Dowel action of the tensile reinforcement in RC beams without shear reinforcement: Novel experimental investigation and mechanical modelling

Dowel action is a well-known phenomenon in shear-related problems within structural concrete. The tests previously reported the literature to evaluate this contribution reinforced concrete beams without shear reinforcement were conducted any initial activation of tensile reinforcement. This paper presents experimental results dowel tests, performed novel test setup. setup reflects more realistically conditions enables realistic longitudinal before applying force. show that even low development horizontal- and inclined cracks, force applied. shows from not just simply governed by splitting strength cover. A method determine displacement photogrammetric measurements presented. In addition, linear elastic- rigid-plastic mechanical model are presented for estimating transferred RC estimates based on displacement. Comparison fairly good agreement.