1 Shear strength of the joint, PSB

One of the factors deciding the failure modes and capacity of the beam is shear-span ratio
(a/d). Large shear span ratio will likely to cause flexure failure whereas for smaller ratio shear
failure can be expected. Types of shear failure also depends upon the shear span and the amount
of shear reinforcing. A diagonal shear failure occurs when span to depth ratio is more than 3 or 4.
A shear compression failure occurs when the ration is from 1 to 1.5 when the ration is less than
d, a splitting or compression failure will occur.

a P

d\d

Figure 1 Defining a/d ratio

Besides these failures another type of shear failure can occur in segmental bridges, a joint
shear failure. A segmental joint shear failure can be recognized by shear key breakage and
slipping along the smooth surface. This is more likely to occur when the segmental joint is in the
area of large shear and low moment, such as end of pier and can be characterized by a direct
shearing off. of the keys.

Ak = Keyed area
Asm = Smooth area

Figure 2 Precast Segmental joint regions: Keyed area and Flat area

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1.1 Calculation Method for Shear capacity of Concrete Joint Based on
Mohr’s Circle in Precast Segmental Bridge

The capacity of a concrete keyed joint is assumed to be a combination of shear friction between
the smooth faces and the direct shear capacity of the keys along the failure plane. In the flat
region the shear friction capacity can be obtained by Eq 0.

Vsm  Asm x Eq 0
Where,
Vsm = shear capacity in the plane zone
 = coefficient of shear friction

Asm = smooth area in shear plane (Figure 2)

 x = confining stress

sm = smooth area, to be consistent with AASHTO provision (2003)

Once the shear friction limit is reached the sliding will occur along the joint and the shear keys
will be engaged to take further shear force after this point. The shear keys will continue to take
the load until they are sheared off. The capacity of shear key is the function of tensile strength of
the concrete and confining stress across the joints (Roberts, Breen & Kreger, 1993). In the keyed
regions, concrete joints are under biaxial (confining and vertical shear) stress thus a Mohr’s
stress circle can be used to describe the stress relations on the shear plane. It can be assumed the
joints experience shear failure when the maximum tensile stress reaches the uniaxial tensile
strength of concrete (Liu, Wang, Guo & Wang, 2019). The Figure 3 below shows the state of
stress on an element near a shear key subjected to high shear and low moment such as in a push
off test setup. According to the Mohr’s circle in Figure 3 the stress equation related to maximum
tensile stress s1 can be written as

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 2 2
 x  y    x  y 
1         r
2 2
Eq 0
 2   2 
V Eq 0
y=
bwW
V Eq 0
 =
bw h

Where,
 x = lateral confining stress

y
= vertical compressive stress caused by vertical load (V),
 = target shear stress in the keyed regions
r = radius of the Mohr’s stress circle

Form Eq 0 and Eq 0 we can write,

h
y  
W

Defining,
h

W

And assuming,
1  ft
Where,
ft = Direct tensile strength of concrete

Thus, further solving Eq 0 using the above assumptions and resolving the quadratic equation, we
get the shear strength of the joint in the form of Eq 0.

1
  ( f t   x )   2 ( f t   x ) 2  4 ft ( ft   x )  Eq 0
2  

Further,  is related to the angle of diagonal cracks in the shear plane and will change with the
confining stress. To simplify the calculation of shear strength, [ CITATION CLR93 \l 1033 ]

y 
suggested the relation ( =h/w=1) based on the strut analogy of the joint. For a

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conservative value the angle of compression strut is taken equal to 45 degrees, which results in a
ratio of strut width to strut depth of 1.0. Assuming this relation the Eq 0 becomes,

1
 ( f t   x )  ( f t   x ) 2  4 f t ( f t   x )  Eq 0
2  
Multiplying equation with the area of shear keys (A k) we get the shear force resisted by the
keyed region of the joint.
1
VK  ( f t   x )  ( f t   x ) 2  4 f t ( f t   x )  AK Eq 0
2 
The shear capacity of the joints is the sum of shear capacity of keyed region and flat region, thus
combining Eq 0 and Eq 0 we can calculate the shear strength of the joint.
V j  Vsm  VK

1
V j   Asm x  ( ft   x )  ( f t   x ) 2  4 ft ( ft   x )  AK Eq 0
2 

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 V
y 
bwW
V
 =
bw h

Figure 3 Mohr’s Circle Description of state of stress in the element near the joint with normal
stress

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2 Bibliography

Roberts, C., Breen, J., & Kreger, M. (1993). Measurement based revisions for segmental bridge
design and construction criteria. Austin, TX: Center for Transportation Research, Bureau
of Engineering Research, University of Texas at Austin.

Liu, T., Wang, Z., Guo, J., & Wang, J. (2019). Shear Strength of Dry Joints in Precast UHPC
Segmental Bridges: Experimental and Theoretical Research. Journal of Bridge
Engineering, 24(1), 04018100. doi: 10.1061/(asce)be.1943-5592.0001323

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