Shear-Resisting Performance of Reinforced Concrete Flat Plates with Different Headed Stud Layouts

The use of headed stud shear reinforcement has been widely accepted as an effective strategy to improve the punching shear resisting performance of reinforced concrete (RC) flat plates. However, the specific placement and layout of the shear studs provided in flat plates tends to vary throughout the world, and questions have been raised regarding the performance of the different shear stud layouts employed. This paper presents the results obtained from six large-scale flat-plate slab-column connection specimens that were tested under concentric shear loading conditions. The slabs were constructed with different flexural reinforcement ratios and employed headed stud rails placed in either a radial or cruciform configuration. The results showed that the use of shear studs provided in the cruciform or the radial shear stud layout greatly improved the shear-resisting behaviors of the slabs, and that the structural responses of the slabs employing the two different stud layouts were found to be comparable in nearly all respects.