Torsional behavior of high-strength concrete deep beams with variable dimensions

Abstract EN

Sixteen high-strength plain concrete deep beams were tested under pure torsion.

The variables were the span/depth and the depth/width ratios.

Concrete strength of about 67 MPa (9700 psi), span/depth ratios var- ying from 1 to 4 and depth/width ratios ranging from 2 to 5 were used.

Test results showed that high-strength plain concrete deep beams under torsion failed suddenly and violently along a smooth surface, and the inclinations of the failure surfaces were influenced by both span/depth and depth/width ratios.

The torsional capacity gradually increased as the span/depth ratio decreased from 3 to 1.

The increase of span/depth or depth/width ratio re- duced the beam stiffness and increased the angle of twist and the energy ab- sorbed.

The torsional strength of the test beams were also predicted using some of the theoretical equations available in the literature and were com- pared with the experimental values.