Simplified calculation method of shear ultimate load-carrying capacity of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with U-shape steel plates

Based on the experimental study and nonlinear analysis, the mechanism of shear force transformation in the reinforced concrete (RC) beams and prestressed reinforced concrete (PRC) beams strengthened with U-shaped steel plates was firstly analyzed. Depended on the limit equilibrium theory and method, the simplified calculation formulas of shear load-carrying capacity of RC beams and PRC beams strengthened with U-shaped steel plate hoop were proposed. It can be seen that the calculation results from the proposed models correlate very well with those from testing, and the maximum errors are not larger than 10%. Meanwhile, the calculation results from the proposed models are better than those from the National Code GB50367-2006.