Punching shear strength of strengthened deck panels with externally bonded plates

This paper proposes an analytical method to predict the punching shear strength of bridge decks that are strengthened using external bonding techniques. Since the steel reinforcement affects the punching strength of a bridge deck, the deck will have a mechanical effect on the strengthening material. The strengthening procedure will increase the effective punching depth over which the critical crack inclinations can be divided into two inclination angles, depending on whether they are located above or below the main steel reinforcement. To verify the analytical method that is proposed in this paper, comparisons were made with existing experimental results in the literature, which showed that the proposed method accurately predicts the punching strength of bridge decks strengthened using external bonding techniques.