EVALUATION OF SHRINKAGE EFFECTS ON DIAGONAL CRACKING STRENGTH OF REINFORCED HSC BEAMS

Abstract

A generalized design equation proposed by authors for evaluating the effects of early age shrinkage coupled with size on diagonal cracking strength of reinfoeced HSC beams is re-formulated and re-verified by adding 18 data, which showed good agreement with experimental results. A concept of equivalent tension reinforcement ratio incorporated into the present equation showed successfully the linear relationship between diagonal cracking strength and the effective depth to −2/5 power independent of the magnitude of shrinkage. On the other hand, a crack along compresson reinforcement in flexure-shear span resulted from shrinkage indicated the possibility leading to the decrease of diagonal cracking strength.