See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342241984 SHEAR BEHAVIOR OF REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS WITH VERTICAL AND TRANSVERSE OPENINGS Article in TEST ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT · April 2020 CITATIONS READS 5 4,028 2 authors, including: Ahmed Hamzah University of Babylon 1 PUBLICATION 5 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE All content following this page was uploaded by Ahmed Hamzah on 17 June 2020. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. March-April 2020 ISSN: 0193-4120 Page No. 22120- 22133 SHEAR BEHAVIOR OF REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS WITH VERTICAL AND TRANSVERSE OPENINGS Ahmed S. Hamzah1, Ammar Y. Ali2 M.Sc. Student, College of Engineering, University of Babylon, Hilla, Babil, Iraq. 2 Professor, Ph.D., College of Engineering, University of Babylon, Hilla, Babil, Iraq. sengahmed@yahoo.com1 , dr_ammaraljanabi2005@yahoo.com2 1 Article Info Volume 83 Page Number: 22120- 22133 Publication Issue: March - April 2020 Article History Article Received:19 October 2019 Revised: 27 December 2019 Accepted: 29 March 2020 Publication: 30 April 2020 Abstract: Providing vertical opening for reinforced concrete beams becomes very common in building construction. It is used to pass various services, especially for buildings of limited size and height. In this paper, an experimental study is conducted on the shear behavior of RC beams with opening. The main aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the vertical opening on the shear strength and behavior of RC simply supported beams. The study consisted of tested five RC beams, one of them without opening represents the reference beam, while all the other beams having an opening at their mid-shear span. The variables adopted here included openings direction, openings shape, and the details of replacing the reinforcement that will obstruct the openings penetration. The experimental results showed that the presence of a vertical opening slightly reduced the ultimate load capacity. In addition, it has an insignificant effect on increasing the maximum deflection at the service loads. On the other hand, it is found that the circular shape of openings exhibited a lower effect on reducing the ultimate load capacity than square openings. With regard to methods that used to replace the obstruction rebars, the results showed that using stirrup on each side of the opening in the longitudinal direction is adequate to enhance the ductility index and recover the lost strength. In addition to the above, it is found that the transverse openings have a significant effect on the ultimate load compared with the vertical opening’s effect. Keywords: Reinforced concrete beams; Vertical opening; Transverse opening; Shear behavior I. INTRODUCTION Floor system for all multistory buildings requires large slab openings for stairwells and elevator shafts, in addition, it requires multiple small beam and slab penetrations for fire protection pips, routing of plumbing, and ductwork between floors or in the same floor. There are two types of openings in RC beams according to their direction; horizontal (transverse) opening which crosses the beams in the direction of their width, and vertical opening which crosses the beams in the direction of their height. In Iraq and other countries, the use of reinforced concrete Published by: The Mattingley Publishing Co., Inc. beams with vertical openings become very common in building construction to pass various services. However, special consideration must be given to the analysis and design of such beams depending on the effect of the openings. In the last five decades, intensive research has been conducted on the effect of transverse openings on RC beams. In fact, vertical openings no less important, there is almost no multi-story building without beams having small or even large vertical opening especially for buildings of limited size and height; see Figure 1. 22120 March-April 2020 ISSN: 0193-4120 Page No. 22120- 22133 Fig. 1. Service pipes passing through RC beams with vertical openings in a limited height building. In general, the influence of openings on the beam's strength and deformation relies upon the openings' location and size. If the place is selected wisely, quite large openings on RC beam structures can be provided without affecting the ultimate load. However, even small openings positioned in an unfavorable place can cause a dramatic decrease in the beam's strength. For that reason, it is necessary to plan the size and place of the openings accurately. However, the existence of the openings results in discontinuities or disturbances in normal stress flow, resulting in a concentration of stress and early cracking at the opening vicinity. Therefore, special reinforcement at opening region should be provided in adequate amounts to control the cracks’ width and avoid any possible premature failure of the beam [1]. Vertical openings in RC beams are used instead of small slab penetrations, especially for buildings of limited size and height (low – rise buildings). In fact, the effect of small openings in the structural behavior of RC slabs is often not considered due to the structure ability to redistribute stresses [2]. However, it will take up useful space and make the services visible, thus may not be aesthetically convenient and need a suspended ceiling or special decoration to be acceptable from the aesthetic viewpoint. On the other hand, most ducts and pipes passaging through vertical openings in beams will be hidden in the partitions until its reach the specified location, for this reasons, vertical Published by: The Mattingley Publishing Co., Inc. openings in RC beams become commonly used. However, unlike the horizontal opening, which can be placed properly without cutting the compression zone of the beam and does not affect the ultimate moment capacity [3], the vertical opening will always damage apart from it and thus decreases the area of concrete needed to ultimately develop the complete compressive stress block. The reduced area of concrete in compression should be taken into account in design because it will cause a reduction in both flexural and shear ultimate strength of the beam. In addition, the provision of a vertical opening has a possibility of cutting or obstructs the flexural and shears reinforcement bars. Several studies had investigated the effects of transverse openings with various shape, size, and location on the flexural, shear, and torsion behavior of RC beams. In addition, there are a large number of researches about the design and strengthening of such beams [4]–[10]. However, very little researches were found in the literature about the effect of vertical opening on the behavior of RC beams. Aziz and Ajeel [11] studied the shear behavior of RC T-beams with vertical opening or cold joints in a different location of the flanges. They found that the presence of flange openings reduce the shear capacity and cracking load of the beams. Al-Jazaeri and Dawood [12] reported a similar study of Aziz and Ajeel but CFRP laminates have been used to strength the flange of 22121 March-April 2020 ISSN: 0193-4120 Page No. 1482 - 1484 the T-beam specimens having openings. They found that the use of CFRP sheet to upgrade the reinforced concrete T- beams with flange openings has a significant effect on enhancing overall behavior such as the ultimate load, crack width, and deflection. With regard to vertical openings crossing the entire depth of the beam, Silva et al. [13], conducted an experimental and numerical investigation on RC beams with multiple vertical openings. They found that how more was opening close to support, more the main tensile grew, thus may result in a possible diagonal tensile failure. However, they discovered that when the openings were located adjacent to the support, it does not affect the ultimate load of the beam. On the other hand, the main practice codes for designing RC structures do not provide provisions for the design of RC beams with vertical openings. Currently, the American Concrete Institute (ACI), in its guide of simplified design for reinforced concrete buildings ACI 314R-16 [14], recommends passing the opening vertically through a beam, girder, or joist by using the guidelines illustrated in Figure 2. Fig. 2. Location of conduits and pipes passes vertically through girders, beams, and joists according to ACI 314-16 In addition to the American code, the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards in its Brazilian code for design of concrete structures - Procedure NBR 6118 (2014) [15], recommends passing the opening vertically through a beam by using the following guidelines: The vertical openings should not have diameters greater than one-third of the beam's width. The minimum distance from the opening to the closest face of the beam shall be at least 5 cm and twice the cover provided on that face. If a set of openings is required, they must be aligned and the distance between their faces must be at least 5 cm or the opening Published by: The Mattingley Publishing Co., Inc. diameter and each gap must contain at least one stirrup. It is well known from the literature mentioned above that there is lack of knowledge about the effect of vertical openings on the strength and behavior of reinforced concrete beam with vertical openings, especially when the opening penetrates the entire depth of the beam and obstruct the reinforcement bars. In addition, no information is available about the difference between the effect of the vertical and the transverse openings on the strength and behavior of RC beams. On the other hand, all the building design codes and guidelines introduce very limited recommendations for beams with vertical openings. This study program is dedicated to fill in this gap by evaluating and 22122 March-April 2020 ISSN: 0193-4120 Page No. 1482 - 1484 enhance the information about the behavior of RC beams with a vertical opening when it crossing the entire depth of the beams and obstruct the reinforcement bars. The absence of researches and publications in this issue makes this paper of significant relevance. II. Experimental Program For the experimental investigation, five square RC beams were fabricated and tested, one of them without opening and four beams with an opening. The variables adopted here included openings direction, openings shape, and the details of replacing the reinforcement that will obstruct the openings penetration. The following sections below provide details of the experimental program. 1.1. Materials Properties The properties of the materials used in this study were obtained experimentally. All tested beams were prepared at the same time and cured under the same conditions to ensure that the compressive strength was nearly the same. Ordinary Portland cement and a maximum size of 4.75 and 14 mm of sand and gravel respectively were used throughout this investigation for casting all the specimens. Table 1 shows the mixture proportions (by weight) of the selected concrete mix. The cube compressive strength was obtained by testing six cubs with dimensions of 150 × 150 × 150 mm using Compressive Testing Machine (CTM). The average tested the compressive strength of concrete at 28 days was 37 MPa. The splitting tensile strength was carried out on cylindrical concrete specimens of 150 mm diameter and 300 mm height using Compressive Testing Machine (CTM). The average tested the splitting tensile strength of concrete at 28 days was 3 MPa. Direct Tensile test was carried out on Ø12, Ø10 and Ø6 mm diameter deformed steel bars. Three specimens for each bar size were tested. The yield strength was 550 MPa for Ø12, and Ø10 mm diameter steel bars and 450 MPa for Ø6 mm diameter steel bar. Table 1 Mixture proportions for the selected concrete mix Materials Water/cement ratio Water (kg/m3) The selected 0.49 207 concrete mix 1.2. Specimen Details All beams have a square cross-section of 200×200 mm, with a total length of 2000 mm. They were designed to fail in shear (shear-critical beams) by reinforcing them for flexure with 6Ø12mm deformed steel bares distributed in two layers, four bars for the first layer with a clear cover of 20 mm and two bars for the second layer spaced apart vertically with a clear spacing of 20 mm. The effective depth (d) was 162 mm. The shear-span Published by: The Mattingley Publishing Co., Inc. Cement (kg/m3) Fine aggregate (kg/m3) Coarse aggregate (kg/m3) 423 732 934 was reinforced with 6-mm-diameter deformed stirrups spaced every 175 mm. For all beams there are no stirrups were provided in the pure bending zone, 2Ø10 mm steel deformed bars were used as top reinforcement to hold stirrups. The opening was located at the mid-shear span of the beams. Its size was kept the same for all specimens; their dimension was 30% of the beam width or height (60 × 60) mm. The reference beam tests layout is detailed in Figure 3. 22123 March-April 2020 ISSN: 0193-4120 Page No. 22120- 22133 . Fig. 3. Geometric and reinforcement details for the reference beam (all dimensions in mm) In order to make it easy to recognize the description of each beam, all beams were given a designation representing their variable, and whether they were solid or with an opening. Figure 4 shows the arrangement and definition of specimen naming convention. Fig. 4. The arrangement and definition of specimen naming convention Two bars from the longitudinal main reinforcement as well as the stirrup that located at the mid-shear span for the reference beam will obstruct the openings’ penetration for the rest beams. Details of each specimen are described in Table 2. VB2-SVo-D1 and VB4-CVo-D1 specimens were provided with square and circular vertical openings respectively by redistribute the main rebars and replace the obstructed stirrup by singleleg stirrup at each transverse sides of the opening (Detail No.1). The VB3-SHo-D2 specimen was provided with a square horizontal opening by replacing the obstructed stirrup by rectangular stirrup at each cord of the opening (Detail No.2). The VB5-SVo-D3 specimen was provided with square vertical opening by replacing the obstructed stirrup by using stirrup at each longitudinal side of the opening (Detail No.3). The details of replacement the obstruction reinforcement for all specimens are shown in Figure 5. Table 2 Details of the tested specimens Specimen designation Opening shape Opening direction Dimensions of opening (mm) RVB1 -------- --------- ---------- VB2-SVOD1 Square Vertical 60×60 Published by: The Mattingley Publishing Co., Inc. Details of replacement the obstruction rebars --------D1 (single-leg stirrup at each transverse sides 22124 March-April 2020 ISSN: 0193-4120 Page No. 1482 - 1484 of the opening) VB3-SHoD2 Square Horizontal 60×60 D2 (using stirrup at both cords above and below the opening) VB4-CVOD1 Circular Vertical 60 D1 60×60 D3 (using stirrup at each longitudinal side of the opening) VB5-SVOD3 Square Vertical (a) Detail No.1 (D1) used for VB2 and VB4 specimens (b)Detail No.2 (D2) used for VB3 specimen (c) Detail No.3 (D3) used for VB5 specimen Fig. 5. Details of replacement the obstruction rebars for beams (dimensions in mm). 1.3. Test Setup All beams were tested under two-point loading until failure by using 600 kN capacity hydraulic testing machine. Specimens were placed from one end on a roller and the other on a hinge. The supports located 100 mm from each end of the Published by: The Mattingley Publishing Co., Inc. 22125 March-April 2020 ISSN: 0193-4120 Page No. 1482 - 1484 beam allowing a simply supported span of 1800 mm; the shear span was 550 mm, the distance between loads being 700 mm. The load was applied to the tested beam through a spreader steel beam. Bearing plates with a dimension of (200*75*12) mm were used at supports and loading points to avoid local crushing of concrete. In order to measure the deflection of the tested beams, two vertical digital dial gauges were used, one at the mid-span section and the other vertical dial gauges were added under one of the concentrated point load ( 550 mm from the supports). Both dial gauges were attached to vertical metallic elements and fixed in vertical position during the test. These dial gauges have a maximum measurement of 25 mm and an accuracy of 0.01 mm. The load was applied in stages by a load control mode at a load rate of 0.1 kN/sec. Observations of crack development on the concrete beams were marked with a heavy felt pen to make easy the positioning and identification of cracks during and after the test. The beam test layout is shown in Figure 6. Fig. 6. Beam test layout (all dimensions in mm) III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Table 3 gives a summary of the load capacity and failure modes of the tested beams. The observation Specimen designation RVB1 VB2-SVoD1 VB3-SHoD2 of specimens during the tests and detailed discussions are presented in the following. Table 3 Summary of experimental results with failure mode Failure Deflection at Max. Reduction in Failure mode load service load * Deflection ultimate load (KN) (mm) (mm) (%) 145 5.79 11.5 ----Flexural-Shear 133 57 5.81 ----- 10.61 3.93 8.27 Flexural-Shear 60.69 Web-Shear (beam-type failure) VB4-CVo138 5.8 10.95 5.07 Flexural-Shear D1 VB5-SVo142 5.8 11 2.06 Flexural-Shear D3 * Assumed service load = Ultimate load of reference beam / 1.7 [16] Published by: The Mattingley Publishing Co., Inc. 22126 March-April 2020 ISSN: 0193-4120 Page No. 22120- 22133 1.4. Ultimate Load and Modes of Failure As previously explained, all RC beams were designed to fail by shear. During the tests, this mode of failure was clearly obtained. The shear failure took place in the shear-span at one side of the beam after the formation of an inclined crack between the support and the nearest concentrated load. At about 70% of the ultimate load, this crack began to widen and opens more rapidly. ultimately, all the specimens were failed due to yielding and rupture of the web reinforcement, except the beam with the horizontal opening (VB3 specimen), which collapse immediately following the formation of the first shear crack. That is due to absence of the web reinforcement through the diagonal crack at the opening location. Figure 7 shows the failure modes obtained for the tested beams. For reference beam, the failure was occurred at one side of the beam, while for VB2, VB3, and VB4 specimens, the failure occurred at the side of the beam containing the opening, passing through it. For the beam with the transverse opening (VB3 specimen), the observed failure mode is web-shear failure, since the inclined failure plane of angle about 45° traversed through the center of the opening, this failure is referred to as a beam-type failure as described by Mansur [16]; see Figure 7b. For VB5 specimens, the failure occurred on the other side of the concrete beam opposite to the opening. The experimental load capacity (Pu) for each tested beams and the comparison with the reference beam were presented in Table 3. It is observed that the presence of the transverse opening reduced the ultimate load of about 60.69%. While the reduction in the ultimate load for beams with vertical opening is 8.27 and 5.07 % for VB2 and VB4 specimens, respectively. In fact, the significant reduction in the ultimate load caused by providing the transverse opening is because that, the stirrups above and below the opening does not work appropriately, thus it does not compensate the stirrup which was lifted due to the opening penetration. With regard to the details of replacing the obstruction stirrup for beams with vertical opening, it is found that using two stirrups on each side of the opening (VB5 specimen) restored the shear capacity of the beam. (a) Typical failure of beams with and without (b) Failure of the beam with transverse vertical opening (RVB1 specimen) opening (VB3 specimen) Fig. 7. Failure modes of tested beams 1.5. Cracking Behavior At the early stages of loading, reinforced concrete beams are free from any cracks, with increasing the load and when the stresses exceed the tensile strength of the concrete, cracks will progress from the tensile portion of the crosssection. The experimental first cracking load (Pcr) Published by: The Mattingley Publishing Co., Inc. was about 25 KN for all tested beams. The first crack was a vertical flexural crack formed at the bottom of the pure bending zone at mid-span section, except for beam with transverse opening 22127 March-April 2020 ISSN: 0193-4120 Page No. 1482 - 1484 (VB3 specimen) which its first crack appeared under the point load close to the opening. Figure 8 shows the crack pattern at failure for all the tested beams. Initially fine vertical flexural cracks develop at the mid span of the beams. After that, the bending moment in the shear-bending segment increases with the load, the flexural (tensile) crack appears there near the bottom and is perpendicular to the beam axis. As the load increases, additional inclined cracks appear due to the effect of shear forces on the principal tensile stresses at mid-depth of the beams near the supports, it is referred to as web-shear cracks. With increasing the load, two or three diagonal cracks develop and extend from the flexural crack at the shear span. This kind of crack is called a flexuralshear crack. With further increase of the load, the flexural crack in the pure bending segment is stagnated, while the flexural-shear crack in the shear-bending segment extends continuously. As the cracks stabilise, one of the diagonal cracks widens into a principal tension crack and propagate in to the top compression fibres of the beam. When the load is increased further, the widths of these cracks are increased continuously but their number and shape do not change again. As shown in Figure 8, because of the lower load capacity for VB3 specimen, it has the least amount of cracks. (a) RVB1 specimen (b) VB2-SVo-D1 specimen (c) VB3-SHo-D2 specimen (d) VB4-CVo-D1 specimen (e) VB5-SVo-D3 specimen Fig. 8. Cracks patterns at failure for tested beams 1.6. Load – Deflection Response The mid-span deflection is registered with a vertical dial gauge placed at the mid-span position. Figure 9 shows the load-midspan deflection relationship for all the tested beams. Generally, there was insignificant deflection at the first stage of loading representing the uncrack stage, however, the deflection increased after the formation of the first flexural crack in the beam. At about 70% of the ultimate load, the inclined crack, which formed between the support and the nearest concentrated load began to widen and opens more rapidly until it separates and causes loss of the interface shear transfer by the aggregates interlock. At this stage of Published by: The Mattingley Publishing Co., Inc. 22128 March-April 2020 ISSN: 0193-4120 Page No. 1482 - 1484 loading, a sudden slightly increase in the deflection is observed. As is shown in Figure 9, all tested beams have almost similar load-deflection curve until the separation of the inclined cracks for each beam, except the beam with the transverse opening (VB3 specimen), which failed immediately following the formation of the first shear crack as it mentioned previously. For beam with the vertical opening (VB2 specimen), the load-deflection curve show a sudden little increase in the deflection at a load before that of the reference beam as shown in Figure 9a. Thus, before the ultimate load is achieved, the curves have separated, and shown slightly increase in the deflection for VB2 specimen compared with the reference beam for the same load level. For shape of the vertical opening, it is observed that both VB2 and VB4 specimens have almost similar load-deflection curve until the failure as shown in Figure 9b. With regard to the details of replacing the obstruction stirrup for beams with vertical opening, it is found that using two stirrups on each longitudinal side of the opening (VB5 specimen) enhance the load-deflection curve related to the VB2 specimen. Where, this beam has almost similar deflection curve to the reference beam as shown in Figure 9c. As shown in Table 3, providing vertical opening at mid-shear span for all specimens does not affect the maximum deflection at the service loads. For comparison, the limitation of the allowable deflection imposed by the ACI 318-14 Code [17] in such circumstances is ℓ/240 = 1800/240 = 7.5 mm., indicating that the stiffness of the proposed beams are sufficient. (a) Effect of the opening direction Published by: The Mattingley Publishing Co., Inc. 22129 March-April 2020 ISSN: 0193-4120 Page No. 1482 - 1484 (b) Effect of the opening shape (c) Effect of the details of reinforcement Fig. 9. Load - Midspan deflection curves for tested beams. 1.7. Ductility was found more suitable to use the second measure Ductility is the ability of the RC member to of ductility. Figure 10 shows displacement energy sustain large inelastic deformations without measured for all the tested beams. excessive strength deterioration. It can be from Figure 10, it can be noticed that the represented either in terms of ratio of the maximum presence of opening caused decrease in the displacement to the yield displacement, both ductility by 13.5% for beam with vertical opening measured at mid span (Deflection ductility index), (VB2 specimen) and 86.62% for beam with or in terms of the displacement energy consumed transverse opening (VB3 specimen) when by the specimen during the test. The displacement compared with the solid beam. The significant energy measured as the area under the load reduction in the ductility for VB3 specimen is due displacement curve up to the failure load (Energy to the considerable reduction in the ultimate load dissipation index)[18], [19]. Since the flexure capacity. For opening shape, VB4 specimen has mode of failure was prevented for all beam ductility more than VB2 specimen does. With specimens to allow for the shear mode of failure, it regard to the details of replacement the obstruction Published by: The Mattingley Publishing Co., Inc. 22130 March-April 2020 ISSN: 0193-4120 Page No. 1482 - 1484 stirrup for beams with vertical opening, it is found that using two stirrups on each side of the opening (VB5 specimen) enhance the ductility related to the VB2 specimen. Where, it has almost similar ductility to the reference beam. 926 1000 850 Displacement energy (Kn.mm) 801 905 500 124 0 RFB1 FB2-SVO-D1 FB3-SHO1 FB4-CVO-D1 FB5-SVO-D2 Fig. 9. Displacement energy for the tested beams IV. Conclusions During the experimental work, it is found that when a vertical opening having a size of 30% from the beam's width is provided at mid-shear span for shear critical beams, the following conclusions can be derived: In general, within the bounds of opening size and location considered in this study, the presence of vertical opening caused slightly decreased in the ultimate load capacity with an average of about 6.6 %. As the opening represents a source of weakness, thus if no additional reinforcement was added, the failure plane will always pass through it. The presence of vertical openings influences the crack pattern, such that more cracks form with closer average spacing at openings vicinity. Providing vertical openings for shear-critical beams does not affect the maximum deflection at the service loads, however, it caused a slight decrease in the ductility index. Circular openings exhibited lower effect than square openings in term of ductility index, and ultimate load. Thus, it considers a good choice for passing the serves vertically through the buildings. Using single-leg stirrups at the opening region gave a good response in compensation the lifted one, while for transverse opening, the stirrups in each cord above and below the opening did not work properly. Therefore, additional reinforcement enclosing the opening should be provided in order to prevent possible premature failure. Using stirrup on each longitudinal side of the opening is adequate to enhance the ductility index and recover the lost strength. Published by: The Mattingley Publishing Co., Inc. 22131 V. Acknowledgements The completing of the current work was in the Department of Civil Engineering at Engineering College of Babylon University. Therefore, the moral support that was provided is gratefully acknowledged. VI. Conflicts of Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest. March-April 2020 ISSN: 0193-4120 Page No. 1482 - 1484 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] VII. 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