Punching Shear Failure in Concrete Decks As Snap-Through Instability

Abstract

This paper presents part of an investigation on the failure modes in reinforced concrete bridge decks subjected to monotonic static concentrated wheel-loads. The punching shear deck failure appears to be interrelated with a snap-through instability of an “arching” action mechanism activated in the deck. The predicted critical deflection of about 25% of the deck thickness at instability of a two-dimensional laterally restrained three-hinge compressive strut mechanism correlates well with the measured static ultimate deck deflection values of bridge decks that failed primarily in punching. There is also good agreement between the predicted critical applied static concentrated load at instability of the proposed three-hinge truss and the experimental static deck ultimate strength values.