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Title: A Study of Flat Plate Slab Column Connections with Shear Plate in Tall
Concrete Building using Experimental and Numerical Analysis

Authors: Young Sang Cho, Professor, Hanyang University

Cheol J. Seo, PhD Candidate, Hanyang University
Eun S. Kang, Masters Degree Candidate, Hanyang University

Subject: Structural Engineering

Keywords: Concrete
Shear
Structure

Publication Date: 2004

Original Publication: CTBUH 2004 Seoul Conference

Paper Type: 1. Book chapter/Part chapter

2. Journal paper
3. Conference proceeding
4. Unpublished conference paper
5. Magazine article
6. Unpublished

Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat / Young Sang Cho; Cheol J. Seo; Eun S. Kang
 A Study of Flat Plate Slab column Connections with Shear Plate
in Tall Concrete Building using Experimental and Numerical Analysis

Young S. Cho 1, Cheol J. Seo 2, Eun S. Kang 3

1
Professor, Dept. of Architectural Engineering, Hanyang University
2
Ph.D. Student, Dept. of Architectural Engineering, Hanyang University
3
M.S. Student, Dept. of Architectural Engineering, Hanyang University

Abstract
The trend of urban building structures shows a type of high rise building due to the concentration and increase
of population into urban cities, rapid increase of land cost, and limited availability of land. Such a trend is not
only a worldly demand but also no exception in Asian cities. To facilitate the demand of high rise structures,
various types of structural system have been used domestically. Among those structural systems, there has been a
high demand in using a flat plate slab system specially in the mix use high rise buildings including commercial and
residential uses because the systems have various following advantages. The system can minimize the ceiling
height which can reduce a total building height and reduce the corresponding material cost. The system also
provides a room for flexible spatial planning. It has an advantage of time saving because it makes easy form
installation and stripping because there are no beams. It also reduces noise transmission between floors due to the
thick concrete slab. However, the system carries a disadvantage of punching shear due to the absence of beams.
Reinforcing method of flat plate-column connection has been studied in this paper.

This research is to study the response of flat plate slab-column connections consisting of various types of shear
reinforcement and steel plate subjected to gravity loadings using the structural experiments and numerical analysis
in tall buildings. The four test specimens were prepared to model the interior bay flat plate slab-column
connections in a typical flat plate slab building. The base specimen has no shear reinforcement, and the other
specimens have shear studs with strip base, shear studs with short steel plates under the slab and on the top portion
of the column, and shear studs with long steel plates under the slab and on top portion of the column. The base
specimen failed due to punching shear generated from the gravity loading. The three other types of slab shear
reinforcement and steel plate showed effective in resisting punching shear for these types of connections under
gravity loading. The specimen containing studs with steel plate showed the most ductile behavior under the
gravity loading. The structural behavior of the four specimens has been tested using the structural experiment and
the numerical method.
Keywords : Punching Shear capacity, Flat Plate Slab, Shear Studs, Stud with Steel Plate.

1. Introduction of urban population and the lack of available land.

In the most of the urban cities throughout the world,
urban building structures have the trends of becoming
high rise building, massive buildings, and high-tech
integrated buildings using the least lot areas, building
floor areas, and building volumes due to the expansion
Corresponding Author: Young S. Cho, professor,
Dept. of Architectural Engineering, Hanyang University,
1271 Sa 1-dong, Ansan-Si, Kyunggi-Do, 425-791,
Republic of Korea
Tel: 82-31- 400 5183, Fax : 82-31- 400 - 5183
E-mail: ycho@hanyang.ac.kr
Recent construction industry in a large urban city
demands high rise buildings such as apartments, hotels,
office buildings and specially mixed use buildings
consisting of commercial and residential uses. In
such buildings, there have been high demands of flat
plate slab systems because the systems have numerous
advantages. First, efficient formwork reduces
construction period and cost. Secondly, low ceiling
height due to the deletion of beam throughout the
entire super structures can save structural materials,
cladding materials, air conditioning loads, electrical
materials, etc. because of reduction in building height.

120 CTBUH 2004 October 10~13, Seoul, Korea

The system can produce maximum number of
apartment units, and maximum building floor area
under a given zoning regulation. The flat plate slab
systems also have disadvantages. The systems are
sensitive to the punching shear resisting capacity.
The punching shear at the slab column connection is
affected by the size of columns, the span length of slab,
compressive strength of concrete, etc. Fig. 1a. Floor framing plan of base floor
To enhance the punching shear capacity at the slab in a 32 story building
column connection, researchers studied the various
types of shear reinforcing methods [1,2] such as closed
hoop stirrups or open stirrups with a clip closure and
single-stirrups, single leg stirrups, headed-stud shear
reinforcement, etc. However, bracket type steel plate
with headed-stud shear reinforcement has not been
studied elsewhere. Four specimens were prepared
including a base specimen without shear reinforcement,
a specimen with headed shear studs on steel strip, a
specimen with headed shear studs on optimum bracket
type shear plates, and a specimen with headed shear
studs on larger bracket type shear plates. The four
specimens were tested using a 1000 ton U.T.M.

2. Research significance
Punching shear resistance capacities at slab column
connections are important specially under gravity and Fig. 1b. Detail of floor framing plan
lateral loads. There were numerous damages and
collapses under gravity loads and lateral loads such as 3. Experimental Program
seismic force[3,4]. This research focused on the
gravity loads. Usage of different types of shear Material and Shear Reinforcements
reinforcement such as closed hoop stirrups or open Concrete was specified to have a 28 day
stirrups with a clip closure and single-stirrups[5], compressive strength of 350 kg/cm2. Deformed bars
single leg stirrups, lattice girder, headed-stud shear[6] were used to make four specimens. Steel grade of
reinforcement has improved the punching shear reinforcement bar was SD40 (fy = 4000 kg/cm2). Bar
resistance capacity [7]. But the performance of shear sizes were 10 mm and 16 mm in diameters. Shear
studs on bracket type shear plates has not been studied. studs, steel strips and bracket type shear plate were
The ready made shear studs on bracket type shear made of SS400 (fy = 2400 kg/cm2). The configuration
plates are relatively easy to install on the concrete of shear reinforcement in each specimen is shown in
forms. This shear plates will function as clip angles Fig 2.
as they are in the connections of steel beams and
columns in the steel structures.
This study is to explore technology how to
effectively resist the punching shear. This research also
concerns how to improve structural safety, conven-
ience of construction, saving of structural material,
construction cost. This study took samples of
specimens at the interior slab column connection in the
T1c T2css T3csspl T4csslpl
25th floor of 32 story building as shown in Fig. 1a and
Fig. 1b. Four specimens were prepared including a Fig. 2 Diagrams of shear reinforcement
base specimen without shear reinforcement, a in the flat plate slab specimens
specimen with headed shear studs on steel strip, a
specimen with headed shear studs on optimum bracket Test Specimens
type shear plates, and a specimen with headed shear Four specimens were prepared using 1/2 scale of
studs on larger bracket type shear plates. actual size. The specimen size consisted of a 180x

CTBUH 2004 October 10~13, Seoul, Korea 121

 Table 1 Material properties of test specimens
Reinforced Reinforced
Reinforced ratio
Concrete Modulus Steel yield ratio in ratio in column
outside column
compress of strength, Mpa c2+ 3h width, strip,
Specimen strip, , %
strength rupture ,% , %
fc, Mpa fr, Mpa Flexible, Shear,
Top Bottom Top Bottom Top Bottom
fy fyr
T1c 34.33 3.63 392 434 0.65 0.4 0.45 0.35 0.3 0.3
T2css 34.33 3.63 392 434 0.65 0.4 0.45 0.35 0.3 0.3
T3csspl 34.33 3.63 392 434 0.65 0.4 0.45 0.35 0.3 0.3
T4csslpl 34.33 3.63 392 434 0.65 0.4 0.45 0.35 0.3 0.3

(a) T1c specimen top bars and section (b) T2css specimen top bars and section

(c) T3csspl specimen top bars and section (d) T4csslpl specimen top bars and section

Fig. 3. Specimen diagrams

180x10cm slab and a 25x25x130cm column on center. In
first specimen (T1c) as shown in Fig. 3(a), D10 bars were
used in the top and bottom bars each way. Longitudinal
bars of the column were placed with 12-D16
Table 1 shows the reinforcement and material
properties of each specimen. Reinforcement ratio in the
range of c2 + 3h, where c2 is the column dimension
transverse to the loading direction and h is the slab
thickness, was 0.65% on the top (tension side) and 0.4%
on the bottom (compression side). Reinforcement ratio in
the range of column strip was 0.45% on the top (tension
side) and 0.35% on the bottom (compression side), and in
the range of outside column strip 0.3% on the top and
bottom. D10 bars were used in the top and bottom bars
each way. Hoop bars of column are placed at 20 cm on
center. Concrete covers were 9.5 mm. Second
specimen (T2css) is basically the same specimen T1c in
terms
of reinforcement and material properties except shear
reinforcement. 4-13 mm diameter shear studs are
welded on a 3x20.4x0.64 cm metal strip as shown in Fig.
3(b). Two pieces of steel strips on each side of column
are placed leaving 9.5 mm concrete cover. Third
specimen (T3csspl) is basically the same as specimen T1c
in terms of reinforcement and material properties except
shear reinforcement as shown in Fig. 3(c). 4-13 mm
diameter shear studs in a row are welded on two
17.4x20.4x0.64 cm bracket type shear plate(L shape
shear plate) as shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5. L shape,
bracket type shear plate on each side of column is placed.
Fourth specimen (T4csslpl) is basically the same as third
specimen in terms of reinforcement and material
properties except bracket type shear plate on the bottom
of slab near column edge as shown in Fig. 3(d).
7-13 mm diameter shear studs in a row are welded
on the top portion of bracket type shear plate (L shape)
as shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 6.

122 CTBUH 2004 October 10~13, Seoul, Korea

 Fig. 4. Test specimens photo
Fig. 5. Test specimens photo(T3csspl)
Fig. 6. Test specimens photo(T4csslpl)
Test procedure
Each specimen was placed upside down as shown in
Fig. 7 and Fig. 8. The slab of specimen was simply
connected to three hinge supports on each side.
Monotonic static load was applied downwards on the
center of column using 1000 U.T.M under deflection
control. A load cell was placed on the top of column
to measure forces. Deflections related to shear force
were measured on the compression side of the slab at
both sides of column about 2.5 cm away from the
column faces using LVDT. The total deflection was
measured at the bottom of column using LVDT.
Strains in shear and flexural reinforcing were
measured at various locations. The strain
measurement at various locations provided the stress
distribution in the reinforcement and the yielding
information.
Fig. 7. Experimental Set-up diagram
Fig. 8. Experimental set-up photo
Test results of compressive strength
The cylinder tests of concrete were performed at the
ages of 7, 14, 21 and 28 days after pouring concrete.
400
Stre ngth(kg/cm2 )
360
Compreesive
320
280
240
200
7 14 21 Age(days)2 8
Fig. 9. Result of cylinder Test
Concrete compressive strength of 350 kg/cm2 in mix
design was evaluated as 379 kg/cm2 in the result of
cylinder test using the average of 3 cylinders as shown
in Fig. 9.
4. Experimental test results
Crack and failure pattern
In specimen T1c as shown in Fig. 10(a), flexural
cracks occurred first. Cracks generated radialy from
the column faces toward the edges of slabs. Inclined
shear cracks started to occur from the column faces in
the compression side and propagated to the tension
side of slabs with the angles less than 45 degrees
CTBUH 2004 October 10~13, Seoul, Korea 123
measuring from the horizontal line of slab surface. Cracks along the column faces have not occurred
Shear cracks were developed around 25cm radius because the shear studs with steel plates are embedded
along column faces in the tension side. Punching inside the column and the vertical plates are welded to
shear cracks were developed right along the column the horizontal plates.
faces within less than d/2, where d is the average depth
of longitudinal reinforcement bar(8.25cm) and flat
plate slab has been failed by punching shear.
In specimen T2css where shear studs with steel
strips are placed, similar crack patterns were generated
as shown in Fig. 10(b). Flexural cracks occurred first.
Inclined shear cracks started to occur from the column
faces in the compression side and propagated to the
tension side of slabs beyond the shear studs with steel
strips, with the angles less than 45 degrees measuring
from the horizontal line of slab surface. Shear cracks
were developed around 30cm radius along column (a) T1c (b) T2css
faces in the tension side. Punching shear cracks were
developed right along the column faces within less
than d/2, where d is the average depth of longitudinal
reinforcement bar(8.25cm) and flat plate slab has been
failed by punching shear.
In specimen T3csspl where shear studs with bracket
type shear plates are placed, punching shear cracks and
failure have occurred beyond the edge of the studs
with bracket type shear plates on the compression and
tension sides as shown in Fig. 10(c). Cracks on the
compression side showed the shape of punching shear (c) T3csspl (d) T4csslpl
failure. Cracks on the compression side showed the
shape of punching shear failure and cracks in the Fig. 10. Crack development diagram of specimens
tension side showed punching shear failure along the
edge of bracket type shear plates. Cracks along the
column faces have not occurred because the shear Load-displacement analysis
Studs with steel plates are embedded inside the As the result of experiment, yield load (Py), ultimate
column and the vertical plates are welded to the load(Pmax), yield displacement(y), ultimate
horizontal plates.
displacement (max), strength ratio (Pmax/Py), ducti-
In specimen T4csslpl where shear studs with larger
bracket type shear plates are placed, punching shear lity (max/y) and shear efficiency are shown in Table.
cracks and failure have occurred beyond the edge of 2. By observing the load displacement curve of Fig. 11,
the studs with larger bracket type shear plates on the it is likely to have advantages that the combination of
compression and tension sides as shown in Fig. 10(d). steel plates and studs increases the capacity of
Cracks on the compression side showed the shape of displacement and makes it possible to maintain the
punching shear failure and cracks in the tension side
showed punching shear failure along the edge of stable structural behavior by not only increasing shear
bracket type shear plates and the radial cracks have capacity but also increasing the ductility of structure.
been developed. By observing the load displacement curve of Fig. 11
before failure, it was
Table. 2 Experimental result

124 CTBUH 2004 October 10~13, Seoul, Korea

found that the specimen without shear reinforcement
showed a sudden failure, and the specimen with shear
reinforcement did not show the brittle failure by
showing the smooth curve. With reviewing the above
graphs, studs show the role that it prevents from a
sudden brittle failure of structures, if the steel plates
are reinforced together, the effects of reinforcement
magnify further.
30
25
Load (tonf)
In the specimens of T1c and T2css, the increase in
the ultimate load capacity and the maximum
displacement are similar, but in the specimens of T2css
and T3csspl, the increase in maximum displacement
rather than ultimate load capacity is larger. It shows
that the reinforcement of studs contributes to the
increase of shear capacity, but the reinforcement of
steel plate contributes the increase of shear resisting
capacity and displacement capacity. It was also
found that the studs with plates increased the ductility
so that those contribute to the stable structural
behavior. In the case of T4csslpl which increased the
plate length and the number of studs, the result showed
the same increase in the shear capacity and ductility.

20

15
T1-C
10
T2-CSS
T3-CSSPL
5
T4-CSSLPL
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Displacement (mm)

Fig. 11. Load-Displacement curve

As shown in Fig. 12, ultimate load capacity and

yielding capacity in the specimens show relatively a
linear increase, but in Fig. 13, it can be noticed that the
trend is quite different from the previous graph. The Fig. 14. Ductility comparison of each specimen
ultimate force shows a smooth increase due to the
shear reinforcement, but the maximum displacement
due to the shear reinforcement shows a sharp increase 1.5

based on the specimen characteristics.

1.3

30 1.0
Load (tonf)

P/Py

25
0.8

20 T1C
0.5
T2CS S
15 T3CS S P L
0.3 T4CS S LP L
10
Pmax
0.0
5 Py
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Ductility (max/y)
0
T1C T2CSS T3CSSPL T4CSSLPL Fig. 15. Strength ratio vs. ductility curve
Fig. 12. Ultimate and yield load of each specimen
In the ductility comparison based on yielding
displacement as shown in Fig. 14, the difference
between T2css and T3csspl shows a substantial
increase, meanwhile the difference between T1c and
T2css, T3csspl and T4csslpl showed relatively a small
increase in the ductility. It was found that the steel
plate played a major role in increasing ductility in flat
plate slab rather than studs.
In Fig. 15, the strength ratio versus ductility ratio of
shear reinforced specimen can be observed smaller
based on the strength ratio of 1. In the case of
Fig. 13. Ultimate and yield displacement curve of specimen that is not reinforced in shear capacity, the
each specimen strength ratio corresponding to the related ductility

CTBUH 2004 October 10~13, Seoul, Korea 125

ratio is high, which causes a brittle nature, and
unstable shape in the structure.

The effect of shear reinforcement

To obtain the shear capacity of studs and steel plates,
using equation (1), Vs have been computed by
substituting shear capacity of concrete and the ultimate
load values in experiment into Vc and Vn . Such values
are tabulated in table 3.
Fig. 16 shows the shear efficiency of each specimen
based on the concrete shear capacity of specimen
T2css. In Fig. 16, it was found that studs takes 60% of
shear capacity, which shows an excellent shear
performance. With the addition of steel plate, shear Fig. 16. Shear efficiency of each specimens
capacity increases further. In specimen T4csslpl,
75% increase in studs and steel plates comparing with 5. Numerical Analysis
T3csspl cased 12.5% increase in shear efficiency.
In Table 3, shear capacity of specimen T2css was Modeling
derived based on Vc, which is concrete shear capacity, The geometry of numerical modeling used in the
and Vs, which includes the shear capacity of shear numerical analysis is the same size of slab as the
studs, and re-bars. Meanwhile, in the specimen of experimental specimens, which was 180x180x10cm.
T3csspl, shear capacity is contributed by the Vc, The model has been discretized into small meshes
re-bars, shear studs and steel plates. ranging from 5mm to 150mm. The rectangular 8-node
The shear capacity of the steel plates using the solid elements have been used in the modeling[5]. The
specimens of T2css and T3csspl can be obtained by fundamental material properties used in the numerical
subtracting the shear capacity of T2css from the shear analysis are as follows. The compressive strength of
capacity of T3csspl. the concrete obtained using the cylinder test was 34.3
Therefore, the equation of the shear capacity in the Mpa, the yield stress and the Youngs modulus of the
specimen with shear studs and shear plates can be re-bar used in the experiment was 345 MPa, 200GPa
proposed as shown in equation (2) respectively. The tension stiffening coefficient of
concrete was assumed as 3.0e-3.
Av f y d In terms of loading method, the flat plate slab was
Vn = Vc + V s = 0.53 f ck b0 d + (1)
s supported using 12 pin supports around slab perimeters,
Vn = Vc + Vs + Vspl = 0.53 f ck b0 d +
Av f y d
+ 0.4 Aspl f y (2) and the gravity load has been applied on the top of
s
column. However, in the numerical analysis, the
bottom of column was fixed, and the loads have
Av = Area of shear bar (cm2) applied at the very spots where the pin supports were
s = Spacing of placed bar located.
Aspl = Area of steel plate
Fy = Yield stress of steel
= Shear reduction coefficient of steel plate Table. 4. Comparison results of experiment & FE-analysis

Table. 3. Ultimate load & the shear strength of concrete

and reinforcement

126 CTBUH 2004 October 10~13, Seoul, Korea


Fig. 17. computed load-displacement curves of
specimens
Results of numerical analysis
The result of numerical analysis is shown and
compared in Table 4, which was in the range of yield
load. Fig. 17 shows the load-displacement curves
derived from the finite element analysis of flat plate
slab specimens. The computed displacements under
yield loads of numerical modeling were less than those
of structural experiments.
The numerical analysis has been conducted under
the same condition as structural experiment. The value
of numerical analysis result was about 85% of
experimental value or higher, which indicates the
difference is less than 15%, and the result is
reasonably close each other. Specially, in the case of
specimen T1c, the most accurate results have been
obtained, which have been caused by the inexistence
of shear reinforcement.
In the case of specimen T3csspl, the result shows
95% because shear studs and steel plates were
designed optimally, and the meshing was properly
performed.
In specimen T4csslpl, the difference between
experimental and numerical values was about 14%, of
which steel plates and shear studs were excessive in
sizes and numbers.
The result of numerical analysis can be improved
further by refining the meshes, input parameters, etc.
that will be close to the actual physical condition.
6. Conclusion
The result of this study can be summarized as
follows.
1. Specimen T2css which contains steel studs
with stud-rail increased about 8% in shear
capacity comparing to the base specimen,
T1c, which was not reinforced in shear
capacity. In specimen T4csslpl using steel
studs and plates, shear capacity has been
increased by about 21%.
2. In the specimens using steel studs and steel
plate, those specimens were evaluated as
more superior in ductile capacity than those
that contain studs only. The reason is that the
steel plate contributed to prevent from brittle
failure due to the punching shear after
ultimate load.
3. In specimens with steel studs and plates,
studs take about 60% of shear force which
plays an important role, but it is more
efficient to use steel plate with studs to
extend the ductile capacity for delaying
failure time.
4. Efficiency in shear capacity may diminish
when excessive steel studs and plates are
placed.
5. In flat plate structure, the use of steel studs
can increase the shear capacity of the slab
which can reduce the slab thickness. But the
failure mode shows a brittle failure due to the
lack of ductility. The addition of steel plates
on the shear studs contributed to stable
structural behavior because both of shear
capacity and ductility have been increased.
6. Based on yield load, the difference in
displacement between the structural
experiment and numerical analysis came out
less than 14%. Using the result of structural
experiment, numerical results can be further
improved by considering the behavior of
inelastic region in numerical analysis.
7. The results from this study can be used to
improve the current design method.
Acknowledgements
Authors express a sincere gratitude to Korea Science & Engineering
Foundation(KOSEF) for their partial financial support under
R05-2004-000-10591-0 on this study.
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