Torsional behavior of reinforced concrete plates under pure torsion

Abstract

The present study investigated experimentally and numerically the behavior of reinforced concrete plates subjected to pure torsion. The main parameters examined were: steel reinforcement ratio or spacing and plate width. A pure torsion test was carried out on nine reinforced concrete plate with different dimensions and reinforcement. A 3D numerical analysis by the finite element method and a torsion theories were adopted for all specimens tested. The finite element results overestimate the cracking torque, accurate of ultimate torque. Skew-bending theory calculate the cracking torque more accurate compared to FE and other theories. Moreover, ACI318-14 building code is unconservative for cracking torque, conservative of ultimate torque.