Limits for the Punching Shear Capacity of the Flat Slabs Reinforced with Transverse Reinforcement

One of the most effective and common ways of an increasing the punching shear capacity of the flat slabs is using of shear reinforcement. An important limit during the design is the determination of the maximum punching shear resistance. The fact that the calculation of such an important value is still clearly empirical has met with criticism from many experts in recent years. Consequently, a new design model for the calculation of the maximum punching shear resistance, based on the critical shear crack theory was developed. The second generation of the Eurocode 2 (prEC2) introduces a more accurate and sophisticated design model for the determination of the upper limit of the punching shear capacity and considers several parameters. The main aim of this paper is to describe the new methodology of calculation of the maximum punching shear strength and the parameters that could influence it. The paper deals also with an assessment of the suitability of new model by comparing it with experimental results, that have been selected from a database of specimens that failed by punching at the level of VR,max.