421.2R-10 Guide to Seismic Design of Punching Shear Reinforcement in Flat Plates

During an earthquake, the unbalanced moments transferred at flat plate-column connections can produce significant shear stresses that increase the vulnerability of these connections to brittle punching shear failure. This guide provides recommendations for designing flat plate-column connections with sufficient ductility to withstand lateral drift without punching shear failure or loss of moment transfer capacity. This guide treats reinforced concrete flat plates with or without post-tensioning.