Evaluation of Punching Shear Strength Models for Glass Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (GFRP)-Reinforced Concrete (RC) Flat Plates Subjected to Unbalanced Moment-Shear Transfer

Abstract

The provisions for the punching shear strength of glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP)-reinforced concrete (RC) flat plates in the current North American and Japanese standards were investigated based on a database of experimental results of both interior and edge slab-column connections. In total, the results of 39 slab-column connections ranging extensively in their geometric and material properties were collected from the literature and analyzed to assess the accuracy and validity of the code provisions. In addition, the applicability of eight proposed analytical models from the literature was verified against the results of the dataset. It was demonstrated that the Canadian and Japanese standards provide the most consistent and accurate predictions; however, the American guidelines highly underestimate the capacities. In contrast, many of the proposed analytical models yielded inconsistent and unsafe estimates when applied to both concentrically and eccentrically loaded interior and edge connections. The assumption of a linear stress variation proposed by the eccentric shear stress model was validated for GFRP-RC edge specimens subjected to unbalanced moment-shear transfer.