The Influence of Drop Panel's Dimensions on the Punching Shear Resistance in Ultra-High-Performance Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Flat Slabs

Ultra-high performance fiber reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) is a high-performance cementitious material with enhanced tension, compression, and toughness, strengths in the post crack region with high ductility, toughness, and durability. The companies prefer to use it to construct highly durable structures such as high-rise buildings, towers, and bridges. In addition, the thickness of the flat slab produced by UHPFRC might be thinner than the conventional concrete. One problem that has always been a concern in a flat slab is the punching shear failure since this failure is brittle and occurs suddenly without any previous notice. Besides, the position of the critical section for punching shear could be changed based on the thickness of the drop panel and the inclusion of fiber in the concrete. This paper highlights the effect of drop panels dimension on the punching shear resistance in UHPFRC flat slabs. The four two-way interior UHPFRC supported flat slab panels, consisting of one control flat slab without drop panels and three-flat slabs with different sizes of drop panels (10.5%,14.5%, and 19%) of the total area of slab drop panels, tested under punching load. Results indicated that the covered area of flat slabs by drop panel around 10.5% improved punching load up to %20 and 37% at the crack and ultimate loads. Furthermore, the test results show that the efficient covered area for resisting punching was 10.5% of the total area of the tested slab. Besides, the deflection values, strain in reinforcement and concrete, rotation at supports, and the inclination angles of cracks were improved due to the stiffness enhancement in the flat slabs.