Comparison of shear behaviour of engineered cementitious composite and normal concrete beams with different shear span lengths

Abstract

This paper presents test results of 12 reinforced concrete beams having three shear span to depth ratios and two different amounts of main longitudinal reinforcement. The test specimens were divided into two similar groups – the first six beams were made from engineered cementitious composites (ECCs), whereas the other six beams were made using normal concrete (NC). The test results showed that the behaviour of ECC beams under shear is, overall, much better than that of NC beams. The strength, stiffness, ductility and energy absorption capacity of the ECC beams were found to be significantly higher than those of the corresponding NC beams. However, these comparisons depend on the shear span to depth ratio.