Keywords: finite element analysis, fibre reinforced concrete, punching shear, flat slab.

Resistance of punching shear is the governing measure in the design of a flat slab structure since punching shear failure is disastrous as it occurs unexpectedly with almost no forewarning. Until now, it is still a contentious topic in flat slab design and construction. The traditional method to resist punching shear failure has been to provide enough shear reinforcement within the critical perimeter surrounding the column or by introducing the drop panels. Punching shear failure is primarily due to the inability of concrete to sustain a great amount of principal tensile stresses. An increase in concrete tensile strength may be expected to result in an increase in the punching shear strength of flat slabs. This thought has revealed that randomly distributed fibres are clearly a viable alternative to conventional shear reinforcement since fibres have shown to be very effective in improving the tensile capacity of concrete [1]. In addition, it has been proven that the use of short and discrete fibre reinforcements can significantly improve the ductility and punching shear capacity of flat slabs [2]. In this paper, a three-dimensional finite element model (including column stub and all reinforcement details) with the complete analysis of both pre-peak and post-peak load-deflection responses will be presented. Further details regarding the numerical model can be found in [3,4,5]. The numerical model has provided a better insight into the mechanism of punching shear failure. It has also been shown to provide a reasonably accurate prediction of the load-deflection behaviour of the fibrous flat slab. Good correlation was obtained when comparing experimental and numerical results.

1

C.S. Chin, R.Y. Xiao, "Tensile Behaviour of Fibrous Concrete", Concrete Communication Symposium, The Concrete Centre (Part of the Mineral Products Association), 45-46, 2009.

2

B.P. Hughes, R.Y. Xiao, "Flat slabs with fibre or link reinforcement at slab-column connections", Proc. Institution of Civil Engineers, Structs. & Blgds., 110, 308-321, 1995. doi:10.1680/istbu.1995.27875

3

R.Y. Xiao, C.S. Chin, "Finite Element Modelling of Fibre Reinforced Concrete Structures", in B.H.V. Topping, L.F. Costa Neves, R.C. Barros, (Editors), "Trends in Civil and Structural Engineering Computing", Saxe-Coburg Publications, Stirlingshire, UK, Chapter 6, 131-148, 2009. doi:10.4203/csets.22.6

4

C.S. Chin, R.Y. Xiao, "Experimental and Computational Analysis of Fibre Reinforced Concrete Beams", Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Non-conventional Materials and Technologies (NOCMAT 2009), Bath, UK, 140, 2009.

5

C.S. Chin, R.Y. Xiao, Z.W. Gong, "A Study of the Shear Behaviour of Reinforced Concrete Sections with Fibre Reinforcement", in B.H.V. Topping, J.M. Adam, F.J. Pallarés, R. Bru, M.L. Romero, (Editors), "Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Computational Structures Technology", Civil-Comp Press, Stirlingshire, UK, Paper 95, 2010. doi:10.4203/ccp.93.95

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