Keywords: flat slab-plate, lateral loads, punching, slab-column connection.

The utmost disadvantage of flat plates is the risk of brittle punching failure at slab-column connections due to shear transfer and unbalanced moments. Many disagreements exist between researchers and international codes about punching resistance and its controlling parameters. Some codes employ a vague simplified scheme to indirectly include the effect of unbalanced moments on punching resistance. Others take the effect of unbalanced moments rigorously.

In this paper a three-dimensional nonlinear finite element model for the edge slab-column connections is developed and the model response analyses under lateral and gravity loads are carried out. The finite element analysis has been undertaken using the commercial program ANSYS. The objective of the study is to asses the effects of different structural parameters on the behavior of exterior slab-column connections. The studied parameters are the tension reinforcement ratio, the compression reinforcement ratio, the unbalanced moment/shear ratio, and the concrete compressive strength. The punching shear strength, load-deflection responses and crack patterns predicted by the finite element analysis are presented and discussed. Comparisons between the study results, current concrete design codes, and existing experimental studies are presented.

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