Shear Test on RC Elements with Circular Cross Section

Reinforced concrete members with circular cross section are widely used in bridge engineering, either as piers or as piles to support pile caps. In codes, guidelines for shear design of circular con- crete members are almost none-existing. Some codes specify rules based on shear models for rec- tangular members. The shear behaviour of members with circular cross section is, however, quite different from that of rectangular members. The published experimental research on the shear be- haviour of circular members contains only test results with very low shear reinforcement percent- ages. In this paper shear tests on a series of heavily confined concrete members are reported. The specimens have shear reinforcement percentages (hoops) up to more than three times the maximum percentage found in existing tests. The test results are compared with a recently developed shear design model for circular members and good agreement has been found.