FRACTURE MECHANICS MODEL APPLIED TO SHEAR FAILURE OF REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS WITHOUT STIRRUPS. DISCUSSION AND CLOSURE

A discussion of an earlier paper with the aforementioned title by O.J. Gastebled and I.M. May, published in this journal (Volume 98, Number 2, March-April 2001), is presented. The discusser appreciates that the authors attempted to contribute to the development of physically sound analytical models for the shear capacity of reinforced concrete members without stirrups, but contradicts several points made in the original paper. These points of contradiction relate to earlier research not considered by the authors, the discrediting of truss models, and other topics related to shear failure of slender members. Closure by the authors is provided dealing with these issues.