DaveAtkins said:
Although, the ACI Code currently does NOT recognize tension "going around a corner," as far as I know...The above paragraph is the "letter of the law."
I believe there to be a serious misconception at play here. Here's how I see it:
1) Because of concrete crushing and bar slip issues, standard ACI bend diameter hooks longer than the ACI standard 12 db are not allowed to be assumed to improve development length.
2)
Nowhere in ACI is it stated that rebar cannot transfer tension around the bend of a concrete joint. Were that the case, we'd be utterly screwed for:
2a) Roof level exterior beam column joints.
2b) Corner joints in tank structures.
2c) Retaining wall stem/footing joints.
2d) A zillion other situations that I won't bother to list...
Basically, we'd have to give up on monolithic CIP and just do precast.
3) As Dave has intimated, ACI does a piss poor job of providing explicit tools that designers can use to transfer rebar tension around corners. And that creates confusion. This is why, whenever this issue comes up, I mention non-North American provisions and the curved bar node STM method (
Link). Those are the available tools that I'm aware of.
I like to debate structural engineering theory -- a lot. If I challenge you on something, know that I'm doing so because I respect your opinion enough to either change it or adopt it.