Slab slenderness effect on the punching shear failure of heat-damaged reinforced concrete flat slabs with different opening configurations and flexural reinforcement areas

Punching shear is a brittle failure that occurs within the RC flat slabs where stresses are concentrated within small regions, resulting in a catastrophic and unfavorable progressive collapse. However, increasing the slab slenderness ratio is believed to significantly affect the slab's behavior by the induced strain values throughout the slab depth. This study examines the punching shear behavior of flat slabs by the nonlinear finite element analysis approach using ABAQUS software, where 72 models were investigated. The parametric study includes the effect of opening existence, opening-to-column ratio (O/C), temperature level, slenderness ratio (L/d), and flexural reinforcement rebar diameter. The behavior of the punching shear failure was fully examined under elevated temperatures which was not previously considered in detail along with the combined effect of the other sensitive parameters (opening size, slab slenderness, and reinforcement rebar size). It has been realized that increasing the slab slenderness has a major role in affecting the slab's structural behavior, besides the effect of the flexural reinforcement ratio. Reducing the slab's slenderness from 18.27 to 5.37 increased the cracking load by seven times for the slab without openings compared to nine times for the initial stiffness value. In addition, the toughness capacity is reduced up to 80% upon creating an opening, where the percentage is further increased by increasing the opening size by about an additional 10%. Finally, the ultimate deflection capacity of flat slabs with an opening is increased compared to the solid slab with the enhancement being increased for openings of larger size, larger depths, and higher exposure temperature.