Web-shear capacity of prestressed hollow-core slab unit with consideration on the minimum shear reinforcement requirement

Prestressed hollow-core slabs (HCS) are widely used for modern lightweight precast floor structures because they are cost-efficient by reducing materials, and have excellent flexural strength and stiffness by using prestressing tendons, compared to reinforced concrete (RC) floor system. According to the recently revised ACI318-08, the web-shear capacity of HCS members exceeding 315 mm in depth without the minimum shear reinforcement should be reduced by half. It is, however, difficult to provide shear reinforcement in HCS members produced by the extrusion method due to their unique concrete casting methods, and thus, their shear design is significantly affected by the minimum shear reinforcement provision in ACI318-08. In this study, a large number of shear test data on HCS members has been collected and analyzed to examine their web-shear capacity with consideration on the minimum shear reinforcement requirement in ACI318-08. The analysis results indicates that the minimum shear reinforcement requirement for deep HCS members are too severe, and that the web-shear strength equation in ACI318-08 does not provide good estimation of shear strengths for HCS members. Thus, in this paper, a rational web-shear strength equation for HCS members was derived in a simple manner, which provides a consistent margin of safety on shear strength for the HCS members up to 500 mm deep. More shear test data would be required to apply the proposed shear strength equation for the HCS members over 500 mm in depth though.