Investigation of the effect of slenderness ratio on the strength of reinforced concrete beams

In this study, it was observed that the main parameters affecting the shear strength of reinforced concrete beams without stirrups are concrete compressive strength, longitudinal reinforcement ratio and effective depth-to-shear span ratio (a/d) by conducting literature survey. The shear strength predictions by the equations of TS500, ACI318 and Zsutty were calculated and the effect of each parameter on the shear strength prediction was shown. Then, the effect of a/d on the strength of reinforced concrete beams with stirrups were investigated experimentally and the results were discussed. In the experimental study, a displacement-controlled loading scheme was applied to reinforced concrete beams with stirrups having a/d of 2.5, 3.5 and 4.5 as a concentrated load at their mid-spans, the mid-span deflections of beams were recorded by means of a computer-aided data acquisition system, the effect of slenderness ratio on the strength and failure type was identified.