Punching shear design in MC2010: incorporating new knowledge and grounding design expressions on physical models

Model Code 2010 (MC2010) has presented a deep review on punching shear design with respect to previous versions of Model Code (1978, 1990). These changes have been motivated by the fact that MC2010 is grounded on a physical theory rather than on empirical formulas. This approach was selected to provide engineers with an understanding of the physical phenomenon of punching shear and of the implications of the various mechanical and physical parameters on it. The resulting expressions are formatted following a Levels-of-Approximation approach. This allows providing simple (low time-consuming) and safe estimates of the strength for preliminary designs and to refine such estimates (by devoting some additional amount of work) when required.