Punching-shear strength of reinforced concrete slabs subjected to unidirectional in-plane tensile forces

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: [Fernández, PG, Marí, A, Oller, E. Punching‐shear strength of reinforced concrete slabs subjected to unidirectional in‐plane tensile forces. Structural Concrete. 2020; 1– 16. https://doi.org/10.1002/suco.202000112], which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/suco.202000112. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
Some reinforced concrete slabs are subjected simultaneously to concentrated loads and unidirectional in‐plane tensile forces. This the case of the top slab of a box girder bridge where hogging bending moments take place at the intermediate supports. Then, the in‐plane tensile forces may reduce the punching‐shear strength under concentrated loads. This paper describes an experimental campaign carried out to investigate the effect of unidirectional in‐plane tensile forces on the punching‐shear strength of RC slabs. A total of, five slabs (1,650 × 1,650 × 120 mm), subjected to different levels of in‐plane tensile forces were tested under a concentrated load up to failure. As observed, the punching‐shear strength diminishes almost linearly as the tensile force increases, up to a certain point associated to concrete cracking. From that point on, the reduction of punching strength is larger since the tensile force at the crack must be resisted by the reinforcement, which yields prematurely.
This work has been carried out within the framework of the research project BIA-2015-64672-C4-1-R, financed by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) of Spain, and with the invaluable help of the technicians and the director of the Structural Technology Laboratory of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. The authors want also to thank Master students Magí Domingo and Laura Beltran who collaborated in the numerical predictions and execution of the tests, respectively.
Peer Reviewed
Postprint (author's final draft)