Reliability-based design method for shear capacity of steel reinforced engineered cementitious composites (ECC) beams

Abstract

Engineered cementitious composites (ECC) is famous for its excellent tensile deformability and crack width control ability. Steel reinforced ECC beams under shear loading exhibit brittle behaviors, which leads to a lack of structural safety. The reliability-based shear capacity model of steel reinforced ECC beams needs to be established for ensuring the structural shear safety. In this research, a test database of steel reinforced ECC beams under shear loading was constructed based on the given selecting principles. Through considering the shear resistance provided by fibers, the shear capacity model of steel reinforced ECC beams was preliminary established. The statistical characteristics of random variables were described and determined, and reliability index was calculated through Monte Carlo simulation. It is found that reliability index increases with increasing ECC strength, while decreases with increasing stirrup strength or stirrup ratio, especially at the high partial factor of ECC. For different target reliability indexes, the recommended partial factors of ECC are obtained through calibration. This research supplies a useful reference for the shear design of steel reinforced ECC beams in the actual engineering.