Peak strength of shear-critical reinforced concrete walls

Twelve low-aspect-ratio rectangular reinforced concrete (RC) walls were built and tested under reversed cyclic loading at the University at Buffalo. One of the objectives of the research project was to develop improved predictive equations for the peak shear strength of low-aspect-ratio RC walls, suitable for inclusion in design standards such as ACI 318 and ACI 349. Information on load paths gathered from patterns of concrete cracking, strains on reinforcement, and strain fields enabled the development of new predictive equations for peak shear strength.