Edge punching shear of waffle slabs subjected to moment parallel to the slab's free edge

The test results of five one-tenth scale micro-concrete waffle slabs subjected to edge punching shear in the presence of moment transfer parallel to the slab's free edge are presented. Although the observed punching failure mechanism of the waffle slabs was found to be very similar to that of a flat slab, the shear capacity was reduced because some of the potential failure surface is lost when it extends into the waffle section. Since the current codes of practice do not specifically consider the punching shear mechanism of waffle slabs, comparisons with test results revealed that the application of various codes overestimated the punching capacities of waffle slabs. An upper-bound plasticity theory model was developed to predict the punching shear failure load. The proposed model assumes concrete to be a perfectly rigid plastic material with the modified Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion. The model showed good agreement with the test results.