates up to the maxi-
mum possible section depth to attain the maximum
shear contribution from steel plate. Using thicker plates
does not increase the strength proportionally, it is better
to use deeper rather than thicker plates to achieve the
maximum shear contribution for same plate cross-
sectional area.
A nonlinear FEM model was developed to simulate
the behavior of RC beams with web- bonded continuous
steel plates. A parametric study was conducted to study
120 140 the effects of various parameters such as plate depth to
beam depth ratio, plate thickness to beam width ratio,
concrete strength, and internal shear reinforcement ra-
tio. It is found that the plate depth/beam depth ratio is
the most important factor defining the extent of shear
strength increment in plated beams. The shear strength
of beam increases with concrete strength, as well as with
the hp/h ratio and the plate thickness. The contribution
of steel plates to the shear strengths of beams is greater
for the lower internal shear reinforcement ratio. A for-
mula to compute the shear strength of plate bonded
beams by adding the contributions from concrete, inter-
nal shear reinforcement and the externally bonded steel
plates was suggested. The accuracy of the proposed for-
mula for shear strength of web-bonded continuous steel
plates was verified with the numerical results of 554 data
from the finite element analysis and the beams tested in
the experimental program. It is found that the proposed
formula predicts the ultimate shear strengths of beams
quite satisfactorily.

6. Conclusions
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