Bearing capacity assessment of reinforced concrete slab –special-shaped column connections

Most failure modes in flat slabs are punch failure. However, in practice, there are many instances where punching failure is preceded by bending failure, or the actual failure mode is bending-punching failure. In order to obtain the reasonable result of bending failure, an accurate method is proposed to estimate the flexural capacity of slab–special-shaped column (cruciform, L-shaped, T-shaped) connections based on the yield-line theory, and the theoretical model is verified by comparing with the collected experimental results. In addition, the influence of column section shape and column limb length to thickness ratio (c2/c1) on the bearing capacity was discussed. The results show that the column section shape has an effect on the bending capacity of slab–column connection, but the effect was not significant. At the same time, the column limb length to thickness ratio (c2/c1) has little effect on the bending capacity, which can be ignored.