Predicting Ultimate Punching Failure in Concrete Bridge Deck Slabs through Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis

This paper presents an efficient non-linear finite element (NLFEA) model using the commercial FE package ABAQUS to predict the ultimate load behaviour of deck slabs in concrete bridge deck slabs. In order to overcome the instability problems, stabilization methods were adopted and failure criteria were established to capture the ultimate loads. The proposed NLFEA predictions showed a good correlation with experimental tests.