REINFORCED ULTRA-LIGHTWEIGHT CEMENT COMPOSITE FLAT

SLABS: EXPERIMENTS AND ANALYSIS

 1. INTRODUCTION

In present era, flat slab buildings are commonly used for the construction as it has many
advantages over conventional RC frame building in terms of architectural flexibility, use of
space, easier formwork and shorter construction time. Flat slab is a system of construction in
which slab is directly rest on the column. The slab directly rests on the column and load from the
slab is directly transferred to the Columns and then to the foundation. To support heavy loads,
the thickness of slab near the support is increased and these are called drops and columns are
generally provided with enlarged heads called column heads or capitals. Flat slabs with constant
thickness throughout the span is called flat plate. These increasing thickness of flat slab in the
region supporting columns provide adequate strength in shear and to increase the amount
perimeter of the critical section, for shear and hence, increasing the capacity of the slab for
resisting two way shear and to reduce negative bending moment at the support. Flat slab
structure is preferred over conventional structure in construction due to their advantages in
reducing storey height and construction period as compared with conventional structure leading
to reduction of construction costs.

The construction system of flat slabs with supporting columns may be the most competitive
structural system for the residential and commercial buildings with medium height in terms of
easy construction and installation, high cost-efficiency ratio, and architectonical flexibility.
Despite the advantages of their simplicity for both construction and use, several dramatic
collapses occurred mainly due to the punching shear failure around the world The punching
shear failure took place at the slab-column conjunction that might trigger the progressive
collapse of the structure that brought damages on property and human casualties.

1.1. Advantages of flat slabs over conventional frame system

 Flexibility in room layout.
o Partition walls can be placed anywhere.
o Offers a variety of room layout to the owner.
o False ceilings can be omitted.

 Reinforcement placement is easier.

 o As reinforcement detailing of flat slab is simple, it is easier to place

 Ease of Framework installation.

o Big table framework can be used in flat slab

 Building height can be reduced

o As no beam is used, floor height can be reduced and consequently the building
height is reduced

o Approximately 10% of vertical member could be saved

o Foundation load will also reduce

 Less construction time

o Use of big table frame work helps ti reduce construction time

 Prefabricated welded mesh

o Standard sizes

o Less installation time

o Better quality control

1.2. Disadvantages

 Span length is medium

o In flat plate system, it is not possible to have large span

 Not suitable for supporting brittle partitions

 Use of drop panels may interfere with larger mechanical ducting

 Critical middle strip deflection

 Higher slab thickness

 o Compared to typical reinforced concrete two way slab system, he thickness of flat
slabs are higher

2. LIGHT WEIGHT CEMENT COMPOSITE

Lightweight concretes are produced by introducing air voids into the concretes. There are
generally three types of lightweight concretes: (1) lightweight aggregate concrete (voids are
mainly in aggregates), (2)aerated concrete or cellular concrete and foam concrete (voids are in
cement paste), and (3) no fines concrete (sand is eliminated and voids are between coarse
aggregate particles). Among them, the first type of lightweight concrete is typically used for
structural applications with low permeability requirement. Structural lightweight aggregate
concretes (LWAC) typically have density between 1400 and 2000 kg/m3 compare to about
2300–2400 kg/m3 for normal weight concrete. (Unless otherwise stated, density given in this
paper is based on wet specimens while the strength is based on 28 days.)

2.1 Classification of light weight concrete

2.1.1. Light weight aggregate concrete

By using porous lightweight aggregate of low apparent specific gravity, i.e. lower than
2.6. This type 0f concrete is known as lightweight aggregate concrete.

several types of lightweight aggregates suitable for structural reinforced concrete are

1. Pumice – is used for reinforced concrete roof slab, mainly for industrial roofs in
Germany.
2. Foamed Slag – was the first lightweight aggregate suitable for reinforced concrete
that was produced in large quantity in the UK.
3. Expanded Clays and Shales – capable of achieving sufficiently high strength for
prestressed concrete. Well established under the trade names of Aglite and Leca (UK),
Haydite, Rocklite, Gravelite and Aglite (USA).
4. Sintered Pulverized – fuel ash aggregate – is being used in the UK for a variety of
structural purposes and is being marketed under the trade name Lytag
 2.1.2. Aerated concrete
By introducing large voids within the concrete or mortar mass; these voids should be
clearly distinguished from the extremely fine voids produced by air entrainment. This
types of concrete is variously knows as aerated, cellular, foamed or gas concrete.

Air-cured aerated concrete is used where little strength is required e.g. roof screeds and
pipe lagging. Full strength development depends upon the reaction of lime with the
siliceous aggregates, and for the equal densities the strength of high pressure steam cured
concrete is about twice that of air-cured concrete, and shrinkage is only one third or less.

Aerated concrete used as a structural material is usually high-pressure steam-cured. It is

thus factory-made and available to the user in precast units only, for floors, walls and
roofs. Blocks for laying in mortar or glue are manufactured without any reinforcement.
Larger units are reinforced with steel bars to resist damage through transport, handling
and superimposed loads.

2.1.3. No fines concrete

The term no-fines concrete generally means concrete composed of cement and a coarse
(9-19mm) aggregate only. Product so formed has many uniformly distributed voids
throughout its mass. No-fines concrete is mainly used for load bearing, cast in situ
external and internal wall, non load bearing wall and under floor filling for solid ground
floors. No-fines concrete is almost always cast in situ mainly as load bearing and non
load bearing walls including in filling walls, in framed structures, but sometimes as
filling below solids ground floors and for roof screeds.

2.2 Uses of light weight concrete

1. Screeds and thickening for general purposes especially when such screeds or
thickening and weight to floors roofs and other structural members.
2. Screeds and walls where timber has to be attached by nailing.
3. Casting structural steel to protect its against fire and corrosion or as a covering for
architectural purposes.
 4. Heat insulation on roofs.
5. Insulating water pipes.
6. Construction of partition walls and panel walls in frame structures.
7. Fixing bricks to receive nails from joinery, principally in domestic or domestic type
construction.
8. General insulation of walls.
9. Surface rendered for external walls of small houses.
10. It is also being used for reinforced concrete.

2.3 Advantages of light weight concrete

1. Reduced dead load of wet concrete allows longer span to be poured un-propped. This
save both labor and circle time for each floor.
2. Reduction of dead load, faster building rates and lower haulage and handling costs.
The eight of the building in term of the loads transmitted by the foundations is an
important factor in design, particular for the case of tall buildings.
3. The use of LWC has sometimes made its possible to proceed with the design which
otherwise would have been abandoned because of excessive weight. In frame
structures, considerable savings in cost can be brought about by using LWC for the
construction floors, partition and external cladding.
4. Most building materials such as clay bricks the haulage load is limited not by volume
but by weight. With suitable design containers much larger volumes of LWC can haul
economically.
5. A less obvious but nonetheless important characteristics of LWC is its relatively low
thermal conductivity, a property which improves with decreasing density in recent
years, with the increasing cost and scarcity of energy sources, more attention has been
given the formerly to the need for reducing fuel consumption while maintaining, and
indeed improving, comfort conditions buildings. The point is illustrated by fact that a
125 mm thick solid wall of aerated concrete will give thermal insulation about four
times greater than that of a 230 mm clay brick wall.
 3. ULTRA LIGHT WEIGHT CEMENT COMPOSITE (ULCC)

Ultra-lightweight cement composite (ULCC), firstly characterizing by combinations of a low-

density less than 1450 kg/m3 and compressive strength of about 65 MPa with specific strength-
to-density ratio up to 47 kPa/(kg/m3), has been developed for building and offshore
constructions. In ULCC, cenospheres with a low density of 600–900 kg/m3 were used as the
micro-lightweight aggregates to achieve the low density. Cenospheres were recycled from the fly
ash in coal-burning power plants that saved energy and reduced the carbon dioxide emissions.
The process of burning coal in thermal power plants produces fly ash which includes mainly
solid particles and a small amount of hollow particles (cenospheres). For example, in terms of
specific strengths, a ULCC with the unit weight of 1425 kg/m3 and compressive strength of 65
MPa is equivalent to a high-strength concrete with the unit weight of 2400 kg/m3 and
compressive strength of about 110 MPa. Although 65 MPa is not considered as high strength for
normal weight concrete today, such a strength level can be considered as high strength for
lightweight composites with unit weight <1500 kg/m3.

Fig 1 Optical microscope image (approximately 1.1 mm by 0.8 mm) of ultra lightweight cement
composite with cenospheres.
Fig 2 image of cenospheres

Ultra light weight cement composite (ULCC) is a type of novel composites characterized by
combinations of low densities <1500 kg/m3, high compressive strengths ≥60MPA with specific
strength of up to 47 kpa/kgm3. The ULCC was originally designed for potential structural
applications in steel-concrete composites and sandwich structures. In addition, due to their high
specific strength (low density and high strength) and low permeability, the ULCC may be used
potentially in structures where weight of the material is critical, e.g. floating structures.

The ULCC was initially used in the developments of the lightweight steel–concrete composite
floor or deck and steel–concrete–steel (SCS) sandwich Arctic offshore structure. Utilizing the
high specific strength of ULCC, ULCC flat slabs are developed for residential and commercial
buildings to reduce the self-weight of the floor system by about 40% compared with that made of
normal weight concrete with the same strength.
 Fig 4 steel ULCC composite deck

Fig 5 SCS sandwich arctic offshore structure with ULCC

The cenospheres are hollow alumino-silicate spheres with particle sizes ranging from 10 to 300
μm. The cenospheres have a low density ranging from 600 kg/m3 to 900 kg/m3 due to their
hollow structure in the particles that promises the low density of the ULCC. As the cenospheres
are by-products from coal burning power plants, their properties such as particle size distribution
(PSD), specific surface area, and particle density may vary greatly depending on the sources and
processing methods. These properties may affect the workability (including flowability and
stability against segregation) and unit weight of the ULCC substantially. This results in great
difficulty in determining the proper mixture proportions of the ULCC, and usual practice is
mainly based on experimental trials.
 a) Cenosphere b)PVA fiber c) smooth steel fibers

Fig 6 different components used in ULCC

4. EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

4.1. Ultra light weight cement composite and reinforcements

Ultra-lightweight cement composite (ULCC) contains ordinary Portland cement, water, silica
fume, chemical admixtures, cenospheres and PVA fibers. Considering the low water-to-binder
ratio, the super plasticizer (ADVA® 181 ) was used to achieve good workability. Shrinkage-
reducing admixture (Eclipse® Floor )was also used in the mixture to reduce air contents and
minimize shrinkage strains. Also SRA reduces the surface tension of deionized water and
synthetic pore solution. PVA fibers with a length of 6mmand a diameter of 27 μm was used in
specimens P1–P8, and smooth steel fiber (DRAMIX® ) with a diameter of 0.16mmand a length
of 6mmwasused in specimens S1–S6 to reduce the brittleness of the ULCC and improve its
shrinkage cracking resistance. Table 2 lists the details of the PVA and steel fibers used in the
experimental study. Different volume fractions of PVA and steel fiber were investigated.

Compressive tests and splitting tensile tests on Ø100mm× 200mm (diameter × height) cylinders
accordingly to ASTM C39/C39M and ASTM C496/C496M-11 offered the compressive and
tensile strengths of the ULCC, respectively. Table 3 lists the compressive and splitting tensile
strengths of the ULCC for all the specimens involved in this test program. Fig. 3(a) depicts the
compressive stress–strain curves of the ULCC.
 Table 1 properties of PVA and steel fibers

Table 2 Mix proportions of ULCC for different specimen

Table 3 details of ULCC slabs

All the flat slabs adopted Ø12 mm reinforcing bars with ribs as the flexural reinforcement. Three
tensile tests on the steel reinforcements were performed according to ASTM A370-13 to obtain
their mechanical properties. Fig. 7(b) illustrates the experimental stress–strain curves obtained
from the tensile tests. For these three tests, the average yield strength, ultimate strength, and
elastic modulus of the steel are 492.2 MPa, 588.8 MPa, and 215.9 GPa with standard deviations
of 3.7 MPa, 4.3 MPa, and 3.7 GPa, respectively.

Fig7 Stress–strain curves of ULCC and reinforcement used in the flat slab.

4.2. Flat Slabs

Total of 14 slabs were casted of which 8 were of PVA fibres and 6 were of steel fibers. All the
specimens were designed with a width of 700 mm except P2 and P3 were with 1000 mm and
1500 mm in width, respectively. For the specimens with PVA fibers, the investigated parameters
were effective span to depth ratio L/he, flexural reinforcing ratio ρfl, volume fraction of PVA
fiber ρSF, and depth of the cross section h. For the specimens with smooth steel fibers, the
investigate parameters were the same as those in the specimens with PVA fibers except
excluding the effective span to depth ratio L/he .Slabs P1–3 were designed with effective span of
600 mm, 900 mm, and 1400 mm, respectively to investigate L/he. Slabs P1, P4, and P5 were
designed with ρfl ratios of 1.71%, 2.28%, and 0.86%, respectively to assess its influence on the
ultimate resistance. Slabs P1, P6, and P7 were designed with different volume fractions of the
PVA fibers of 0.5%, 0.9%, and 0.2%, respectively to investigate its influence on the structural
performance of ULCC slab. Slabs P1 and P8 were designed. with 90 mm and 70mm in depth,
respectively. Slabs S1–3 adopted different flexural reinforcing ratios of 1.71%, 2.28%, and
0.86%, respectively. labs S1 and S4 were designed with different depths of cross section of 90
mm and 70 mm, respectively. Slabs S1, S5, and S6 adopted different ρSF ratios of the steel
fibers of 1%, 0%, and 2%, respectively. Before casting of the ULCC slab, the reinforcement
mesh was firstly put inside the wooden mold, and a net cover e of 12mmfor the flexural
reinforcement mesh was used as shown in Fig. 8. Then, the fresh ULCC was poured into the
mold and the top surface was flattened. Six Ø100 mm × 200 mm (diameter × height) cylinders
for each specimen were prepared during the casting of the slabs to obtain properties of the
ULCC. Table 3 lists the tensile strength, compressive strength, and density of the ULCC at the
same day for the testing on the corresponding specimens.

Fig 8 specimen geometric details and test setup

4.3. TEST SETUP

All the specimens were simply supported along the four edges and loaded centrally through a
spherically seated platen using an INSTRON hydraulic jack as shown in Fig. 8. The square
loading platen was 100 mm in width. Linear variable displacement transducers (LVDTs) were
used to measure the deflections of the deformed ULCC slab. Fig. 8 shows the locations of these
LVDTs. Strain gages were also attached tothe reinforcements prior to the casting of the slabs to
measure the developed strains in the reinforcements in orthogonal directions as shown in Fig. 8.
The attached strains gages located one and two times of he away from the periphery of the patch
loading. The cracks developed in bottom and top surface of the ULCC slabs were also observed
and marked. Displacement controlled type of loading was centrally applied to the slab. The
constant loading rate of 0.1 mm/min was used for the testing until the slab was punched through.
All the readings of the LVDTs, strain gages, and reaction forces were automatically recorded by
the PC-controlled system.

4.4. Test Results And Discussions

Table 4 summarizes the test results for all the specimens.

Table 4 Tensile and compressive strengths of ULCC with different volume fractions of fibers
Fig. 9 shows the variations of the central deflections of the slabs with the applied load. Fig. 10
shows the typical load versus strains in the flexural reinforcements at the critical locations (see
Fig. 8). These figures show that there are four working stages of the ULCC flat slabs under
concentrated loading. Stage I is the initial elastic stage that the ULCC flat slabs behaved linearly
until about 10–20 kN (the corresponding moment acting on the section is about 1.5–3 kNm)
when the micro cracks started to develop in the bottom fiber of section at mid-span. These micro
cracks were mainly produced by the flexural bending moment that leads to the tensile stress at
the bottom fiber of the section. After the flexural micro cracks developed in the slab, in stage II,
the tensile stress in the concrete was immediately transferred to the flexural reinforcement that
can be reflected by the changed slope in load versus steel strain curves in Fig. 10(a)–(d). The
stiffness of the ULCC slab was also slightly changed that can be reflected in the load-central
deflection curves in Fig. 9(a)–(f). At this stage, the applied load increased almost linearly with
the deflection. As the slab deflected, more cracks developed on the bottom surface and
propagated from the mid-span to the corner or edge of the slabs. Meanwhile, the strains in the
flexural reinforcements almost increased linearly with the deflection of the slab. Finally, as the
cracks in the slab developed, the structure achieved its elastic limit. Therefore, beyond the elastic
limit at the working state III, the load versus deflection curves started to exhibit nonlinear
behaviors including reductions in the stiffness. Finally, at the end of this stage, the slabs achieved
their ultimate resistance; the loading platen started to punch through the slab and the cracks starts
to develop on both top and bottom surfaces in the circumferential direction; punching shear-
failure occurred and the punching cone formed. The strains at the measured critical locations
corresponding to these ultimate resistances were still beyond or close to the yield strain. After the
ultimate load point, in stage IV, the ULCC slabs exhibited sharp drop in the loading carrying
capacity as the deflection increased. Fig. 11 shows the typical crack patterns for representative
specimen after the tests.
Fig 9 Load–central deflection curves of ULCC flat slabs under punching shear load.

Fig 10 Load–strain curves of ULCC flat slabs under punching shear load.
 Fig 11 typical crack pattern of ULCC flat slab

4.5. Discussions on experimental result

4.4.1. Effect of shear span

Tests P1–3 were designed with different spans of 600, 900, and 1600 mm, respectively. Fig. 9(a)
and Table 5 show that as the shear span increases from 600 mm to 900 mm and then to 1600
mm, the punching shear resistance firstly increases and then decreases. The punching shear
resistance shows low correlation with the shear span of the structure (correlation coefficient
R2=0.33).As the span of the slab increases from 600 to 900 and then to 1600 mm, the elastic
stiffness, Ke, decreases and then increases slightly. The reason for these three specimens all
failed in punching shear mode is that punching shear resistance for these three specimens are
smaller than their flexural strength. As the shear span to depth ratio increases from 2.8 to 4.4 and
7.2, the shear span seems has limited influence on the punching shear resistance of the ULCC
slab but has significant influence on the elastic stiffness of the slab. This implies that within the
range of 2.8–7.2 for the shear span to depth ratio, the punching shear resistance of the ULCC
slab only related to its failure mode, and the shear span did not change the failure mode and thus
could not influence its punching shear resistance.
 Table 5 Test results and predictions of the punching shear resistances.

4.4.2 Effect of flexural reinforcing ratio

Different flexural reinforcing ratio, ρfl, was used in the flat slab through varying the spacing of
the reinforcement mesh. Fig. 12(a) and (b) depict the influences of the flexural reinforcing ratio
on punching shear resistance, Pu, and elastic stiffness, Ke, respectively. The influences of the ρfl
on the load-central deflection behavior of the ULCC slab with PVA and steel fibers are shown in
Fig. 9(b) and (d), respectively. These figures show that increasing the ρfl of the slab results in the
higher values of Pu and Ke. This influence of ρfl ratio on Pu is more significant for the cases
with ρfl ratio less than 1.7%. This observation is close to the specifications in Eurocode 2 in
which the influence of the ρfl ratio is marginal when ρfl ratio is beyond 2%. The Pu is
proportional to 0.1 and 0.25 times of ρfl for ULCC slabs with steel fibers and PVA fibers,
respectively; meanwhile Ke constantly increases with the ρfl ratio. Increasing the ρfl ratio firstly
increases flexural resistance that guaranteed larger punching shear resistance of the slab.
Secondly, increasing the ρfl ratio enhanced the dowel action of the cross section that results in
higher punching shear resistance of the slab. Moreover, higher ρfl ratio will offer larger depth of
the neutral axis that increases the flexural resistance and leads to larger moment inertia of the
section that increases Ke.
 Fig 12 effect of different parameters

4.4.3. Effect of depth of the section

Fig. 9(a) and (e) show the load versus central deflection curves of slabs with different depths of
the section. From Table 5, it can be observed that increasing the depth of the flat slab from 70 to
90mm increases the Pu of the slab with steel fibers by 43% from102.1 to 146.5 kN, respectively;
and increases the Pu of the slab with PVA fibers by 30% from 94.1 to 122.1 kN, respectively.
Increasing the depth of the flat slab from 70 to 90 mm also increases the Ke of the slab with steel
fibers by 37% from 28.3 to 38.9 kN/mm, and the Ke of the slab with PVA fibers by 104% from
18.9 to 38.6 kN/mm, respectively. The increase in the depth of the section increases the critical
perimeter as well as the area of the section for the critical perimeter, which results in increase of
punching shear resistance. Higher depth of the section of course increases the moment inertia of
the section that results in higher elastic stiffness of the slab.
4.4.4. Effect of fiber type and volume fraction of fibers in ULCC

The test results in Table 5 show that ρSF exhibits significant high correlation with ft (the
correlation ratios of ft with ρSF for ULCC with PVA fibers and steel fibers are 0.98 and 0.96,
respectively). ft is in linear proportion to ρSF of PVA fiber or steel fiber. Fig. 12(c) and (d) show
the influences of ρSF on Pu and Ke, respectively. These figures showthat ρSF has positive
influences on Pu and Ke. As ρSF ofPVA fiber increases from0% to 0.2%, 0.5%, and 0.9% the Pu
increases from 72.0 to 83.5, 122.1, 178.8 kN, respectively; as ρSF of steel fiber increases from
0% to 1% and 2% the Pu increases from 72.0 to 146.5 and 167.5 kN, respectively. Moreover, it
also shows that Pu is linearly proportional to ρSF of PVA fiber or steel fiber. Therefore, the
influence of ρSF of ULCC on the punching shear resistance needs to be considered in the
analysis. Meanwhile, as ρSF of PVA fiber increases from 0% to 0.2%, 0.5%, and 0.9% the Ke
increases from72.0 to 83.5, 122.1, 178.8 kN, respectively; as ρSF of steel fiber increases from
0% to 1% and 2% the Pu increases from 72.0 to 146.5 and 167.5 kN, respectively. Fig. 12(e) and
(f) plot the Pu versus fck and ft, respectively. It can be seen that the punching shear resistance
exhibits high correlation with ft, and this relationship may be considered for the development of
the analytical model for punching shear resistances of the ULCC slabs.

4.5. Analytical model

Available Code provisions

In ACI 318-14 , the punching shear resistance of the reinforced concrete slab is determined by

1
P u , ACI= b 0 h e √ f ck …………………………………… (1)
3

where b0 denotes the critical perimeter located he/2 from the loading edge.

In Eurocode 2 , the punching shear resistance of the reinforced lightweight concrete slab is
determined as the following

p u , EC 2=.15 b 0 h e χ (100 ρ f fck)1/ 3……………………………. (2)

where b0 denotes the critical perimeter located 2he from the loading edge; ρf denotes the flexural
reinforcing ratio with a limit of 0.02
Narayanan and Darwish proposed an equation to predict the punching shear resistance of the
steel-fiber-reinforced slab

……………(3)

where b0 and ξs denote the critical perimeter and size effect factor, respectively; they can be
determined as the following

……………..(4)

where λSF equals 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0 for round fibers, crimped fibers, and deform fibers,
respectively; τu denotes average fiber matrix interfacial bond stress, and 4.15 MPa is
recommended lf denotes length of steel fiber; dSF denotes diameter of steel fiber.

4.6. Modified Model

For ULCC with PVA fibers, there are available test data [6,8,20,21] to develop the relationship
of tensile strength, compressive strength and volume fraction of the PVA fiber. Table 4 lists the
tensile and compressive strengths of the ULCC with different volume fractions of the PVA fiber.
Linear regression analysis was then carried out on these test data to develop the empirical
formulae to predict the tensile strength of the ULCC by using compressive strength and volume
fraction of the PVA fiber. Fig. 10(a) shows the relationship of ft/√ fck versus fiber content ρPVA
of ULCC. Eq. (5) is developed to represent the relationship of ft,r with fck and ρSF as the
following

………………..………………….(5)

Where ρPVA denotes the volume fraction of PVA fibers in the ULCC, in %.

For the ULCC with steel fibers, the relationship between the tensilestrength, compressive
strength, and steel fiber content can be obtained through linear regression analysis. Fig. 13 (b)
plots the relationship of f t / √ f ck versus steel fiber fraction, ρSF, which is described as the
following

……………………….………….(6)

The punching shear resistance of ULCC slab with PVA fiber is determined as

…………………..(7)

The punching shear resistance of ULCC slab with steel fibers is determined as

……………….(8)

Eqs. (7) and (8)were then developed predict the punching shear resistance of the ULCC slabs
with PVA fiber and steel fiber, respectively.

4.7. Validation Of Developed Analytical Model

The predictions on the punching shear resistances of the ULCC flat slabs by different equations
are compared with the results of 14 slabs in Table 5. From this table, it can be observed that the
developed analytical models, i.e., Eqs. (7) and (8) offer the best predictions interms of accuracy
and COV for the test-to-prediction ratios.
 5. CONCLUTIONS

1) Within the range of 2.8 to 7.2, the ULCC flat slab all failed in punching shear mode, and
the shear span to depth ratio has limited influence on the punching shear resistance of the
ULCC flat slab.

2) Punching shear resistance of the ULCC flat slab increases with the flexural reinforcing
ratio.

3) The elastic stiffness of the ULCC flat slab increases linearly with the flexural reinforcing
ratio. Increasing the depth of the ULCC flat slab results in increase in both punching
shear resistance and elastic stiffness through enlarging the area of the punching shear
failure surface of the punching cone.

4) Increasing the volume fraction of the PVA fiber or steel fiber has ignorable influence on
the compressive strength of the ULCC, but significantly increases the tensile strength of
the ULCC.

5) Empirical formulae from the regression analysis were developed to describe the tensile
versus compressive strength relationship of the ULCC with PVA fiber and steel fiber.

FUTURE SCOPE

1) Shear span to depth ratio greater than 7.2 and their effect on punching shear resistance
can be checked

2) ULCC flat slabs with drops can be investigated