Abstract: “This paper investigates the punching shear behavior of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) slabs. Experiments involved the testing of four SFRC and two control slabs against a punching load applied through a steel rod. The slabs were 600 mm square, 90 mm thick reinforced with 8 mm diameter steel rebars. SFRC was produced by mixing 1.2% and 1.4% hooked ended steel fibers in plain high strength concrete of 64.5 MPa grade. Effect of steel fibers on the punching shear cracking behavior and resistance of the slabs was investigated. The results show a significant increase in the punching shear capacity (34%) and considerable improvement in the cracking behavior. The failure of control slabs was brittle, while the SFRC slabs failed in a ductile manner. At serviceability limit state, significant reduction in the average crack width of the SFRC slabs was observed.”

Keywords: punching shear, steel fibers, reinforced concrete, slab, cracking