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reinforcement in torsion
Constantin E. Chalioris
, Chris G. Karayannis
Department of Civil Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi 67100, Greece
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 30 December 2012
Revised 21 March 2013
Accepted 2 May 2013
Available online 6 June 2013
Keywords:
Rectangular spiral reinforcement
Torsion
Reinforced concrete beams
Tests
a b s t r a c t
Recently, the use of continuous spiral reinforcement has been extended in reinforced concrete elements
with rectangular cross-sections. The behaviour of reinforced concrete beams with rectangular cross-sec-
tion and continuous rectangular spiral reinforcement as transverse reinforcement under pure torsion is
experimentally investigated. The presented experimental program comprises 11 beams. Test results of
this study clearly indicated that the use of rectangular spiral reinforcement provided enhanced torsional
capacity and improved post peak performance in the examined beams. Compared to beams with equal
quantity of the commonly used stirrups the measured increase of the torsional strength for the tested
beams under imposed twist that locks the spirals was 18%, 16% and 14% for the beams with transverse
reinforcement spacing at 200 mm, 150 mm and 100 mm, respectively. However, it is stressed that when
spirals are unlocked due to the direction of the external twist the torsional capacity of the beams is
decreased and considerable concrete spalling is observed compared to beams with equal quantity of
the commonly used stirrups.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The benecial effect of continuous steel spirals to the capacity,
the concrete connement and the ductility of Reinforced Concrete
(RC) elements with cyclic cross-section has long been recognised
[14]. Recently, the use of continuous spiral reinforcement has
been extended in RC elements with rectangular cross-sections.
RC subassemblages of external beam-column joints, columns and
inlled frames with rectangular members and Rectangular Spiral
Reinforcement (RSR) as shear reinforcement have been tested un-
der cyclic loading [5,6]. The experimental results of these tests re-
vealed that the application of RSR in many cases improved the
overall seismic performance of the examined specimens in com-
parison with the conventionally reinforced subassemblages [7,8].
The application of spiral transverse reinforcement in circular RC
elements under cyclic deformations with torsional effect has
extensively been investigated [911]. The inuence of the spirals
locking and unlocking on the concrete connement, the concrete
cover spalling and the overall hysteretic response of the RC ele-
ments has also been noted in these works. Further, the problem
of reverse cyclic torsional loading in circular concrete members
with spiral transverse reinforcement has been examined and a
new effective connement technique consisting of two opposing
and crossing spirals has been proposed [12]. Moreover, a shear
truss analytical model for evaluating the contribution of the spiral
transverse reinforcement in solid and hollow circular RC members
has recently been presented [13].
Furthermore, the use of RSR in shear-critical RC beams with
rectangular cross-section has been studied by Karayannis et al.
[14], whereas Yang et al. [15] examined the shear behaviour of
concrete T-beams that have been reinforced using spiral-type wire
rope as internal shear reinforcement.
The recent technical expansion for massive use of continuous
rectangular spiral reinforcement in rectangular reinforced concrete
elements gives the opportunity for wide using of this kind of rein-
forcement in beams under torsion. Concerning the issue of torsion
in concrete members, it is well-known that torsional cracks form a
spiral pattern due to the principal tensile stresses developing in the
diagonal concrete struts [1618]. Thus, steel spirals that cross
approximately orthogonal the torsional cracks consist one of the
most efcient transverse reinforcement against torsional action.
The ratio of the steel longitudinal and transverse reinforcement
along with the geometrical and mechanical properties of the RC
members inuence the angle of the diagonal cracking [19] and
therefore the optimum angle of the spiral links that should be pro-
vided has to be considered accordingly.
Further, it has been proved that the unlocking effect due to tor-
sion applied in the reversed direction comparing to the direction of
the spiral reinforcement amplies the occurrence of spalling and
also softens the core concrete resulting in a reduction of the overall
capacity of the reinforced concrete element [10]. Only a few
innovative spiral reinforcement techniques, such as crossing
spirals and spiral-type wire rope, have already been proposed in
0141-0296/$ - see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2013.05.003
A
st
f
st
p
o
A
sl
f
sl
s
s
1
T
L
2A
sl
f
sl
A
o
p
o
tana and 2a
T
T
2A
st
f
st
A
o
s
cot a 2b
where p
o
is the perimeter of the centreline of the shear ow; A
o
is
the area enclosed by the centreline of the shear ow; A
sl
is the total
area of steel longitudinal bars; A
st
is the area of one legged steel stir-
rup; s is the spacing of steel stirrups; f
sl
and f
st
are the stresses of the
longitudinal and the transverse steel reinforcement, respectively.
In the case of beams with spiral reinforcement as transverse
steel reinforcement, instead of the Eqs. (1), (2a), and (2b) that hold
for stirrups, the following relationships can be obtained from the
equilibrium of a section of the vertical wall of the beam, as dis-
played in Fig. 11c and d:
For the case of rectangular spiral reinforcement with locking
effect (favourably imposed twist that locks the spirals) the fol-
lowing equations are derived (see also Fig. 11c):
Force equilibrium along the longitudinal axis results to the
relationship:
F
L
F
T;l
qp
o
cot a 3
The force triangle of Fig. 11c in the perpendicular direction gives:
F
T;t
qs tana 4
(a) Beam ST200
(b) Beam SPL200
(c) Beam SPU200
38 38
54
38 47
42
Fig. 8. Cracking patterns at failure of the beams of Group-200.
C.E. Chalioris, C.G. Karayannis / Engineering Structures 56 (2013) 286297 293
Substituting the shear ow, q, in Eqs. (3) and (4) with the equation
of Bredt: q
T
2Ao
, it can be derived:
T
L
2F
L
F
T;l
A
o
p
o
tana and 5a
T
T
2F
T;t
A
o
s
cot a 5b
Further, in order to determine the value of the cracking angle, a,
based on the amount of the longitudinal and the transverse rein-
forcement, Eqs. (5a) and (5b) are combined and therefore it is
deduced:
tana
F
T;t
p
o
F
L
F
T;l
s
s
6
where F
L
= A
sl
f
sl
; F
T,l
= A
st
f
st
cos u; F
T,t
= A
st
f
st
sin u; u < u
0
;
u + u
0
= 180.
For the case of rectangular spiral reinforcement with unlocking
effect (unfavourably imposed twist that unlocks the spirals) the
following equations are derived (see also Fig. 11d):
Force equilibrium along the longitudinal axis results to the
relationship:
F
L
F
T;l
qp
o
cot a 7
The force triangle of Fig. 11d in the perpendicular direction also
gives Eq. (4).
In the same way, substituting the shear ow, q, in Eqs. (7) and
(4) with the equation of Bredt:
T
L
2F
L
F
T;l
A
o
p
o
tana and 8a
T
T
2F
T;t
A
o
s
cot a 8b
Further, the combination of Eqs. (8a) and (8b) gives:
tana
F
T;t
p
o
F
L
F
T;l
s
s
9
It is noted that the aforementioned analysis is a rst simplied ap-
proach that takes into account the inclination of the RSR and the
locking or unlocking effect of the spirals. The proposed approach
can be initially used for the estimation of the inclination of the tor-
sional cracking. Furthermore it is stressed that the locking effect of
the RSR provides extra connement in concrete that has an active
character that works beyond the known passive conning effect
of the common stirrups. In further investigation and towards taking
into account the active connement of the spiral reinforcement
(a) Beam ST150
(b) Beam SPL150
(c) Beam SPU150
43 43
43
42
42
Fig. 9. Cracking patterns at failure of the beams of Group-150.
(a) Beam ST100
(b) Beam SPL100
(c) Beam SPU100
48
48 48
37
53
Fig. 10. Cracking patterns at failure of the beams of Group-100.
294 C.E. Chalioris, C.G. Karayannis / Engineering Structures 56 (2013) 286297
with favourably imposed twist that locks the spirals triaxial model
of concrete strength might be implemented.
5. Comparisons of analytical and experimental results
5.1. Inclination of torsional cracking
The values of the cracking angle for the specimens with com-
mon stirrups (ST200, ST150 and ST100), RSR with locking effect
(SPL200, SPL150 and SPL100) and RSR with unlocking effect
(SPU200, SPU150 and SPU100) can be calculated based on the
Eqs. (1), (6), and (9), respectively. The calculated and the experi-
mentally measured cracking angles of the tested specimens are
presented in Table 2.
5.2. Ultimate torsional moment
The experimentally observed torsional behaviour of a typical RC
beam comprises two distinct regions; the elastic till the rst crack-
ing part and the after cracking part. The different character of the
response in these regions reveals the different nature of the load
resisting mechanism in each case. Based on this observation, the
combination of two different models to evaluate the pre-cracking
and post-cracking behaviour has recently been proposed [22].
Analytical predictions for the beams of the present study are
based on this combined approach. The estimation of the elastic re-
sponse till the rst cracking and the calculation of the torsional
moment at cracking are achieved using the smeared crack analysis
for plain concrete in torsion [20], whereas for the evaluation of the
ultimate torsional moment at the post-cracking response the mod-
ied softened truss model [23] is used. It is noted that the greater
value from these two aforementioned torsional moments is the
calculated maximum torsional capacity of the beam, T
max,calc
.
The analytical predictions of the ultimate torsional moment for
the examined specimens with stirrups along with the observed val-
ues fromthe tests are presented in Table 2. In the same table the ob-
served ultimate torsional moments for the specimens with the
spiral reinforcement are also presented for comparison reasons.
Fig. 11. Simplied torsional analysis based on the space truss theory.
C.E. Chalioris, C.G. Karayannis / Engineering Structures 56 (2013) 286297 295
6. Contribution of the Rectangular Spiral Reinforcement (RSR)
Test results of this study clearly indicate that the use of RSR pro-
vides enhanced bearing capacity and improved performance in the
examined beams. However, it is stressed that the locking and
unlocking effects of the RSR in the torsional beams are very impor-
tant parameters that strongly inuence the overall behaviour.
When spirals are locked due to the direction of the external
twist the torsional capacity of the beams is increased, whereas
when they are unlocked the ultimate strength is decreased, the
post peak behaviour deteriorates and considerable concrete
spalling is observed compared to beams with equal quantity of
the commonly used stirrups. The measured increase of the
torsional strength is 18%, 16% and 14% for the tested beams un-
der favourably imposed twist that locks the spirals and trans-
verse reinforcement spacing at 200 mm, 150 mm and 100 mm,
respectively.
On the contrary, the measured decrease of the torsional
strength is 19%, 23% and 21% for the tested beams under unfavour-
ably imposed twist that unlocks the spirals and transverse rein-
forcement spacing at 200 mm, 150 mm and 100 mm, respectively.
Further, it is noted that in the case of the beams under loading
that unlocks the spirals, slippage of spiral reinforcement has not
been observed. This observation could lead to the conclusion that
spirals under unlocking effect continue to properly work as trans-
verse torsional reinforcement. However, due to the inclination of
the cracking angle as developed in the cases of RSR with unlocking
effect, the effectiveness of the spiral reinforcement is decreased
since in these cases torsional cracking inclination and spiral links
direction are far from normal to each other. This is in contrast with
the case of RSR with locking effect where cracking and spiral links
are approximately normal.
Moreover, in Fig. 12 the inuence of the steel transverse rein-
forcement ratio on of the torsional behaviour of the tested beams
with stirrups and RSR with locking and unlocking effect is evalu-
ated. From Fig. 12a it is deduced that the increase of the amount
of the provided stirrups from 0.613% to 0.818% and from 0.613%
to 1.226% causes a torsional capacity increase of 11% and 36%,
respectively. From Fig. 12b it is further concluded that the propor-
tional increase of the provided RSR ratio with locking effect from
0.672% to 0.859% and from 0.672% to 1.253% also signicantly in-
creases the maximum torsional moment per 9% and 31%, respec-
tively, as it was expected. The same more or less conclusion
holds for the increase of the provided RSR ratio with unlocking ef-
fect and the proportional increases of the maximum torsional mo-
ment can also be observed in Fig. 12c.
However, a remarkable observation about the negative inu-
ence of the RSR under unfavourably imposed twist (unlocking ef-
fect) has clearly been revealed by the comparison of the tested
beams SPU100 and ST150 (see also Fig. 12a and c). The behaviour
of beam SPU100 with RSR per 100 mm (q
t
= 1.253%) under unfa-
vourably imposed twist that unlocks the spirals (Fig. 12c) is very
close to the response of the beam ST150 with stirrups per
150 mm (q
t
= 0.818%) and signicant lower transverse reinforce-
ment ratio (Fig. 12a). More or less the same observation can be ob-
tained for the maximum torsional capacity by the comparison of
the beams SPU150 and SPU100 with the beams ST200 and
ST150, respectively (see the values of T
max
in Table 1).
Table 2
Predictions and experimental values of the torsional cracking angle and the maximum capacity.
Group Beam codied name a
calc
(deg) a
exp
(deg) T
max,calc
(kN-m) T
max,exp
(kN-m)
Group-200 ST200 33 38 2.633 2.385
SPL200 31 42 and 54 2.822
SPU200 33 38 and 47 1.924
Group-150 ST150 37 43 2.775 2.649
SPL150 36 42 3.068
SPU150 37 43 2.035
Group-100 ST100 43 48 2.923 3.254
SPL100 42 37 and 53 3.705
SPU100 43 48 2.582
(a) Beams with stirrups
T
o
r
s
i
o
n
a
l
m
o
m
e
n
t
(
k
N
-
m
)
Angle of twist per length (rad/m)
ST150
(0.818%)
ST100
(1.226%)
ST200
(0.613%)
+11%
+36%
Angle of twist per length (rad/m)
SPL150
(0.859%)
SPL100
(1.253%)
SPL200
(0.672%)
+9%
+31%
Angle of twist per length (rad/m)
SPU150
(0.859%)
SPU100
(1.253%)
SPU200
(0.672%)
+7%
+35%
Fig. 12. Inuence of the steel transverse reinforcement ratio on of the torsional behaviour of the tested beams.
296 C.E. Chalioris, C.G. Karayannis / Engineering Structures 56 (2013) 286297
7. Concluding remarks
The behaviour of RC beams with rectangular cross-section and
Rectangular Spiral Reinforcement (RSR) as transverse reinforce-
ment under pure torsion is experimentally investigated. The inu-
ence of the RSR on the cracking and the post-cracking response is
examined, whereas the locking and unlocking effect of the spirals
due to the direction of the imposed twist is also studied. The re-
sults of this study indicate the following concluding remarks:
The overall torsional behaviour is strongly inuenced by the
locking or the unlocking effect of the spiral reinforcement. The
use of RSR with locking effect provides enhanced torsional
capacity and improved post peak performance. Compared to
beams with equal quantity of the commonly used stirrups the
measured increase of the torsional strength for the tested
beams under imposed twist that locks the spirals was 1418%.
In the cases that the direction of the external twist unlocks
the spirals, the torsional capacity of the beams is decreased
1923% and considerable concrete spalling is observed com-
pared to beams with equal quantity of the commonly used
stirrups. Although in this case slippage of spiral reinforcement
is not observed, it can be clearly observed that due to the
inclination of the cracking angle as developed in the cases of
RSR with unlocking effect, the effectiveness of the spiral rein-
forcement is decreased since in these cases torsional cracking
inclination and spiral links direction are far from normal to
each other.
The increase of the amount of the provided stirrups from 0.613%
to 0.818% and from 0.613% to 1.226% causes a torsional capacity
increase of 11% and 36%, respectively. Further, the proportional
increase of the provided RSR ratio with locking effect from
0.672% to 0.859% and from 0.672% to 1.253% also signicantly
increases the maximum torsional moment per 9% and 31%,
respectively. The same conclusions more or less hold for the
increase of the provided RSR ratio with unlocking effect and
the proportional increases of the maximum torsional moment.
Observations based on the comparisons of the experimental
results reveal similarities between the torsional behaviour or
the ultimate capacity of the tested beams with RSR with unlock-
ing effect and the beams with stirrups with less quantity trans-
verse reinforcement of common stirrups.
A simplied analysis approach that takes into account the incli-
nation of the RSR and the locking or unlocking effect of the spi-
rals has been developed. This approach can also be used for the
estimation of the inclination of the torsional cracking in these
cases.
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