Bearing Strength of Reinforced Concrete Blocks

Abstract

The problem of large forces acting over limited contact areas of concrete arises frequently in engineering design. Although several papers have appeared on the subject, information regarding the effect of reinforcement on the local bearing strength of concrete is rather insufficient. The present paper aims at removing this lack of information by reporting a fairly extensive series of bearing tests on reinforced concrete blocks, where the form and amount of reinforcement were the principal variables.