RC flat slab with opening strengthened embedded bearing plate under Punching shear

Reinforced concrete slabs that contain service or architectural openings near the column are usually designed using traditional methods provided by international specifications. These methods are limited in terms of the location and size of the opening and the methods of reinforcement to resist punching shear. This research presents an experimental study of flat slabs that contain an opening near the column using a steel plate to demonstrate its effect on the behavior of the roof to resist punching shear. This research presents one of the ways to strengthen these openings using steel plate. Steel plate is considered one of the important solutions to increase the resistance of flat slabs to failure of perforating shear that contain service openings next to the columns. The results showed that the presence of openings near the column led to a decrease in the resistance to punching shear and a change in the behavior of the flat slab. The use of the steel plate leads to a further improvement of the behavior of the flat slab compared to the model that contains an opening and is not supported by the steel plate. The presence of the opening near the column led to a decrease in the maximum load by 58%, and the use of the steel plate and fixing it in different ways led to an increase in the maximum load (70-107%), depending on the fixation methods and the thickness of the steel plate.