Parametric studies on punching shear behavior of RC flat slabs without shear reinforcement

This paper proposed a numerical investigation based on finite elements analysis (FEA) in order to study the punching shear behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) flat slabs using ABAQUS and SAP2000 programs. Firstly, the concrete and the steel reinforcements were modeled by hexahedral 3D solid and linear elements respectively, and the nonlinearity of the used materials was considered. In order to validate this model, experimental results considered in literature were compared with the proposed FE model. After validation, a parametric study was performed. The parameters include the slab thickness, the flexure reinforcement ratios and the axial membrane loads. Then, to reduce the time of FEA, a simplified modelling using 3D layered shell element and shear hinge concept was also induced. The effect of the footings settlement was studied using the proposed simplified nonlinear model as a case study. Results of numerical models showed that increase of the slab thickness by 185.7% enhanced the ultimate load by 439.1%, accompanied with a brittle punching failure. The punching failure occurred in one of the tested specimens when the tensile reinforcement ratio increased more than 0.65% and the punching capacity improved with increasing the horizontal flexural reinforcement; it decreased by 30% with the settlement of the outer footings.