Shear capacity of reinforced concrete slabs with openings

Reinforced concrete slabs are a central component of building and industrial constructions. For this reason, the load-bearing behaviour both with and without shear reinforcement has been extensively investigated in the past. In practice, reinforced concrete slabs and in particular flat slabs are increasingly planned and constructed with integrated cable openings due to the increasing importance of technical building equipment. Depending on the building project, these vary in size, location and number – sometimes considerably – and result in a reduction of the load capacity due to the weakening of the cross-section. Within this project, an application guideline for increasing the shear capacity of reinforced concrete slabs with openings will be developed.