Empirical Punching Shear Capacity Equation for Reinforced Concrete Two-way Slabs with Openings

Abstract

This study proposes a new equation to estimate the punching shear capacity of Two Way Reinforced Concrete Flat Slab Column (TRFSC) connections with openings. The TRFSC connections with openings in the literature were simulated using the finite element modeling technique. Then, the test results were used to calibrate and verify the finite element model. Next, the number of test data was artificially increased using the finite element model to cover a wide range of critical perimeters. Finally, the effects of several parameters such as the size of the openings in the reinforced concrete slabs, their position, and distance concerning the column on which the punching loading is applied on the variation of punching shear load capacity of TRFSC connections with openings were observed, the results showed that the proposed equation generally gave better results than the several current code equations. For the study used in the verification of the finite element model, it was observed that the ratios of the punching capacity values calculated using the experimental results and the regulations varied between 0.79 and 0.92 on average, and the regulations gave results that were not on the safe side for TRFSC connections with openings. However, with the nonlinear correction coefficient proposed in this study, the ratios of the experimental results and analytically calculated capacity values were calculated as 1.10 on average, and the standard deviation and variant values decreased much more.