Previously an extensive test programme was undertaken by the authors to study the structural behaviour under static bending of concrete slabs reinforced with different types of FRP (fibre reinforced plastic) grids (Matthys and Taerwe, 1996). As a further investigation also the punching shear behaviour of the slabs has been tested. A first series of punching tests revealed a fairly strong interaction between shear and flexural effects. For the FRP reinforced slabs with an increased reinforcement ratio or an increased slab depth (needed to fulfil the serviceability criteria in bending) the punching strength was similar or higher than the tested steel reinforced reference slab. The calculation of the punching failure load according to the different codes gives a safe, but some times too conservative prediction of the punching capacity.
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