Shear Strength Assessment of Slender Reinforced Normal Concrete Beams using Artificial Neural Networks

Predicting the shear capacity of reinforced concrete beams with a suitable accuracy is an essential issue for engineering applications, especially for the rehabilitation and design of such structures. It was found that there is a significant difference between experimental and existing code recommendations for shear capacity predictions. Shear capacity assessment of slender reinforced concrete beams in reason of several assumptions to equation developing is one of the most important issues. An artificial neural network has been developed as a reliable method to simulate and determine the shear capacity of slender concrete beams. For this purpose, the effects of several parameters on the shear strength of concrete beams were evaluated. Finally, an empirical formula with suitable accuracy was obtained to determine the shear strength of slender concrete beams. Experimental, code recommendations and model suggested by artificial neural networks for shear strength of concrete beams show that the model suggested by artificial neural networks gives more exact predictions.