Crack Mapping on Shear-critical Reinforced Concrete Beams using an Open Source Digital Image Correlation Software

Abstract

Three reinforced concrete beams, one with no shear reinforcement and two others with shear reinforcement ratios of 0.4% and 1.1%, were tested to investigate the influence of stirrup spacing on the mode of failure, overall strength and ductility. The results show that the beam reinforced with closely-spaced shear reinforcement failed in a ductile manner, whereas the other two beams with large stirrup spacing and no stirrup exhibited only a small measure of ductility and failed in a brittle manner. The importance of the provisions of maximum spacing is highlighted to ensure adequate anchorage for the stirrups and prevent a premature shear failure to occur. The application of a non-contact monitoring system employing the open source digital image correlation software Ncorr, an ordinary digital camera and a smartphone is demonstrated to provide a visualization of the cracking process throughout the load history.