Earthquake Engineering of Concrete Flat Plate Systems

Use of flat plate systems has become increasingly §popular; however, relatively sparse experimental §data are available to assess the dynamic responses §and performance of such systems. To address these §gaps, shake table tests of two, one-§third scale, two-bay by two-story flat plate frames §with shear reinforcement were conducted. One of the §specimens consisted of a conventional reinforced §concrete flat plate, whereas the other specimen §consisted of nominally reinforced flat plate with §post-tensioning reinforcement. The post-tensioned §slab-column frames performed well, verifying that §this commonly used system is effective. Although §slab-column punching failures occurred during the §tests, lateral drift ratios of about 4% and §5% were achieved for the RC and PT §frames, respectively, with relatively little loss of §lateral load capacity. Analytical studies were §conducted to validate models for simulating dynamic §responses of the slab-column frames and to improve §the response predictions by implementing a limit §state model for punching failures. The §analytical models investigated were capable of §reproducing the experimental responses quite well.