Abstract
Reinforced concrete (RC) flat-plate structures are vulnerable to punching shear failure at their slab-column connections, potentially leading to a catastrophic progressive collapse. In practice, the slab-column connection above an interior column, removed due to abnormal loads, may be subjected to a concentrated downward force because of the absence of the supporting column and further being pushed as a result of different live load intensities on individual stories. This force is different from the full design load that the column withstands in normal situations and, combined with the gravity load acting on the slab, may cause punching shear failure at the interior slab-column connection. This will further trigger failure propagation to the surrounding slab-column connections. This paper presents the experimental tests performed on two identical large-scale -bay RC flat-plate specimens under an interior column removal scenario. A 5-kPa uniformly distributed load was applied first to the slab followed by an incremental concentrated force imposed on the slab-column connection above the removed interior column. The complete collapse-resistant behavior and load redistribution pattern of the specimens were investigated and are reported herein. Results show that more than 90% of the applied concentrated force is solely distributed to the four nearest adjacent columns. Three load-carrying mechanism phases, in the form of flexural, tensile membrane, and a combination of one-way catenary and dowel actions can be distinguished in resisting the applied concentrated load.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful for the financial support received from the Australian Research Council through the ARC Discovery Project DP150100606. The essential work performed by Mr. Tcheyne Gerard, Mr. James Webster, Mr. Chunhao Lyu, and Mr. Shaoqi Li in preparing the experimental tests is acknowledged, and valuable suggestions from Professors Yew-Chaye Loo and Brain Uy are greatly appreciated.
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Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 144 • Issue 7 • July 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 22, 2017
Accepted: Jan 25, 2018
Published online: May 9, 2018
Published in print: Jul 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Oct 9, 2018
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