Case Studies in Construction Materials 16 (2022) e01032

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Case Studies in Construction Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cscm

Repairing half-loaded flat slabs against punching shear using

steel stiffeners
Haider K. Ammash, Safa S. Kadhim, Mohammed K. Dhahir *
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Al-Qadisiyah, Iraq

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In this paper, a repairing system was implemented on flat slabs that have been suffered from
Flat Slab punching shear stresses due to loading to half their capacities. The repairing system primarily
Punching shear relies on retrofitting the damaged concrete by adding steel stiffeners of different dimensions and
Steel stiffeners
numbers. The experimental procedure included casting four flat slabs of identical flexural rein­
Finite elements
ABAQUS
forcement and dimensions of (1.5 × 1.5 × 0.1) m. The efficiency of the proposed repairing system
was evaluated experimentally in terms of shear capacity, deformation properties and crack
behavior. The experimental results were utilized to calibrate a nonlinear finite element model
which was constructed using (ABAQUS). The finite element model was then used to conduct a
parametric study to check the influence of changing the compressive strength and flexural
reinforcement on the shear capacity. Test results showed that the proposed system was effective
in repairing the damaged flat slabs in terms of punching shear, in which enhancements in both the
strength and deformation capacities were recorded by about 74.2% and 66.4%, respectively.
Furthermore, the numerical investigation revealed that increasing the concrete compressive
strength and flexural reinforcement ratios has a considerable positive effect on the punching shear
capacity of the slab.

1. Introduction

Flat slabs are structural members that commonly used in multistory structures to transfer loads to the columns without any sup­
porting beams [1,2]. Such system has many architectural and structural advantages such as a reduced construction cost, faster con­
struction time, smaller height for the overall story, feasibility in design layout, and ease of installation of mechanical and electrical
services [3–6]. On the other hand, and because the load is transferred directly to the column, a high stress concentration usually
develops in the slab-column joint leading to a brittle failure where the column and a portion of the slab punches the slab [6,7]. Such
failure occurs suddenly without any noticeable warning signs. This failure is known as punching shear failure, and it usually governs
the design of flat slabs. One of the main methods of tackling punching shear is embedding shear heads in concrete during the con­
struction process. Therefore, many experimental investigations were carried out to investigate the behavior of flat slabs with stud shear
heads. The results revealed that using such technique reduced the shear stress at failure considerably resulting in much higher
punching failure loads [8–14].
On the other hand, there are many situations that arise during the service life of the structure that requires retrofitting of flat slabs
against punching shear such as updating the design codes, changing the function of the structure, steel corrosion, errors in construction

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: haider.ammash@qu.edu.iq (H.K. Ammash), safa.saib@qu.edu.iq (S.S. Kadhim), mohammed.dhahir@qu.edu.iq (M.K. Dhahir).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cscm.2022.e01032
Received 26 October 2021; Received in revised form 27 February 2022; Accepted 23 March 2022
Available online 25 March 2022
2214-5095/© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
H.K. Ammash et al. Case Studies in Construction Materials 16 (2022) e01032

and design, creating openings amongst many other reasons [15–18]. Therefore, a considerable amount of research has been conducted
to investigate several strengthening or repairing techniques using various materials for different structural members, mainly flat slabs
[19–21]. One of the oldest and reliable technique is the use of steel plates and bolts to strengthen deficient flat slabs. Widianto [3] used
a technique in which a steel collar was used underneath the slab to tackle the punching shear issue. He demonstrated that the collar was
able to increase the punching shear capacity due to the increase in the critical shear perimeter. Elbakry and Allam [22] used external
steel plates to improve the punching shear capacity of reinforced concrete slabs. Several parameters were investigated, such as the steel
plates thickness and dimensions as well as the headed shear studs’ arrangement and diameter. Their results were successful as the
punching shear capacity of their specimens increased by nearly 15–39%. Ebead, and Marzouk [23] investigated the effectiveness of
installing steel bolts into slabs surfaces to repair damaged slab-column connections in specimens loaded by 70% of their ultimate loads.
The results showed that their specimens exhibited higher ultimate load against punching shear by twice. Ramos et al. [24] introduced a
strengthening technique of two-way slab using steel plates and bolts. They used eight steel bolts to transfer the horizontal forces from
the plate to the concrete. The steel plates were formed as two L-shaped plates welded together after being put into place before
inserting the steel bolts. Before strengthening, the slabs were loaded to half their ultimate capacities. The results revealed that in order
to have successful results, plates should surround the column face at a distance not less than twice the slab depth estimated from the
column face. Moreover, the minimum number of bolts and plate thickness should be not less than 8 and 6 mm, respectively. On the
other hand, Keseli et al. [25] suggested using only screw anchors as shear reinforcement. The anchors work based on the principle of
mechanical interlock between the thread of the anchor and the concrete. They illustrated that such system is capable of increasing the
punching shear resistance and deformation capacity of flat slabs considerably.
Another technique of strengthening deficient flat slabs is the use of a new concrete layer Fernandes et al. [26] investigated the
feasibility of strengthening deficient flat slabs against punching failure using a bonded concrete overlay on the tension side of the slab.
The results showed that the efficiency of the new technique is strongly reliant on the interface between the two layers, which in return
depends on the roughness of the two surfaces. Therefore, the author stated that using a properly anchored steel connectors to connect
the tow concrete layers will enhance the performance of the new technique considerably. Furthermore, Lapi et al. [27] also tried to
apply a concrete overlay to retrofit deficient flat slabs against punching failure. However, they applied the concrete layer on the
compression face of the slab instead of the tension face. They also observed that the effectiveness of this technique is highly dependent
on the interface between the new and old concrete layer and the existence of mechanical connectors between the two layers. By
applying this method, the researchers recorded a considerable improvement in the punching resistance of flat slabs. They related this
to the fact that providing an extra concrete layer increases the total depth of the slab and thus it’s shear resistance.
Recently, a large number of studies were conducted to study the feasibility of strengthening deficient flat slabs against punching
shear using CFRP sheets. Those studies have shown that such strengthening technique enhances the punching shear strength of flat
slabs considerably [28–37]. However, the effectiveness of such technique is directly influenced by the bond strength between the
concrete and CFRP sheets. If such bond is not strong enough, a premature failure may take place. Therefore, and to address this issue,
different anchorage systems were developed by researchers [38,39]. Furthermore, the effectiveness of this strengthening technique is
also influenced by the arrangement of the CFRP sheets. Studies showed that combining CFRP sheets in 45 and 90 arrangements
provides the best retrofitting pattern for flat slabs [34,40]. Nevertheless, Aghayari and Mordi [41] conducted an experimental
investigation to compare the improvement in punching strength when using CFRP sheets and steel plates. They concluded that steel
plates are more effective in strengthening flat slabs, as they usually have higher stiffness.
The punching shear of concrete slabs is influenced by several parameters such as the amount of tension reinforcement, concrete
compressive strength, slab depth, critical section and column shape and dimensions. Many experimental investigation have shown that
increasing the amount of flexural reinforcement enhances the punching shear of flat slabs considerably [6,42–44]. In fact, Yang et al.
[45] have proven that increasing the axial stiffness of the longitudinal flexural reinforcement shall have the same effect of increasing
their amount on the punching shear of flat slabs. Furthermore, increasing the compressive strength of concrete was also found to
influence the punching shear significantly; however, the relationship is rather nonlinear [46,47]. In addition, as the effective depth of
the member increases, the punching shear also increases to some extent, since the punching shear is also influenced by the size effect
phenomenon [48].
As illustrated, a large number of strengthening techniques have been proposed by many researchers. Although, each of these
techniques has its advantages and disadvantages; however, retrofitting shear deficient flat slabs using steel plates is still one of the most
effective techniques amongst all. Still, little attention has been given to this method as the literature shows. Therefore, this paper aims
to investigate further the efficiency of strengthening punching shear deficient flat slabs using steel plates, as well as providing more
experimental results to enable researchers to derive design equations. Therefore, different plate arrangements with different sizes and
different numbers of stiffeners were investigated. The experimental results were also utilized to calibrate a finite element model, which
was used to conduct a parametric study.

2. Experimental program

2.1. Details of specimens

The experimental program involved preparing and casting four flat slabs with interior column connections to be tested under static
load. All flat slab specimens were square in shape with a side length of 1600 mm, a thickness of 100 mm and a square cross-sectional
column of 200 mm. The concrete compressive strength (measured from the average of three cylinders of 100 × 200 mm was kept at 25
MPa for all specimens. The modulus of elasticity and splitting tensile strength were 22,067 MPa and 2.966 MPa, respectively. The flat

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slab was reinforced with Ø 10 mm bar at 200 mm as a c/c spacing to prevent any flexural failure as per ACI 318–14 [49]. A concrete
cover of 25 mm was used which resulted in an effective measured depth of 75 mm, all slab details are given in Table 1. The yield and
ultimate tensile strengths of the reinforcing steel bars were determined to be 635 MPa and 713 MPa, respectively. The steel stiffeners
consisted of steel plates of 6 mm thickness, the yield and ultimate tensile strengths of the steel plates were determined to be 285 MPa
and 388 MPa, and they were fabricated as a column capital as shown in Fig. 1. The size of the plate was taken to represent the distance
from the column face to the plate edge (h, 2 h, and 3 h) where h is the slab thickness. It is worth mentioning that the steel plates and
stiffeners were installed in the slabs after loading the slabs to half their ultimate load. The investigation focused on comparing the
performance of flat slab systems using different sizes and numbers of steel stiffeners. The four specimens consisted of a reference model
(SR) and three retrofitted slabs (SRS1, SRS2 and SRS3) using different stiffeners’ sizes and configurations

2.2. Retrofitting technique

The experimental program includes three specimens that were retrofitted using steel plate with different stiffeners configurations.
These specimens were used to investigate the influence of various numbers of stiffeners’ sizes to enhance the punching shear capacity
of flat slabs. The retrofitting technique was performed by installing the steel plates after loading the slabs up to 50% of their ultimate
load. The retrofitting system was installed as follows; first a hammer drill was used to drill holes in the slabs and steel plate according to
the specific distribution of the bolts. After that, a vacuum cleaner was utilized to remove dust and fine materials carefully from the slabs
and holes’ surfaces. Then, four L-shaped steel plates were anchored to the slab by inserting the steel bolts (Fisher bolts). After that, steel
stiffeners with a triangular shape were welded together with the steel plates as shown in Fig. 2. These plates are expected to work as a
rigid body and they were fabricated to simulate a column capital. The dimensions of the steel stiffeners and plates’ height of the
repaired specimens SRS1, SRS2, and SRS3 were 100 × 200, 200 × 200, and 300 × 200 mm, and 100, 200, and 300 mm, respectively.
The number of the steel stiffeners was different for each specimen as they were 1, 2, and 3 per side for SRS1, SRS2, and SRS3,
respectively, as shown in Fig. 2.

2.3. Test setup

All four specimens were tested in an inverted configuration as shown in Fig. 3. A hydraulic testing machine of 900 kN was used for
the test. All slabs were simply supported in all four edges and were tested under concentrated load. The upper face of the column of
each specimen was cleared from protrusions to create a plane column surface and to avoid non-uniformed stress distribution. The static
load was applied continuously in steps of 10 kN until failure, with regular observation to detect the initial crack location and cor­
responding load. As the load increases, crack locations and paths were recorded. Three LVDT (Linear Variable Differential Trans­
former) were used in determining the slabs’ deflections, and. they were connected into a main control panel for data collection. The
LVDTs were distributed at three different locations as shown in Fig. 3. First, the specimens were subjected to an ultimate load of about
50% of their ultimate capacity, and then the load was released entirely from the specimens. This stage represents the status of a
damaged slab in an existing building. The slabs were then retrofitted using the proposed technique. After repairing, the specimens were
subjected to the axial concentric load until failure.

3. Theoretical approach by Finite Element Modeling

In order to study the influence of other parameters such as steel reinforcement ratio and compressive strength on the punching
shear of flat slabs, a finite element model was constructed using ABAQUS [50]. A nonlinear analysis was used to analyze the model in
order to obtain an efficient and accurate model. The model was calibrated using the experimental results. The concrete was represented
by brick elements (solid elements with length, width and depth (C3D8R, eight nodes brick, full integration). The element type (truss
element) (T3D2, linear two-node displacement, Truss element) was used for modelling the steel reinforcement as recommended by
Lapi et al.[51]. In order to obtain a robust bond between the reinforcement and concrete, the truss elements were modeled as
embedded elements within the concrete. Fig. 4 shows the finite element model of the slab column connection repaired by steel
stiffeners. A damaged plasticity model for concrete was used, and the stress-strain curve was constructed using the compressive and
splitting tensile strengths given in Section 2.1 of this paper. Similarly, an elastic-plastic stress-strain curve was also constructed for steel
reinforcement using the yield and ultimate tensile strengths given in Section 2.1, which is also the case for the steel stiffeners.
Furthermore, and in order to determine the most appropriate mesh size, a convergence study was conducted by reducing the mesh size
of the reference model (SR) (100, 75, 50, 25, 20 mm). The results showed that reducing the mesh size from 50 to 20 mm has not made a

Table 1
The main parameters of the tested slabs.
Slab designation d fc
′
(MPa) ρflex % Steel stiffeners size Steel stiffeners height
(mm) (mm)2 (mm)

SR 75 25 1.26 – –
SRS1 100 × 200 100
SRS2 200 × 200 200
SRS3 300 × 200 300

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Fig. 1. Geometry and details of flat slabs.

substantial change in the displacement as shown in Fig. 5. Nevertheless, a 25 mm mesh size was selected, since the deflection value at
the center of the finite element model was very close to that of the experimental results, as shown in Fig. 5. Furthermore, Polak et al.
[52] reported that the mesh size should be larger than the maximum aggregate size which is 20 mm in the current study.

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Fig. 2. Details of stiffeners (A) SRS1 (B) SRS2 (C) SRS3.

Fig. 3. Test setup.

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Failure surfaces

In general, punching shear failure in flat slabs happens suddenly, and it is defined by dislocation of a conical surface from the slab.

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H.K. Ammash et al. Case Studies in Construction Materials 16 (2022) e01032

Fig. 4. Finite element model of the slab column connection repaired by steel stiffeners.

Fig. 5. The convergence study.

The mode of failure for the reference specimen is classified as a punching shear failure. Fig. 6 shows the vertical deflection due to
punching shear for the reference specimen (SR) as well as the repaired specimens by steel stiffeners. It can be concluded that the steel
stiffeners were efficient in extending the critical shear perimeter, thus the failure surface was shifted away from the face of the column

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Fig. 6. Crack pattern of specimens at failure.

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without changing the failure mechanism.

4.2. Ultimate load and deflection

The result of the load and deflections were recorded automatically in a computerized data acquisition system. By comparing the
results of the four specimens, it can be observed that all retrofitted slabs required a higher load than the reference one to achieve the
same deflection, which means that the additional new steel plate with stiffeners was efficient in enhancing the punching strength of the
slab-column connections. Table 2 illustrates the deflection results, the load corresponding to the initial crack and the maximum failure
load for all the tested specimens. The results also shows that the ultimate punching loads for specimens retrofitted with steel stiffeners
(SRS1, SRS2, and SRS3) were higher than the reference specimen (SR) by nearly 41.4%, 58.59%, and 74.22%, respectively. More
precisely, as the number and dimensions of the stiffeners increase, the critical shear perimeter is extended resulting in a higher failure
load, which means an increase in the slab capacity against punching shear. The rehabilitation technique showed a significant
improvement in stiffness and recorded an improvement in the capacity of the lateral load. Fig. 7 shows the load-deflection relationship
for all tested specimens before and after strengthening.

5. Parametric study

The parametric study can investigate numerically the effect of various new parameters that did not or cannot implemented in the
experimental procedure, and they may have an impact on slab behavior. As mentioned previously, first the finite element model was
calibrated using the experimental results. Fig. 7 shows a comparison between the load deflection curves obtained from the experi­
mental investigation and these obtained from the finite element model. The maximum percentage deference in ultimate load between
the experimental results and the FEM results didn’t exceed a maximum value of 6%, which shows an excellent agreement between the
experimental results and the FEM results. This validates the finite element model in order to be used to investigate other parameters.
Two main parameters were investigated using the finite element model namely; the significance of concrete compressive strength as
well as the influence of increasing the flexural reinforcement ratio.
Fig. 8 shows the influence of using different compressive strength on the ultimate punching shear capacity of the reference
specimen. Based on the figure it can be observed that increasing the compressive strength gradually from 50 MPa to 75–90 MPa would
increase the ultimate load by nearly 23.71%, 41.96%, and 53.45%, respectively, see also Table 3. This shows that the concrete
compressive strength has a significant influence on the ultimate load capacity which coincides with experimental evidence from
previous research [46,47]. Furthermore, increasing the flexural reinforcement was found to have a positive effect on the punching
shear strength. The comparison between the control specimen in this study and the numerical result showed that increasing the
flexural reinforcement ratio by 35%, 78%, and 100% would increase the ultimate load by about 28.09%, 48.03%, and 61.65%,
respectively, as shown in Table 4 and Fig. 9. This also coincides with previous experimental work conducted by [6,42–44].

6. Conclusions

In this study, four flat slabs supported by square columns were casted and tested to failure to investigate the feasibility of retro­
fitting damaged flat slabs against punching shear using steel stiffeners. Three of the four slabs were retrofitted using a system of steel
plates and stiffeners, while the remaining one was kept without retrofitting as a control specimen. The experimental results were also
utilized to calibrate a finite element model, which then was used to conduct a parametric study to investigate the influence of
compressive strength and steel reinforcement ratio on the punching shear of flat slabs. Based on the experimental and numerical
results, the following conclusions were made:

1. Increasing the size and number of steel stiffeners can increase the failure perimeter of slab significantly as they determine the
crushed area (failure perimeter) around the column.
2. The slabs repaired with steel stiffeners (SRS1, SRS2, and SRS3) were stiffer than those without strengthening in terms of the load-
displacement curves, mode of failure and crack propagation.
3. The punching shear capacity of SRS1, SRS2, and SRS3 increased by nearly 41.7%, 58.8%, and 74.4%, respectively when compared
with SR.

Table 2
Ultimate load of tested slabs.
Specimen First cracking load Ultimate load (kN) Ultimate deflection (mm) Pustif./Puref.
designation (kN)

SR 30 128 16.00 –
SRS1 35 181 26.63 1.41
SRS2 40 203 23.11 1.59
SRS3 40 223 17.13 1.74

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Fig. 7. Load-deflection curves for all tested specimens for both the experimental and numerical cases.

4. The numerical analysis results showed that the punching shear strength increased by about 23.7%, 42.0% and 53. 5% as the
concrete compressive strength becomes 50, 75 and 90 MPa, respectively when compared with a specimen with 25 MPa as
compressive strength.

Increasing the flexural reinforcement ratio by 35%, 78%, and 100% with regard to the control specimen increased the ultimate load
by 28.1%, 48.1%, and 61.7%, respectively.

Funding

No funding was received for this project.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to
influence the work reported in this paper.

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Fig. 8. Load-deflection curves of slabs with various concrete compressive strength.

Table 3
( )
Effect of different values of f´c on the ultimate load of slab.
Specimen designation Compressive Strength (MPa) Ultimate load Pu, FEA − Pu, Exp Maximum deflection (Δu) (mm)
%
Pu Pu, Exp
(kN)

SRS3 25 223 – 17.13

SRS3-1 50 275.9 23.71 15.62
SRS3-2 75 316.6 41.96 17.64
SRS3-3 90 342.2 53.45 19.38

Table 4
Effect of increasing the flexural reinforcement ratio on the behavior of slabs.
Specimen designation Flexural reinforcement ratio (%) Ultimate load (kN) Pu, FEA − Pu, Exp Maximum
%
Pu, Exp deflection (mm)

SRS3 – 223 – 17.1

SRS3-1 35 286 28.1 20.3
SRS3-2 78 330 48.0 19.0
SRS3-3 100 361 61.7 20.3

Fig. 9. Load–deflection curves of slabs with various flexural reinforcement.

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Acknowledgements

the authors would like to express their gratitude to the department of civil engineering at the University of Al-Qadisiya for their
support.

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