This paper proposes equations for balanced-steel ratio to predict the failure types in reinforced concrete beams under pure torsion. Equations are theoretically derived using a space truss model and considering a softening effect which reduces the strength of concrete due to the diagonal crack. To investigate the validity of the proposed equations, experiments were conducted with 13 specimens. Corre¬lation between predicted failure types by balanced - steel ratio and the experimental results in the literature was good. but not for beams tested in this paper.