Punching resistance of internal slab-column connections with double-headed shear studs

Punching shear is a brittle failure mode that may occur in slab-column connections, which may be prevented by using shear reinforcement in the slab-column connection. This paper presents comparisons between experimental results of 36 tests in internal slab-column connections with double- headed shear studs, which are largely used in North America, Europe and Asia, with theoretical results using recommendations presented by ACI 318, NBR6118, Eurocode 2 and also the Critical Shear Crack Theory (CSCT).Considering the database used it is possible to observe that ACI 318 presents conservative trends, whereas NBR 6118 showed a low coefficient of variation, but with a large number of unsafe results. Both Eurocode 2 and CSCT showed satisfactory results with Eurocode 2 presenting slightly higher performance.