Approaches to reinforced concrete beams shear performance

Practice shows that cracks are frequently formed beside reinforced concrete beam supports, and can be the cause of destruction on inclined sections. Cracks formation connected with principal tensile stresses. At the moment, acceptable in engineering practice methodology for inclined cracks analysis haven’t been found. That is why different simplified approaches were introduced. This research was aimed to look through Russian and European construction regulations and find out, which method could be considered as more usable and completed. Calculations showed that both methodologies significantly underestimate load-carrying ability, but Russian approach allows to design more economic shear reinforcement. The same result was declared by other authors.