Punching Shear Strengthening of Flat Slabs with External Bonded CFRP on Grooves (EBROG)

The main objective of this study is the strengthening of flat slabs against punching shear with an experimental model. The flat slab strengthens by a newly introduced method, named as grooving method (GM), was utilized in the present study. The groove provided in two orthogonal directions (x and y axes) of slab plan and then mounting the external FRP bar in one direction and FRP strip on another direction in EBROG (externally bonded reinforcement on groove) method. For this purpose, 700 × 700 × 100 mm dimensions slab was tested under concentrated loading. The slabs were tested for ultimate load and deformation after curing for 28 days. The experimental results showed that the EBROG method with FRP enhanced the strength of flat slab against punching shear with great efficiency, and punching shear capacity of strengthened samples increased between 28 and 58% compared to control one. Hence this is a highly innovative practice that can be implemented in the construction industry as the method is high efficiency and the environment-friendly