Plasticity approach to punching shear in reinforced concrete

Applications of the theory of perfectly plastic materials to punching problems in reinforced concrete are reviewed in this paper. First the difficulties due to the large discrepancy between the real constitutive behaviour of concrete and a perfectly plastic material are discussed. Then the plastic solution for concentric loads far from edges, holes and corners is described and some of the numerous applications of this solution are illustrated. Among those is the treatment of shear reinforcement. The problem of eccentric internal loads is discussed next and the paper concludes by mentioning the attempts, which have been made to deal with edge and corner loads.