Minimum shear reinforcement ratio of prestressed concrete members for safe design

Design codes have specified the minimum shear reinforcement requirement for reinforced concrete (RC) and prestressed concrete (PSC) members to prevent brittle and premature shear failure. They are, however, very different from one another, and particularly, ACI318 code allows the required minimum shear reinforcement to be reduced in PSC members, compared to that in RC members, by specifying the additional equation for PSC members whose basis is not clear. In this paper, the minimum shear reinforcement ratio for PSC members was proposed, which can provide a sufficient reserved shear strength and deformation capacity. The proposed equation was also verified by the test results of PSC specimens lightly reinforced in shear, comparing to design codes and other proposed equations from previous studies.