A novel means of improving the performance of reinforced concrete beams using the welded wire mesh as core zone reinforcement

The present practice of using shear reinforcement in the form of stirrups, which go round near to the periphery in reinforced concrete beams, leaves the core zone of the cross section, where there is existence of high shear stress, un-reinforced. This leads to sudden appearance and propagation of cracks, leading to brittle failures under shear. The performance of the reinforced concrete beam will get improved if such core zone is also reinforced. This paper presents a novel means of using prefabricated mesh either as transverse reinforcement in place of conventional stirrups or as longitudinal core reinforcement apart from stirrups/ties, which not only reinforces the core zone of reinforced concrete cross section but also provide resistance against diagonal tension due to shear in continuous manner. The pilot experimental investigation conducted on RC beams provided with welded wire mesh as core zone reinforcement indicated improved performance compared to the ultimate resistance of RC beams provided with only conventional stirrups.