Assessment of design methods for punching through numerical experiments

The work is intended to demonstrate that the loss of bond between concrete and flexural steel which led in recent years a number of flat-slab structures to punching collapse under service loading conditions is also relevant to ultimate limit-state design. It is based on a comparative study of the results obtained from numerical experiments on flat slab-column sub-assemblages. The slabs were designed for punching either in compliance with the EC2 code requirements, which do not allow for such loss of bond, or in accordance with the compressive force-path method which considers the loss of bond between concrete and the flexural reinforcement in tension as the primary cause of punching. The numerical experiments are carried out through the use of a nonlinear finite element analysis package for which, although ample published evidence of its validity exists, additional proof of its suitability for the purposes of the present work is presented.