The shear design and assessment of skew reinforced concrete slabs in the new Eurocode 2

Shear failures are generally brittle, hence highly undesired. While the shear behaviour of concrete members has been long investigated, a consensus on a model has not been reached. The recently issued second generation of Eurocode 2, EN 1992–1–1:2023, endorses a mechanical model that significantly improves the shear verification. However, it still lacks provisions readily applicable to skew slabs, common in the construction industry. This study reviews the shear design provisions of both first and second generation of Eurocode 2, as well as relevant research on the shear design of skew concrete slabs without shear reinforcement. Procedures are then proposed to extend the Eurocode provisions to the shear design of skew slabs. Emphasis is placed on the calculation of the strains required by the new refined verification introduced in EN 1992–1–1:2023. The procedures are illustrated through the case studies of two skew railway decks. These case studies show that the second generation of Eurocode 2 returns greater design shear resistances than the first generation when using the mechanical shear span in lieu of the effective depth. However, the refined strain-based verification does not necessarily increase further the shear resistance.