3039EXQ
Week 9 – Session 1 - Concrete Design – Punching Shear
in RC Flat slabs:
Important features in the design of the slabs are the calculations for punching shear at the
head of the columns and at the change in depth of the slab, if drop panels are used.
EC2 requires that the design shear force at column locations should be increased above the
calculated value by 15 per cent for internal columns, up to 40 per cent for edge columns and
50 per cent for corner columns, to allow for the effects of moment transfer.
These simplified rules only apply to braced structures where adjacent spans do not differ by
more than 25%.
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3039EXQ
Punching shear – analysis:
A concentrated load on a slab causes shearing stresses on a section around the load; this
effect is referred to as punching shear.
The critical surface for checking punching shear is the perimeter located at 2.0d from the
loaded area as shown in the diagram below.
The maximum force that can be carried by the slab without shear reinforcement (VRd,c) can
be obtained using the values of vRd,c given in the table on the next page.
Length of critical section,
u = 2(a + b) + 2π.2d
= 2(a + b) + 4πd
The shear strength of the perimeter is given by:
VRd,c = vRd,c d u
vRd,c is the shear resistance of slabs without shear reinforcement taking
ρ1 = √(ρyρz)
ρy & ρz are the reinforcement ratios, As/bd in the two mutually perpendicular directions
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d = effective depth of section {average of the steel layers = (dy + dz)/2}
u = length of punching shear perimeter
Checks must also be undertaken to ensure that the maximum permissible shear force,
VRd,max , is not exceeded at the face of the loaded area/column.
The maximum permissible shear force is given by
VRd,max = 0.5v1fcdud = 0.5v1(fck/1.5)ud
Where u is the perimeter of the loaded area and
v1, the strength reduction factor = 0.6(1 - fck/250)
The maximum stress at the basic control perimeter, 2d from the face of the loaded
area/column must not exceed 2vRd,c
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3039EXQ
Punching shear - reinforcement design
The reinforcement required to resist punching should be placed between not more than 0.5d
from the loaded area and a distance 1.5d inside the outer control perimeter at which shear
reinforcement is no longer required.
The length of this is given by uout,ef = VEd/(vRd,cd)
from which the necessary distance from the loaded area can be calculated.
If this is less than 3d from the face of the loaded area, then reinforcement should be placed
in the zone between 0.3d and 1.5d from this face.
Vertical links will normally be used and provided around at least two perimeters not more
than 0.75d apart. Link spacing around a perimeter within 2d of the face of the loaded area
should not be greater than 1.5d, increasing to a limit of 2.0d at greater perimeters.
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3039EXQ
Provided that the slab is greater than 200mm thick overall then the amount of reinforcement
required is given by:
This expression is for vertical links and allows for 75% contribution from the unreinforced
concrete slab &
Asw is the total area of reinforcement in one perimeter (mm2)
Sr is the radial spacing of the shear reinforcement
u1 is the length of the control perimeter at 2.0d from the face of the column
vRd,cs is the shear stress at the control perimeter
vRd,c is the shear resistance of slabs without shear reinforcement
fywd, ef is the effective design strength of the shear reinforcement and is given by
fywd, ef = 250 + 0.25d ≤ fywd
A check must also be made that the calculated reinforcement satisfies the minimum
requirement that
Where s is the spacing of the links around the perimeter and A is the area of an
t sw, min
individual link leg
