Behaviour of reinforced concrete two-way slabs using steel bars milled from scrap metals

This paper investigated two-way concrete slabs reinforced with steel bars milled from scrap metals. The slabs were simply supported on all four sides and tested under a central concentrated load. The average experimental failure loads for monotonic and cyclic loading were 32.8 kN and 26.7 kN, respectively. In addition, the experimental failure loads averaged 127% and 98% of the theoretical punching shear strength of the two-way reinforced concrete section under monotonic and cyclic loads, respectively. Collapse of the slabs always occurred through a combination of the crushing of the concrete after flexural cracks propagated extensively, and punching shear. Finally, a recommendation based on the analysis of the results for the design of two-way slabs using steel bars milled from scrap metals is proposed.