Influence of boundary conditions on punching shear behaviour of flat plate-column connections

Boundary conditions are an important factor in the performance of flat plate structures in experimental studies and in practice. In this study the response of slab-column connections under vertical load is investigated using finite element modelling for various boundary conditions. A numerical analysis was undertaken for a slab-column connection tested by Lim and Rangan (1995) to investigate the possible effect of boundary conditions on the results obtained from the experimental investigation. The results of the study show that the transfer of unbalanced moment to the column is highly sensitive to the boundary conditions.