Determination of Shear Strength Parameters of Concrete Materials Based on the Rectangular Section Splitting Method

Area of Science:

• Civil Engineering
• Materials Science
• Geotechnical Engineering

Background:

• Accurate determination of concrete shear strength parameters is crucial for structural design and safety.
• Existing methods may have limitations in certain applications or material types.
• The Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion is a fundamental model for predicting material failure under shear stress.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and validate an alternative method, the rectangular section splitting method, for determining concrete shear strength parameters.
• To derive formulas for cohesion (c) and angle of internal friction (φ) based on the Mohr-Coulomb criterion.
• To assess the feasibility and accuracy of the proposed method by comparing its results with direct shear tests.

Main Methods:

• Derivation of formulas for cohesion (c) and angle of internal friction (φ) using the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion.
• Numerical simulation to determine coefficients within the derived formulas.
• Experimental verification using the concrete rectangular section splitting method and standard direct shear tests.

Main Results:

• Formulas for shear strength parameters (c and φ) were successfully derived.
• Numerical simulations provided necessary coefficients for the formulas.
• The rectangular section splitting method yielded results with a 3.65% difference in cohesion and a 6.94% difference in the angle of internal friction compared to direct shear tests.

Conclusions:

• The rectangular section splitting method is a feasible and viable approach for determining the shear strength parameters of concrete materials.
• The derived formulas and the experimental method show good agreement with established direct shear test results.
• This alternative method offers a practical option for assessing concrete shear strength in engineering practice.