LAPPED TENSILE SPLICES PART 1: RETAINING WALL TYPE, VARYING MOMENT ZONE

THIRTY-TWO CONCRETE BEAMS SIMULATING RETAINING WALL STEMS AND CONTAINING REINFORCING BAR LAP SPLICES WERE TESTED TO FAILURE. TWENTY-SEVEN BEAMS HAD #11 BAR SPLICES, FOUR HAD #8 BAR SPLICES, AND ONE HAD #9 MAIN BARS SPLICED TO #11 DOWEL BARS. FAILURES WERE TYPICALLY OF THE SPLITTING TYPE. IT WAS CONCLUDED THAT THE 1965 AASHO SPECIFICATION FOR SPLICES DOES NOT PROVIDE A SAFE GUIDE UNLESS IT IS MODIFIED. THE SECOND PART OF THE REPORT PRESENTS A TENTATIVE THEORETICAL TREATMENT OF LAP SPLICE LENGTH BASED ON SEVERAL OBSERVED TYPES OF SPLITTING FAILURE. /BPR/