K. Sennah

This research studies shear strengthening performance for Normal Concrete (NC) beams employing Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) reinforced with Galvanized Welded Wire Mesh (GWWM) in conjunction with/without a prestressing system. Six full‐scale Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams were experimented under static monotonic loading at critical shear span zone up to collapse. The investigated factors were: the type and technique of strengthening, materials used for strengthening, and size and configuration of shear reinforcement. Two techniques were introduced: ECC layer reinforced with GWWM and pretensioned steel bars recovered by ECC with one GWWM. GWWM with and without pretensioned steel bars were delivered as shear reinforcement for strengthening. Vertical and inclined steel bars were the two configurations selected for the prestressing technique for suppressing shear stress. The study was discussed through the experimented beams' crack load and pattern, collapse mode, elastic stiffness, absorbed energy, initial cracking load, and ultimate load, along with the corresponding defection. Experimental results showed that both exploited techniques could govern crack patterns, enhance the failure mode, and upgrade ultimate loading capacity up to 52%. Finite element models were built up, simulating those strengthened with an ECC covering layer augmented with GWWM extracting a model with an error of about 3%.