Proceedings of International Conference on Advances in Architecture and Civil Engineering (AARCV 2012), 21st – 23rd June 2012
Paper ID SAM200, Vol. 1
Inplane Shear Strength of Normal, High Strength
and Self Compacting Concrete Using Push-Off
Specimen
Nadar Nissar Shaikh, Mohammed Zeeshan, Mohammed Muzaffar Saba, S.B. Nirmala and R.
Prabhakara
Abstract--- The fundamental knowledge of the shear
failure of concrete is essential for the introduction of ductility
or toughness parameters in relevant structural design. If such
parameters can be obtained from simple tests, they could be
probably used in designs including shear keys, web-flange
stress transfer, and punching resistance. Additionally, the
validation of a simple test method will facilitate the
comparison of the behavior of different types of concrete
within materials engineering processes aimed at enhancing
shear transfer in applications such as slabs and tunnel linings.
The experimental investigation carried out in this project
is to study the in plane shear behavior of Normal Strength
Concrete (NSC), High Strength Concrete (HSC) and Self
Compacting Concrete (SCC) by conducting push-off test. The
grades of concrete used are M20NSC, M30SCC, M70HSC. A
procedure of trials was adopted to find a suitable mix design.
The specimens are of 150 x 150 x 260mm. Based on the
literature specimen length was chosen to be 260 mm and two
notches of 75 mm length were cut 60 mm apart, perpendicular
to the axis of the specimen. The load was applied through steel
bars of 25 mm width are placed between the fixed loading
crosshead of the machine. The test was performed in a stable
manner permitting the determination of the pre- and post-peak
responses and, consequently, characterizing the shear stress
that can be transferred across an open crack. The shear
stress-slip response is analyzed and toughness based
parameters, for possible use in design, are calculated.
Keywords--- Concrete, In Plane, Shear, Toughness, Push-
off
I. INTRODUCTION
C ONCRETE is made out of chemically active material like
cement and rigid inclusions like aggregates. Mechanical
Nadar Nissar Shaikh, UG Student Department of Civil Engineering,
MSRIT, Bangalore India.
Mohammed Zeeshan, UG Student Department of Civil Engineering,
MSRIT, Bangalore India.
Mohammed Muzaffar Saba, UG Student Department of Civil
Engineering, MSRIT, Bangalore India.
S.B. Nirmala, UG Student Department of Civil Engineering, MSRIT,
Bangalore India.
R. Prabhakara, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, MSRIT,
Bangalore India. E-mail: r.prabhakara@gmail.com
ISBN 978-93-82338-01-7 | © 2012 Bonfring
169
properties of concrete are very important before it is put into
practice. Lot of investigations is available on flexure, shear,
torsion etc. However it has found from literature on in plane
shear strength investigation is less. Change in different grade
of concrete changes the mechanical and fracture properties.
Therefore fundamental knowledge is essential for the ductility
or toughness parameters in structural design. The codal
provisions for NSC, can it be applied to SCC and HSC is the
question to be answer. The push off test on a prism used to
quantify the shear stress-displacement behavior. In plane shear
strength is required in the designs of shear keys, web flange
stress transfer, and punching resistance. In this investigation
push off specimen adopted to see the variation of shear stress
for different grades of concrete.
A. High Strength Concrete
Although HSC is often considered a relatively new
material, its development has been gradual over many years.
The ACI committee has defined HSC as concrete of normal
weight aggregates having compressive strength for design of
41MPa or greater and shall not include the concrete made
using exotic material or techniques. More recently,
compressive strengths approaching 138MPa have been used in
cast-in-place buildings. However, in recent years, the
applications of HSC have increased, and HSC has now been
used in many parts of the world. The growth has been possible
as a result of recent developments in material technology and
a demand for HSC. The construction of Chicago water tower
and 311 south wicker driver concrete building, long span
cable-stayed bridges such as East Huntington, W.V. and
bridge over the Ohio River would not have taken place
without the availability of HSC [1].
HSC are known to have more durable properties and better
corrosion resisting properties than the conventional concrete.
Higher compressive strength of concrete results in higher
modulus of elasticity and thus improves the serviceability [2].
HSC provides better solutions to reduce sizes and weight of
concrete structural elements [3]. The tendency of concrete
building structures to become taller and simpler made
necessary of using HSC to obtain columns of reduced section
and floor system without internal beams. In the case of
columns, the increase of concrete strength often results in
more economical sections, while allowing increased usable
floor space. For flat slabs, the main reason to use higher
strength is to obtain minimum slab height with sufficient
punching shear resistance [4]. HSC mixes tend to be very
Proceedings of International Conference on Advances in Architecture and Civil Engineering (AARCV 2012), 21st – 23rd June 2012
Paper ID SAM200, Vol. 1
cohesive and a concrete with measured of slump may be 50
mm may be difficult to place. As HSC is likely to be used in
highly reinforced sections, a higher workability should be
specified. To achieve desirable workability HSC super
plasticizers are used. Many modern super plasticisers can
retain reasonable workability for a period of about 100
minutes. Often, in order to avoid drastic decrease in slump and
resultant difficulty in placing, super plasticisers are only partly
mixed on batching, the balance being added on site prior to
pouring [5]. The bond strength does not increase at the same
rate as that of the compressive strength of concrete. This can
lead to serious problems, particularly the beam- column joints
when the use of HSC is accompanied by the use of high
strength steel. In this case the concrete can undergo significant
cracking even in the whole member is not under a net tension.
This cracking can significantly decrease the shear resistance of
such columns. [6].
B. Self Compacting Concrete
SCC flows under its own weight and does not require any
external vibration for compaction, has revolutionized concrete
placement. SCC, was first introduced in the late 1980‘s by
Japanese researchers [7], is highly workable concrete that can
flow through restricted sections without segregation and
bleeding. Such concrete should have a relatively low yield
value to ensure high flow ability, a moderate viscosity to resist
segregation and bleeding, and must maintain its homogeneity
during transportation, placing. Researchers have set some
guidelines for mixture proportioning of SCC, which include i)
reducing the volume ratio of aggregate to cementitious
material [7-8] (ii) increasing the paste volume and water-
cement ratio (w/c); (iii) carefully controlling the maximum
coarse aggregate particle size and total volume; and (iv) using
various viscosity enhancing admixtures (VMA) [7]. Since,
self-compactibility is largely affected by the characteristics of
materials and the mix proportions, it becomes necessary to
evolve a procedure for mix design of SCC. Okamura and
Ozawa have proposed a mix proportioning system for SCC
[9].
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
The literature on the in plane shear behavior on NSC, SCC
and HSC is limited. However available literature were
collected and systematically reviewed and presented as
follows. Ravindra Gettu et al[10] reported in their study to
characterize the failure and toughness of SFRC subjected to
direct shear loading at the material level for NSC and HSC.
They investigated about the shear stress that can be transferred
across an open crack is of great importance for fracture
mechanics-based design approaches, where residual and/or
equivalent shear strengths could be integrated along the
sections of the structural element subjected to shear to
calculate its shear load-carrying capacity. The failure
mechanism appeared to be governed by splitting-tension rather
than by shear. Nevertheless, the tensile stresses were
approximately an order of magnitude smaller than the shear
stresses and, consequently, shear cracking was expected to
dominate the failure when tensile cracking was restrained by
the fibers.
ISBN 978-93-82338-01-7 | © 2012 Bonfring
170
J. Sagaseta , R. L. Vollum(2011)[11] design methods for
shear in reinforced concrete structures typically rely upon
shear transfer through cracks, which depends upon the crack
opening and sliding displacements and the roughness of the
crack surfaces. The author also examined the contribution of
aggregate interlock to the shear strength of a parallel set of
reinforced concrete beams, using the same types of aggregate
as the push-off specimens. The mechanics of shear transfer
through aggregate interlock is complex because several
mechanisms are involved in which normal and shear stresses
interact. Cracks tend to ‗dilate‘ as they slide due to aggregate
particles sliding over each other. Normal stresses are
introduced at the crack face if the crack widening is
constrained by reinforcement.
J. Jayaprakash , Abdul Aziz Abdul Samad(2009)[15]
investigated the effectiveness of CFRP as an external
reinforcement the results of shear transfer capacity and modes
of failure of the pre-cracked Reinforced Concrete (RC) push-
off specimens. The tests were performed with pre-existing
crack along the shear plane of the push-off specimens prior to
the application of direct shear load. The shear transfer capacity
of push-off specimens has been extensively studied. It was
found that the increase of reinforcement significantly
increased the shear strength. Similar tests were conducted with
embedded reinforcing bar to study the strength and
deformation behaviour of normal and light weight concrete.
Alan H. Mattock, L. Johal and H. C. Chow (1975)[12] It
was observed that the shear transfer reinforcement need not be
uniformly distributed over the shear plane but may be
distributed so as to be more effective in resisting moment. If a
normal tension force acts across the shear plane, it may be
provided for by providing reinforcement additional to that
required for shear transfer and having yield strength equal to
the tension force. Failure was regarded as having occurred
when the load could not be increased further and slip
increased rapidly The flexural cracks started in the top face of
the stub column and propagated downward and towards the
shear plane. In some cases a flexural crack linked up with the
crack in the shear plane. If both moment and shear are to be
transferred across a crack, then in order to be fully effective
the shear transfer reinforcement should be located in the
flexural tension zone. The shear friction provisions of Section
11.15 of ACI 318-71 yield a conservative estimate of the shear
transfer strength of reinforced concrete, both with and without
a tension stress acting across the shear plane.
K. Zilch and R. Reinecke(2000)[13] Studied the shear
joint between the HSC precast element and the NSC was
investigated. During the experiments, practicality and the
effects of surface preparation were evaluated and different
roughening methods were compared. To estimate the actual
bond characteristics of a joint between a HSC and a NSC two
different tests were performed. The characteristics of adhesion
and micro-mechanical resistance were verified by applying
shear forces on non-cracked joints. The second push-off test
measured the effects of shear friction and the relation between
crack displacement and shear capacity by using specimens
with a slant shear joint. As a result, recommendations for an
application of HSC in combination with NSC cast –inplace
Proceedings of International Conference on Advances in Architecture and Civil Engineering (AARCV 2012), 21st – 23rd June 2012 171
Paper ID SAM200, Vol. 1

concrete are given. 2000 [3]

L. Mahmoud*, N. Shafiq, W. Thanoon(2008)[14] Table 1: Mix Design for Nsc/M20, Scc/M30 And Hsc/M70
investigated CFRP externally bonded to concrete elements Concrete
was an efficient technique to improve the structural behavior Material NSC(M20) SCC/M30
of such elements under cyclic loading. Fatigue life of Cement 290 228.57 450 Kg/ cu
strengthened specimens was increased for about (6-7) times Water 145 157.39 654.65 m cu
Kg/
that of unstrengthened ones. The main purpose of this paper is Fine m cu
Kg/
696 840 1000
to study the effectiveness of using CFRP to improve aggregates m cu
Coarse 1429 690.50 150 Kg/
performance of R.C elements under cyclic shear loading. The aggregate
W/C ratio 0.5 0.32 50 -m
failure occurred in brittle manner by rupture of concrete and
Fly Ash - 337 Kg/ cu
CFRP plates. Existing studies suggest that the main failure m cu
Super - 6.78 Kg/
mode of FRP-to-concrete joints in shear tests is cracking of
Plastisizer
VMA - m
concrete under shear, occurring commonly at a few
millimeters from the adhesive-concrete interface. The shear Workability Slump Abraham‘s Vee-
strength should be strong enough to avoid brittle shear failure 00mm flow cone bee 8
occurring before flexure failure. This is so-called strong Final secs.
diameter
shear— weak-flexure philosophy. Thus, the shear strength V. EXPERIMENTAL
630 mmPROCEDURE
should be evaluated first for R.C beams subjected to cyclic To understand the in-plane shear behavior of concrete
loads. It is evident that in members with shear-dominated using push-off specimen, 18 specimens were prepared 6 of
behavior the hysteretic loops are narrower than in the flexure- each grade, along with 9 companion cubes of each grade were
dominated slender members and attain a pronounced inverted tested at the Structural Laboratory of the Dept of Civil
S-shape. Engineering at M.S.R.I.T Bangalore. After series of
Pedro serna , Estefania Cuenca(2010)[16] investigated the preliminary tests with various configuration, such as the width
shear behavior of reinforced ‗Z‘ shaped push-off specimens of the loading bar, boundary conditions, mode of control, and
made off SCC and SCC with fibres. Firstly the specimens loading rate, the dimensions of specimen were chosen as
were precracked subjected to linear load along the shear plane. shown in Figure 1. Two notches of 75mm length were cut 60
Shear behavior along the shear plane was analyzed by means mm apart perpendicular to the axis of the specimen. Notch tips
of crack opening and shear displacement versus shear load define a vertical plane along which the load is applied, a shear
process. Analysis was focused on the study of aggregate crack is expected to occur along this plane. And therefore
interlocking. shear cracking is expected to dominate the failure if the tensile
cracking can be controlled. In the present set up, the distance
It was observed that the failure occurrence was better
between the notch tips is limited to 60mm in order to favour
controlled by the presence of fibers. It was also observed that
shear cracking while maintaining representive crack plane
the shear failure was more ductile. Shear failure of concrete
length.
elements can be brittle and fibers are able to increase the
ductility of concrete.

III. SCOPE OF INVESTIGATION

To obtain mix proportion for M30 and M70 SCC
concretes using 20mm and downsize.
Plain push off specimen were tested in the present
investigation to understand the in plane shear
behavior behaviour of M20NSC, M30SCC,
M70HSC
Comparison of shear stress values of different grades Figure 1: Push Off Specimen Dimensions
of concretes. The dimensions of the specimen is shown in Table 1
To observe the fracture surface of the tested
specimen for different grades of concretes. Table 1: Geometry of Specimen
NSC/20 20 150 150 260 75
IV. MATERIAL USED AND MIX PROPORTION
SCC/30 30 150 150 260 75
The constituent materials used in present experimental
work are as follows: Cement -53 grade OPC as per IS 12269, HSC/70 70 150 150 260 75
specific gravity = 3.15. Chemical admixture: Super plasticizer The specimen were casted using prism moulds of
– Napthalene based polymer (Conplast SP 430). Coarse 150x150x700mm, since the specimen used is only 260mm
aggregate – 20mm aggregate, specific gravity = 2.884, 10mm long the desired length of the prism was obtained by making
aggregate, specific gravity = 2.878, Fine aggregate: River partitions in the mould using steel plates. The mould was
sand, zone II, fineness module= 2.62, specific gravity = 2.605 lubricated with oil before casting. The edges of the mould
water absorption = 1.23% Water: potable water as per IS 456- were properly sealed using nut and bolt to prevent leakage of

ISBN 978-93-82338-01-7 | © 2012 Bonfring

Proceedings of International Conference on Advances in Architecture and Civil Engineering (AARCV 2012), 21st – 23rd June 2012 172
Paper ID SAM200, Vol. 1

cement slurry while casting of specimen. Standard procedure

has been followed for mixing, casting and curing of the test
specimens.

Figure 4: Surfacegranular Fracture of M20 (Inclined Crack)

Figure 2: Loading Arrangement
All the specimen were tested using universal testing
machine of 1000 kN capacity as shown in Figure 2. Two
notches of 75 mm length were cut 60 mm apart, perpendicular
to the axis of the specimen. The load is applied through steel
bars of 25 mm width,the fixed loading platens of the machine
and the bars to compensate for nonparallel loading surfaces.
The specimen to be tested was loaded symmetrically as shown
in Figure 2.

Figure 5: Failed Specimen

The ultimate shear stress of M20SCC was calculated and
tabulated as shown in Table 4 it has been observed from the
Table 3 and Table 4 the shear stress of M30SCC was less
compared over M20NSC
Figure 3: Transgranular Facture of HSC (Vertical Crack) Table 3: Ultimate Shear Stress of NSCM20
The compression test was conducted for determining the
shear strength of the specimen. Small increment of load is No Ultimate Area Ultimate Dispalce-
applied to bring the loading surface of the specimen with all Loading (mm2) Shear ment
attachment and then the load is released. Further small (kN) Stress mm
incriments of load was applied. First cracking load and (MPa)
ultimate load were observed. The entire testing of specimen 1 85 9000 9.44 1.7
requires 1.5 to 2 hours for all the specimens. On the day the 2 129.25 9000 14.36 1.1
specimen was tested, companion cubes were also tested to 3 120.3 9000 13.36 1.1
determine the concrete mean compressive strength (vide Table
2). 4 125.4 9000 13.93 1
MEAN 124.98 9000 13.88 1.06
The shear crack was vertical for HSC as shown in Fig 3
and it was not vertical for NSC represented in Fig 4 which
indicates the crack has passed through the aggregate in HSC
however in NSC crack has passed over the surface of the
aggregate. The failed specimen is shown in Fig 5 to observe
cracked surface. The ultimate shear stress of NSCM20 was
calculated and tabulated as shown in Table 3
Table 2: Cube Strength of Concretes
AVG 3 DAYS AVG 7 DAYS AVG 28
GRADE STRENGTH STRENGTH DAYS
(MPa) (MPa) STRENGTH
(MPa)
M20 12.35 16.13 30.53
M30 21.51 27.5 39.76
M70 39.7 58.6 75.5

ISBN 978-93-82338-01-7 | © 2012 Bonfring

Proceedings of International Conference on Advances in Architecture and Civil Engineering (AARCV 2012), 21st – 23rd June 2012 173
Paper ID SAM200, Vol. 1

Table 4: Ultimate Shear Stress of M30SCC [2] Chitra G.B ―Investigation on long term deflections of high strength
concrete beams‖ MTech Thesis, Dept. of civil engineering,
V.T.U,Belgaum 2005.
No Ultimate Area Ultimate Dispalcement [3] Ali Akbar Maghsoudi and Bengar Habib Akbarzade, ―Effect of tension
and compression reinforcement on the serviceability of HSC beams with
Loading (mm2) Shear mm relatively small Shear span to Depth Ratio‖ , The Arabian Journal for
(kN) Stress Science and engineering, vol32, Number2B.2007‖
(MPa) [4] Amer Bin Yusuff ― Behaviour of high strength reinforced concrete beam
1 87.8 9000 9.75 1.1 with metkaolin under static loading ― MTech Thesis ,Faculty of Civil
Engineering, University Technology Malaysia, APRIL 2005
2 76.4 9000 8.48 1.1 [5] BCA Academy ―Design guide of HSC to Singapore standards cp 65‖,BC
2,2008.
3 90.8 9000 10.08 1.2 [6] Meenakshi R.‖ Strength and deformability of high strength concrete
beams‖ MTech Thesis, Dept. of Civil Engineering, V.T.U, Belgaum
4 61.7 9000 6.85 1.3 2005.
5 91 9000 10.11 0.8 [7] Nagamoto N, Ozawa K ―Mixture properties of self compacting, high
performance concrete,proceedings‖ Third CANMET/ACI International
ME 86.5 9000 9.61 1.05 Conference on design and materials and recent concrete advances in
AN concrete technology, SP-172, V.M.Malhotra, ACI, Farminngton Hills,
Mich1997 , p623-637
[8] Khayat K.H , Ghezal A ―Utility of statistical models in proportioning
self-compacting concrete‖, proceeding, RILEM international symposium
on self compacting concrete, Stockholm,1999 p 345-359.
VI. OBSERVATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS [9] Okamura H, Ozawa K ―Mix design for self-compacting concrete‖‘
concrete library of Japanese society of civil engineers, june 1995, p107-
The specimens of NSC, SCC and HSC were tested using 120
push-off specimen and the following observations and [10] Bryan Barragán, Ravindra Gettu, Luis Agulló, and Raúl Zerbino ―Shear
conclusions are made. Failure of Steel Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Based on Push-Off Tests‖
ACI Materials Journal/July-August 2006.
Characterization of materials is very important for the mix [11] Sagaseta and Vollum ―Influence of aggregate fracture on shear transfer
proportion of concrete. through cracks in reinforced Concrete‖ Magazine of Concrete Research
Volume 63 Issue 2, Feb 2011
It was found that trail mixing is very much essential
[12] Alan H. Mattock,L. Johal and H. C. Chow ―Shear transfer in reinforced
before arriving at the final mix proportion. concrete with moment or tension acting across the shear plane‖ PCI
Workability of concrete is very important (there is no JOURNAL/July-August 1975,p 76-93
point doing research for the concrete with no workability) [13] K. Zilch and R. Reinecke ―capacity of shear joints between high-
strength precast Elements and normal-strength cast-in-place decks‖
The 28days strength of NSC/M20, SCC/M30 and Department of Concrete Structures, Technische Universität
HSC/M70 concrete was observed to be 30.52MPa, München,Munich, Germany.
39.76MPa and 75.5MPa respectively. [14] L. Mahmoud, N. Shafiq, M. F. Nuruddinl, W. Thanoon ―Interaction
Between CFRP Laminates and R.C Element subjected to Cyclic Shear
The first crack initiates on one of the notch faces at
Loading‖ ICCBT 2008 - C - (29) - pp319-326
approximately the notch tip and propagate towards the tip [15] J. Jayaprakash, Abdul Aziz Abdul Samad, Ashrabov Anvar Abbasvoch
of the other notch some of the specimens failed in above ―Experimental Investigation on Shear Capacity of Reinforced Concrete
the groove Precracked Push-off Specimens with Externally Bonded Bi-Directional
Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer Fabrics‖ Modern Applied Science,
It was observed that surface granular fracture for NSC Vol. 3, No. 7 ,p 86-98
and trans granular fracture was observed for HSC. [16] Pedro serna, Estefania Cuenca ―shear behavior of self compacting
As the grade of concrete increases the peak load increased concrete and fibre reinforced concrete using push-off specimen‖
gradually while deformation decreased gradually. design,placement ,production of self consolidating concrete,RILEM
Bookseries 1(2010), p429-437.
The shear stress of NSC/M20 , SCC/M30 and HSC/M70 [17] Bureau of Indian standards ―Design Aid to reinforced concrete IS 456-
are 10.05MPa, 9.61MPa and 13.88MPa respectively. 2000‖
Increase in shear stress with increase in concrete grade [18] Perumal and Sundararajan (2003), ―Experimental investigation on High
Performance Concrete using silica fume and superplasticizer‖,
was observed. Proceedings of the Incontest 2003.z e
Since the fines are more in SCC therefore shear stress [19] J. A. Hofbeck, I. O . Ibrahim and Alan H. Mattock‖ Shear Transfer in
compared over NSC observed to be less. Reinforced Concrete‖ Journal Proceedings,v66 p 119-128
The ultimate deformation decreases with increase in the
grade of the concrete.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We acknowledge the support of Management of MSRIT,
Principal, HOD, Faculty and staff of Civil Dept in particular
we express our deep sense of gratitude to Mr Pramod and Mr
Srinivasan R.

REFERENCES
[1] ―State of art report on HSC‖ American concrete institute ACI363r-
92.1992

ISBN 978-93-82338-01-7 | © 2012 Bonfring