Evaluation of the current concrete design code on shear and end anchorage of deep beams by a limit analysis based on concrete plasticity

The current ACI code provision on the shear strength of a simply supported deep beam and its end anchorage details suggests that deep beams should be designed using the strut-and-tie model provided in its appendix. Although this is a useful methodology to design members in disturbed regions, the quality of the design is highly dependent on the truss model that designers create. In this paper, we investigate the validity of the current ACI design code on these issues by comparing the estimates by the code with those of the shear equations proposed by Hong et al. (2002). The comparison shows that deep beam members designed by the ACI strut-and-tie model approach retain the shear strengths close to the values predicted by the shear strength equations, but its requirements on end anchorage details may be rather conservative.