ACI 364.

2T-08
TechNote

Increasing Shear Capacity within Existing

Reinforced Concrete Structures
Keywords: external steel reinforcement; fiber-reinforced polymer; section enlargement; shear reversal; shear strengthening.

Introduction
Rehabilitation projects often involve the need to increase the load-carrying capacity of members within
existing concrete structures that are deficient due to increased load demand associated with change of use,
deficiencies in the original design or construction, or deterioration. Such strengthening often includes
increasing shear capacity. Shear strengthening may also be necessary when a structure requires flexural
strengthening to ensure a ductile failure mechanism in seismic loading situations. The accessibility difficulties
normally encountered in concrete structures, as well as general lack of design standards, may lead to building
official limitations on what strengthening may be accepted.

Question
What options are available to increase the shear capacity of members
within existing reinforced concrete structures?

Answer
The following are descriptions and some examples of various tech-
niques for shear strengthening. Note that, unless indicated, the shear
strengthening measures described are specific to nonseismic applica-
tions. Chapter 5 of ACI 546R-04 (ACI Committee 546 2004) and ACI 440.2R-
02, 440.1R-06, and 437R-03 (ACI Committee 440 2002, 2006; ACI Committee
437 2003) provide additional information on structural strengthening.
All shear strengthening should be performed under the guidance of a
licensed engineer familiar with the selected technique.
1. External steel reinforcement—The shear capacity of concrete
members, such as columns, beams, slabs, and shear walls, can be
increased by attaching steel plates (Fig. 1) to the concrete surface with
epoxy bonding, mechanical anchorage, or both. Steel rods or rein-
forcing bars, either post-tensioned or non-post-tensioned, are another Fig. 1—External reinforcement with steel
form of external steel shear reinforcement that is well suited to beams plate.
(Fig. 2);
2. Section enlargement—Section enlargement can be accomplished by
using concrete, shotcrete, reinforced concrete, or mortar that is bonded
to the concrete element (Fig. 3). For example, columns can be strength-
ened by using jackets (Fig. 4 and 5), beams by increasing the section,
shear walls by increasing the wall thickness, and ribbed slabs by filling
the open spaces between the ribs. The columns in Fig. 4 and 5 were
strengthened to increase the vertical shear capacity of the beam seat,
and not the column shear associated with moment interaction;
3. Internal steel and FRP reinforcement—Additional steel or fiber-rein-
forced polymer (FRP) reinforcement can be installed by drilling holes,
inserting steel or FRP dowels, and grouting (Fig. 6). Several grouting mate-
rials have been used successfully to bond the dowels to the concrete;
4. Near-surface-mounted reinforcement—Near-surface-mounted rein-
forcement (NSMR) involves inserting steel or FRP rods or reinforcing
bars into grooves cut into the surface of the concrete section. The
grooves are typically not deeper than the existing reinforcement cover Fig. 2—External shear reinforcement with
steel rods or reinforcing bars.
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2 INCREASING SHEAR CAPACITY WITHIN EXISTING REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES (ACI 364.2T-08)

dimension. The grooves are then filled with a polymer or grout to

provide compatibility (that is, load transfer) of the reinforcement with
the concrete. The advantages of this method are easy access, limited
chance of disturbing existing reinforcing bar as compared with internal
steel reinforcement, and increased protection and bonded surface area
of the reinforcement as compared with the use of external shear rein-
forcement;
5. Supplemental members—Supplemental structural members,
such as posts or beams, can be added to reduce shear stress. When
architectural constraints allow, this can often be a cost-effective and
practical solution; and
6. FRP plates or strips—FRP materials may be used as either exter-
nally bonded plates or strips. The advantage of using strips is that they
do not entrap moisture in the structure and more closely resemble
Fig. 3—Section enlargement with supplemental conventional shear reinforcement. The advantages of using plates that
reinforcement covered by shotcrete (Raina 1994). cover the entire
member include
the additional effect of shell action, although not usually
included in design, and the ability to use bidirectional fibers to
resist shear reversals. Although fibers positioned at an angle
may be optimal, a nearly equivalent amount of fibers are often
required as compared with vertically arranged fibers when
shear reversals are considered. The FRP is typically bonded to
the concrete with a structural-grade epoxy. There are many
forms of FRP suitable for shear strengthening, including fabric
sheets impregnated with resin on site using a process called wet
layup; preimpregnated sheets of fabric; and precured shapes,
such as rods, and flat, L-shaped, and U-shaped plates. Codified
approaches are available (ACI Committee 440 2002); however,
research projects intended for both seismic and nonseismic Fig. 4—Section enlargement with jackets.
applications have primarily focused on the nonuniformity of
strains in adjacent FRP shear reinforcing elements at the
intended design limit (Schuman 2004; Wong and Vecchio 2003;
Carolin and Täljsten 2003). It should also be noted that, along
with seismic applications, research has shown that certain
conditions, such as at deep beams and negative moment regions,
may require anchorage to obtain a measurable strengthening
effect (ACI Committee 437 2003). Anchorage comes in many
forms, including steel-bonded anchors with a bearing plate,
bundled FRP fiber anchors that are integrated into the FRP shear
reinforcement, fully wrapped sections, and ribbed inserts into the
flange region. An example of an external application is the wrap-
ping of beams with carbon FRP (CFRP) U-shaped strips (Fig. 7);
this is a good example of how FRP anchors can be integrated into
the system with minimal visibility and optimum performance. Fig. 5—Completed section enlargement with jackets.
Pultruded L-shaped plate stirrups (Fig. 8) are another
form of externally bonded FRP shear strengthening.

Discussion
The selection of the most suitable method for a
given application depends on many factors,
including:
• Reason for strengthening (note that a majority of
the methods will not prevent concrete cracks
from forming; rather, they will limit the opening
and propagation of shear cracks after crack forma-
tion. If crack prevention is critical, one should
focus on section enlargement, supplemental Fig. 6—Internal steel reinforcement.
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 INCREASING SHEAR CAPACITY WITHIN EXISTING REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES (ACI 364.2T-08) 3

members, and tensioning);Magnitude of strength increase required

(some methods can achieve higher relative strength increases than
others;
• Necessity to unload the member before performing the shear
strengthening repair (if the member is unloaded, the repaired
portion will be able to resist both future [live and superimposed]
and present [dead] loads in conjunction with the original member;
if the member is not unloaded, then the repair will resist only
future loads, and none of the original dead load);
• Size of project (some special materials and methods may be less
cost effective on small projects);
• In-service conditions (methods using adhesives might be unsuit-
able in high-temperature environments; external steel methods can
be problematic in corrosive environments, and exposed steel and
FRP methods can impact the fire rating of strengthened members);
• In-place concrete strength (the effectiveness of methods relying
on bond to the existing concrete can be significantly limited by
low concrete strength);
• Dimensional/clearance constraints (section enlargement might
be limited by the degree to which the enlargement can encroach
Fig. 7—FRP shear strengthening example using on surrounding clear space);
carbon FRP (CFRP); U-shaped strips with glass • Accessibility (both for application and maintenance);
fiber anchors (Schuman 2004). • Operational constraints (methods requiring longer time for
construction might be less desirable for applications in which
building operations are shut down during construction);
• Aesthetics (some methods are less obvious repairs than others and, as such, might be preferable to the owner);
• Availability of materials, equipment, and qualified contractors; and
• Cost (initial and life cycle).
Shear reversals are common on continuous structures with variable loading patterns. Shear strengthening schemes
generally require that the additional shear reinforcement remain functional throughout the anticipated failure mecha-
nism, which is usually flexural in nature. For bonded reinforcements, this typically requires some form of anchorage to
ensure attachment across the shear cracks after the initiation of debonding. The debonding mechanism is governed by
the tensile strength of concrete, and is difficult to prevent. Although the use of anchorage for bonded shear reinforce-
ment provides attachment after debonding, a close examination of strain compatibility with the existing internal shear
reinforcement is required to ensure that all shear reinforcing elements will reach or exceed the intended local design
limit when the member reaches the structural capacity. Schuman (2004) provided one such anchorage approach for
the use of externally bonded FRP shear reinforcement. An important part of any shear strengthening design is the
anticipated sequence of strain generation and attainment of the intended design limits between the conventional
internal steel reinforcement and the additional shear reinforcement. The modulus alone will not always dictate which
elements are the most highly strained across a given shear crack.

Summary
There are a variety of materials and methods available to increase shear capacity, including the use of external
steel reinforcement, section enlargement, internal steel or FRP reinforcement, supplemental members, FRP plates
and strips, both steel and FRP NSMR,
and external prestressing. Depending
on the type of application, crack,
crack stitching and epoxy injection
could be considered shear strength-
ening measures, although these
methods would typically be
described as repairs rather than
strengthening, but are not discussed
in this document.

Fig. 8—(a)FRP reinforcement with pultruded plate stirrups with (b) ribbed anchor-
age as installed.
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4 INCREASING SHEAR CAPACITY WITHIN EXISTING REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES (ACI 364.2T-08)

References
ACI Committee 437, 2003, “Strength Evaluation of Existing Concrete Buildings (ACI 437R-03),” American Concrete
Institute, Farmington Hills, MI, 28 pp.
ACI Committee 440, 2002, “Guide for the Design and Construction of Externally Bonded FRP Systems for
Strengthening Concrete Structures (ACI 440.2R-02),” American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, MI, 45 pp.
ACI Committee 440, 2006, “Guide for the Design and Construction of Concrete Reinforced with FRP Bars
(440.1R-06),” American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, MI, 44 pp.
ACI Committee 546, 2004, “Concrete Repair Guide (AC,” American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, MI, 53 pp.
Carolin, A., and Täljsten, B., 2003, “Behavior of Concrete Structures Strengthened in Shear with CFRP,” Proceed-
ings of the Sixth International Symposium on FRP Reinforcement for Concrete Structures (FRPRCS-6), Singapore,
World Scientific, pp. 467-476.
Raina, V. K., 1994, Concrete Bridges; Inspection, Repair, Strengthening, Testing and Load Capacity Evaluation,
McGraw-Hill, New York, 493 pp.
Schuman, P., 2004, “Mechanical Anchorage for Shear Rehabilitation of Reinforced Concrete Structures with
FRP: An Appropriate Design Approach,” PhD thesis, Department of Structural Engineering, University of Cali-
fornia at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 528 pp.
Wong, R. S. Y., and Vecchio, F. J., 2003, “Towards Modeling of Reinforced Concrete Members with Externally
Bonded Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites,” ACI Structural Journal, V. 100, No. 1, Jan.-Feb., pp. 47-55.

Reported by ACI Committee 364

Peter H. Emmons Alexander M. Vaysburd
Chair Secretary

Sam Bhuyan Lawrence F. Kahn Gajanan M. Sabnis

Benoit Bissonnette Ashok M. Kakade David W. Scott
Michael L. Brainerd Dov Kaminetzky Robert E. Shewmaker
Douglas Burke Keith E. Kesner K. Nam Shiu
Ashok K. Dhingra Erick N. Larson Avanti C. Shroff
Boris Dragunsky James H. Loper Thomas E. Spencer
Paul E. Gaudette Pritpal S. Mangat John A. Tanner
Timothy R. W. Gillespie James E. McDonald Valery Tokar
Fred R. Goodwin Martin S. McGovern David A. VanOcker
Zareh B. Gregorian William R. Nash James Warner
Ron Heffron Mark A. Postma David W. Whitmore
Robert L. Henry

ACI TechNotes are intended for reference for the design and construction of concrete structures. This document is intended for the use of
individuals who are competent to evaluate the significance and limitations of its content and who will accept responsibility for the appli-
cation of the information it contains. The American Concrete Institute disclaims any and all responsibility for the accuracy of the content
and shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising therefrom. Reference to this document shall not be made in contract documents.

ACI 364.2T-08 was adopted and published July 2008.

Copyright © 2008, American Concrete Institute.

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