Experimental Study of Lightweight Concrete Flat Plate with Sandwich Shear Plates

Abstract

The study presents an experimental investigation on the influence of embedded steel plate (sandwich) as shearhead reinforcement on the punching shear strength of reinforced light concrete flat plates.Five half-scale models of slab-column connection of (1000 x 1000 x 70mm) simply supported along the four edges are tested. The slabs are loaded concentrically by a central stub column. The variables studied are; the thickness (2 and 4mm) and the dimensions (90mm x 150mm and 180mm x150mm) of steel plate. Results indicate that the effect of increasing of the thickness and steel plate dimensions, and shear connectors spacing improve the resistance to punching shear, enhance type of failure and increase the value of the ultimate load capacity. The ultimate load increases by about (47.57and 73.79%) of the maximum ultimate load for the plate thickness 2 and 4mm respectively while the spacing between the shear connectors is (d/2) and about (59.22 and 88.35%) for the thickness 2 and 4mm while the spacing between shear connectors is (d).