| The behaviour of slab-column connections in flat plates is investigated. The first part of this thesis discusses six two-way slab-column specimens which were designed such that they would fail in punching shear. The parameters investigated were the placement of fibre-reinforced concrete in the slab and the concentration of slab reinforcement around the column. The effects of these parameters on the punching shear capacity, negative moment cracking, and stiffness of the two-way slab specimens were investigated.;Currently there is no beneficial effect in the CSA code for using fibre-reinforced concrete or concentrated slab reinforcement near the column in the calculation for the punching shear resistance or for the transmission of loads through slab-column connections. The beneficial effects of concentrating the slab reinforcement near the column and of using fibre-reinforced concrete are demonstrated.;The second part of this thesis investigates the effects of the same parameters on six slab-column specimens and six column specimens without the surrounding slab for their ability to transmit axial loads from the high-strength concrete columns through the normal-strength concrete slab. |
