Numerical study on effect of integrity reinforcement on punching shear of flat plate

Reinforced concrete flat plates consist of slabs supported directly on columns. The absence of beams makes these systems attractive due to advantages such as economical formwork, shorter construction time, less total building height with more clear space and architectural flexibility. Punching shear failure is usually the governing failure mode of flat plate structures. Punching failure is brittle in nature which induces more vulnerability to this type of structure. To analyze the flat plate behavior under punching shear, twelve finite element models of flat plate on a column with different parameters have been developed and verified with experimental results. The maximum range of variation of punching stress, obtained numerically, is within 10% of the experimental results. Additional finite element models have been developed to analyze the influence of integrity reinforcement, clear cover and column reinforcement. Variation of clear cover influences the punching capacity of flat plate. Proposed finite element model can be a substitute to mechanical model to understand the influence of clear cover. Variation of slab thickness along with column reinforcement has noteworthy impact on punching capacity. From the study it has been noted that integrity reinforcement can increase the punching capacity as much as 19 percent in terms of force and 101 percent in terms of deformation.