Strength and Behaviour of High Strength Concrete Deep Beam with Web Openings

Abstract

Over the last few decades, concrete deep beam research has attracted attentions of both academics and professionals due to the increasing use of this type of structural members in construction projects. Evaluating the ultimate strength of concrete deep beams has been a great challenge because of the complexity of these structural members. Moreover, using high strength material and having openings in the web increase the difficulties of predicting the ultimate strength. Normally, web openings are introduced to accommodate services such as air-conditioning ducts, cables, and other essential services. However, the existence of web openings causes geometric discontinuity within the beam and non-linear stress distributions over the depth of the beam. Furthermore, present Codes of Practices do not cover the design of deep beams with web openings. The focus of this thesis is to develop a set of simple and reliable design equations for high strength concrete deep beams with web openings. Deep beams without web reinforcement but with web openings are given particular attention in this investigation, which constitutes three major components: experimental, numerical and theoretical studies.