EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON SHEAR ENHANCEMENT TYPES OF HIGH-STRENGTH CONCRETE PLATES. DISCUSSION AND CLOSURE

A discussion of a paper with the aforementioned title by H. Marzouk and D. Jiang, published in this journal (Volume 94, Number 1, January-February 1997), is presented. The discussion claims that the test specimens would have carried approximately 20% more load had the reinforcement been anchored with hooks or welded end plates and maintains that insufficient anchorage of the flexural reinforcement masked the effectiveness of the shear reinforcement at increasing both the strength and ductility of connections. Discussion is followed by closure from the authors.