Highways Agency Reports

Abstract: Codes of practice in Britain and elswhere are reviewed in an attempt to determine how specific clauses have evolved since shear in concrete was first studied almost a century ago. This review shows that present design and assessment codes have shortcomings interms of shear checking. Other analytical methods for the prediction of shear capacity are also documented. From this review it is concluded that, in order to obtain as simple a solution to the problem pf hsear in concrete bridges as possible, an upper-bound plasticity approach is probably sensible for use when ductile failure is expected.