ABSTRACT
The need for the assessment of interface shear strength in reinforced concrete construction arises in conjunction with a wide variety of structural details. Several design codes (e.g., EC2, ACI 318, MC 2010) provide guidance on the design of interfaces, assuming full anchorage of the interface dowels. As dowels, cast-in reinforcing bars, are typically assumed. Nevertheless, in case of repair and strengthening of structures, the interface dowels are usually post-installed in the existing concrete member, while their embedment length may be limited. The European Organization for Technical Assessment has issued a design Guideline (EOTA TR 066 2019), allowing to design interfaces with connectors of limited anchorage. To cover the cyclic behavior of interfaces, an extension of the guidelines, amended in 2020, was introduced. In the current paper, the equations for the prediction of interface resistance, included in the codes and guidelines are compared with experimental results, are evaluated, and commented upon.
