Effectiveness of shear reinforcement in slabs

The ACI Building Code Commentary emphasizes the importance of anchorage details of the shear reinforcement and their accurate placement, especially in thin slabs. A reinforcement of this type is composed of vertical bars with anchor heads welded to a steel strip at the bottom. The heads, which are cold-formed, have an area ten times the vertical bar cross-section area. These punching shear resisting units are referred to as stud shear reinforcement (SSR). Extensive tests in Canada and Germany on full-size slab-column connections verified that SSR substantially increases the strength and ductility of slabs.