Abstract
A strut-and-tie based method intended for determining the load-carrying capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) corbels is presented in this paper. In addition to the normal strut-and-tie force equilibrium requirements, the proposed model is based on secant stiffness formulation, incorporating strain compatibility and constitutive laws of cracked RC. The proposed method evaluates the load-carrying capacity as limited by the failure modes associated with nodal crushing, yielding of the longitudinal principal reinforcement, as well as crushing or splitting of the diagonal strut. Load-carrying capacity predictions obtained from the proposed analysis method are in a better agreement with corbel test results of a comprehensive database, comprising 455 test results, compiled from the available literature, than other existing models for corbels. This method is illustrated to provide more accurate estimates of behaviour and capacity than the shear-friction based approach implemented by the ACI 318-11, the strut-and-tie provisions in different codes (American, Australian, Canadian, Eurocode and New Zealand).