Punching strength of flat slabs with shear reinforcement: considerations about the control perimeters

Abstract

Abstract In structural design practice and scientific research on flat slabs, estimating the punching shear resistance of slab-column connection with shear reinforcement involves checking the shear stress acting on a control perimeter outside the shear-reinforced zone. Depending on the arrangement chosen for the shear reinforcement, the design codes` recommendations can lead to different interpretations of the geometry of the external control perimeter, which are, in some cases, also complex to formulate into closed-form equations. Thus, it is common that, especially in hand-made estimates, the slab-column connections are drawn, and dimensions of the external control perimeters are individually measured and applied to the design equations. This paper presents equations developed for ABNT NBR 6118, Eurocode 2 and ACI 318 to account for the length of the control perimeter outside the shear-reinforced zone, allowing the automated calculation for different shear reinforcement arrangements. The different interpretations of the geometry of the external control perimeter of these design codes are discussed and clarified. The proposed equations were validated by comparing their results with those obtained from individual drawing analysis of 62 slab-column connections with varied geometries and shear reinforcement arrangements, and the maximum error was up to 0.1%. This paper significantly contributes to the automation and optimisation of the punching shear strength estimates of slab-column connections with shear reinforcement, clarifying obscure points and automating the definition of the geometry of the external control perimeter.

Keywords

• punching shear
• flat slabs
• shear reinforcement
• control perimeter