Experimental Study on Structural Performance of PT Flat Plate Interior Connection Under Lateral Load

Post-tensioned(PT) flat plate slab has been widely used in high rise buildings for its remarkable advantages. However, punching shear failure has become increasingly important issue with the spread of flat plate slab. The objective of this paper is to estimate structural performance of interior slab-column connections with prestressed slabs based on shear reinforcement. The results of an experiment program on structural performance of PT slab-column connections are presented in this paper. The first one of five specimens was severed as the control specimen. Two of them were strengthened by studs welded on the rails according to ACI 421.1R-99. The others were reinforced by studs with steel plates. Specimens were tested under constant gravity load and the lateral displacement was applied on the top surface of column in a reversed cyclic manner. Punching shear failure occurred for the control specimen at drift ratio of approximately 2.2%. The specimens with studs on the steel plates showed a significant flexural yielding and sustained deformation up to a drift ratio of 4.5% to 5.35%. Furthermore, the results exhibited a maximum increase of 40.74% on ductility of the joints comparison to the control sample. The PT flat plate slab reinforced studs with steel plates is superior to the PT flat plate slab reinforced studs in terms of ductility, controlling crack, postponing stiffness deterioration, energy dissipation, etc