Influence of the Initial State of Stress and Strain on the Cracking of Shear Section of Layered Reinforced Concrete Structures

Abstract

Layered structures are widely used in modern civil engineering industry. Layered structures made of concrete type materials are relatively cheap but retain good characteristics, including self-weight, strength, thermal insulation, etc. However the range of application of such structures is limited because of the lack of calculation methods, which could estimate complicated initial state of stress and strain caused by different shrinkage deformations of different layers. When lightweight concrete type materials are used for internal layer, the carrying capacity should be ensured in both normal and shear sections. The method for calculation of tangential and normal principal stresses in shear section when estimating the initial stresses caused by concrete shrinkage deformations is presented in the paper. Experimental results of cracking of shear section of flexural three-layer beams are compared to the results of numerical calculations according to the suggested technique.