Strength and behavior in shear of concrete beam-and-slab bridges

Shear tests on four concrete beam-and-slab bridge specimens are reported in this paper. Quantities of longitudinal steel and shear stirrups were varied in an attempt to determine the strength and behavior in shear. These tests show that significant enhancement in shear strength of the beams is provided by the surrounding concrete slab. In addition, critical shear collapse mechanisms are described. These failure patterns have been used as the basis for an upper-bound plasticity approach to the problem of shear assessment of concrete beam-and-slab bridges.