ABSTRACT
South Africa (SA) is on the advent of adopting the European Standard EN 1992-1-1 Eurocode 2: Design of concrete structures – Part 1-1: General rules and rules for buildings as the equivalent standard for local use.This implies that the Variable Strut Inclination Method (VSIM) will be introduced as an alternative analogy for stirrup design in SA. The assessment of the general performance of the VSIM as presented by EN 1992-1-1, particularly in comparison to the currently operational SA standardtherefore becomes one of the essential activities of the adoption process. This investigation was commissioned to compare EN 19921-1 mean and design shear capacity predictions to, (1) the semi-empirical Ritter-Mörsch-based stirrup design analogy employed in the currently operational local SA design standard SANS 10100-1 (2000), and (2) the fib Model Code 2010 MCFT-based LoA I and LoA III design analogies.
