Impact Loading of Circular Slabs Using Curvilinear Shear Reinforcement Under Different Support Conditions

Impact Loading of Circular Slabs Using Curvilinear Shear Reinforcement Under Different Support Conditions | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Impact Loading of Circular Slabs Using Curvilinear Shear Reinforcement Under Different Support Conditions Hemanth Kumar Anbu, Kowsalya R., Karthikeyan Kothandapani This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9135588/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The impact resistance and punching behavior of circular reinforced concrete slabs are critical for structures subjected to localized dynamic loading. This study experimentally investigates the failure mechanisms and punching capacity of circular slabs incorporating W-bent shear reinforcement and steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) under repeated drop-weight impact loading. Circular slabs with diameters of 450 mm, 600 mm, and 750 mm were tested under simply supported and fixed boundary conditions to evaluate the influence of slab geometry, support restraint, and fibre reinforcement on impact performance. The experimental observations revealed that slab failure was governed by a combination of radial and circumferential cracking, flexural tensile stress development, and localized punching shear beneath the impact zone. Conventional concrete slabs exhibited brittle behavior characterized by wide radial cracks and pronounced punching cone formation. SFRC slabs demonstrated delayed crack initiation, distributed crack propagation, and reduced fragmentation due to the fibre bridging mechanism. The incorporation of W-bent shear reinforcement further enhanced the shear transfer capacity and restricted the propagation of inclined punching cracks. An impact energy balance approach was adopted to evaluate the energy absorption capacity of the slabs between the initial cracking and final failure stages. The results showed that increasing slab diameter, the presence of steel fibres, and fixed boundary conditions significantly improved the energy dissipation capacity and crack resistance ratio of the slabs. Based on the experimental findings, an energy-based analytical model was proposed to predict the punching capacity of circular slabs, incorporating the effects of energy dissipation, crack resistance, slab diameter, and boundary conditions. The proposed model demonstrated good agreement with the experimental trends. The results confirm that the combined use of steel fibres and W-bent shear reinforcement significantly enhances the impact resistance and punching capacity of circular slabs, making them suitable for structures exposed to severe dynamic or impact loading conditions. Physical sciences/Engineering Physical sciences/Materials science Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9135588","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":613864389,"identity":"7cb81bb3-c714-46a2-80b9-8e8c3853ebfd","order_by":0,"name":"Hemanth Kumar Anbu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Vellore Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hemanth","middleName":"Kumar","lastName":"Anbu","suffix":""},{"id":613864392,"identity":"735d5fb8-3f75-4c6b-9f14-6fc1129f9eeb","order_by":1,"name":"Kowsalya R.","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Vellore Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kowsalya","middleName":"","lastName":"R.","suffix":""},{"id":613864394,"identity":"b037ad6c-6303-4f6a-aee0-d9d20b4d18b6","order_by":2,"name":"Karthikeyan Kothandapani","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Vellore Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Karthikeyan","middleName":"","lastName":"Kothandapani","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-16 09:12:06","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9135588/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9135588/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106414630,"identity":"a20eca59-e044-4f40-9761-4454626e7b97","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-08 10:17:02","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":948693,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ManuscriptR0.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9135588/v1_covered_955c2ef0-533b-4634-91bb-fbaa23b019af.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Impact Loading of Circular Slabs Using Curvilinear Shear Reinforcement Under Different Support Conditions","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9135588/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9135588/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe impact resistance and punching behavior of circular reinforced concrete slabs are critical for structures subjected to localized dynamic loading. This study experimentally investigates the failure mechanisms and punching capacity of circular slabs incorporating W-bent shear reinforcement and steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) under repeated drop-weight impact loading. Circular slabs with diameters of 450 mm, 600 mm, and 750 mm were tested under simply supported and fixed boundary conditions to evaluate the influence of slab geometry, support restraint, and fibre reinforcement on impact performance. The experimental observations revealed that slab failure was governed by a combination of radial and circumferential cracking, flexural tensile stress development, and localized punching shear beneath the impact zone. Conventional concrete slabs exhibited brittle behavior characterized by wide radial cracks and pronounced punching cone formation. SFRC slabs demonstrated delayed crack initiation, distributed crack propagation, and reduced fragmentation due to the fibre bridging mechanism. 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