Structural Performance of Reinforced Concrete Corbels

Reinforced concrete corbels are deep, short cantilevered elements that transfer concentrated loads from beams or slabs into supporting members. Their performance hinges on the interplay between shear resistance and flexural capacity within a limited shear span-to-depth ratio. Failure typically occurs by diagonal concrete crushing, yielding of tensile reinforcement, or sliding at the concrete–reinforcement interface. Design methodologies increasingly rely on strut-and-tie models to capture the complex stress trajectories in discontinuity regions, while full-scale tests and advanced numerical simulations provide insight into the roles of concrete compressive strength, reinforcement detailing and confinement. Recent advances in high-performance materials, such as reactive powder concrete and steel-fibre or polymer-based composites, have extended the load-carrying capacity and ductility of corbels in bridge supports, façade attachments and industrial platforms. Finite element approaches using concrete damage plasticity and softened strut-and-tie formulations enable more accurate prediction of ultimate capacity and failure modes, facilitating optimisation of reinforcement layouts for enhanced safety and material efficiency.

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Structural Performance of Reinforced Concrete Corbels publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in structural performance of reinforced concrete corbels across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Shear span-to-depth ratio (a/d): The distance from load application to support divided by the effective corbel depth, controlling shear demand and failure mode.

Strut-and-tie model (STM): An idealised representation of load transfer in discontinuity regions using compressive struts, tensile ties and nodal zones.

Reactive powder concrete (RPC): A very high-performance cementitious composite with extremely fine particles, offering high strength and improved microstructural homogeneity.

Nodal zone: The junction in an STM where multiple struts and ties intersect, whose strength governs local crushing or bond performance.

Softened strut-and-tie model (SSTM): A refinement of STM incorporating reductions in strut capacity due to cracking and material softening, particularly suited to fibre-reinforced mixes.

References

1. Experimental and numerical study on structural behavior of reactive powder concrete corbels without stirrups. Case Studies in Construction Materials (2023).
2. Strengths of Struts and Nodal Zones for Strut-and-Tie Model Design of Reinforced Concrete Corbels. Civil Engineering Journal (2021).
3. Prediction of Shear Strength for Steel-Fiber High-Strength Concrete Corbels with the Softened Strut-and-Tie Model. Buildings (2023).
4. Numerical Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Corbels Using Concrete Damage Plasticity: Sensitivity to Material Parameters and Comparison with Analytical Models. Buildings (2023).