Conventional close stirrup has been widely used in RC beams to avoid shear failure behavior but the effect of internal vertical stirrup legs on the shear strength and the initiation of three-dimensional diagonal shear crack in RC beams is still debatable. In this study, three-dimensional crack evaluation was conducted to determine the shear failure mechanism of RC beams with different (two, three and four) vertical stirrup legs across beam width, with almost same stirrup contribution in design equation, using three-point loading test. The load displacement relationship, surface crack initiation and propagation, internal cracking patterns in cross section, vertical stirrup leg strain and concrete strain relationships, shear resistance components were discussed in detail. It was concluded that the presence of two equally spaced internal vertical stirrup legs with conventional close stirrup restricts the initiation and propagation of internal cracks to side surfaces of tested RC beams and influenced the shear strength.
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