Reinforced concrete (RC) flat-plate structures are vulnerable to punching shear failure at their slab-column connections, potentially leading to a catastrophic progressive collapse. In practice, the slab-column connection above an interior column, removed due to abnormal loads, may be subjected to a concentrated downward force due to the absence of the supporting column and further being pushed due to different live load intensities on individual stories. This force is different to the full design load that the column withstands in normal situation and, combined to the gravity load acting on the slab, may cause punching shear failure at the interior slabcolumn connection. This will further trigger failure propagation to the surrounding slab-column connections. This paper presents the experimental tests performed on two identical large scale 2×2-bay RC flat-plate specimens under an interior column removal scenario. A 5 kPa uniformly distributed load was applied first to the slab followed by an incremental concentrated force imposed on the slab-column connection above the removed interior column. The complete collapse resistant behavior and load redistribution pattern of the specimens were investigated and are reported herein. Results show that more than 90% of the applied concentrated force is solely distributed to the four nearest adjacent columns. Three load carrying mechanism phases, in form of flexural, tensile membrane, and a combination of one-way catenary and dowel actions can be distinguished in resisting the applied concentrated load.

Reinforced concrete (RC) flat plate structures are broadly used in car parks, residential and office buildings due to their economic and architectural advantages. However, this structural system is inherently prone to punching shear failure, which may propagate horizontally and vertically, ultimately leading to the progressive collapse of the entire structure or of a large portion of it. This paper presents the experimental results from two quasi-static largedisplacement tests performed on a 1/3 scale, 2×2-bay, RC flat plate substructure subjected to corner column removal scenarios. The specimen was tested twice with different corner

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The effects of malt protein removal by Neutrase using Canadian and French commercial malts (Malt 1 and Malt 2) on mashing efficiency, and production of violate compounds during fermentation were determined using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), headspace‐solid‐phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis (HS‐SMPE‐GC–MS). HPLC results showed that for Malt 1 containing lower free‐ and total‐β‐amylase but higher α‐amylase enzyme activity, Neutrase significantly increased the content of maltose, glucose and maltotriose, whereas for Malt 2, only glucose content increased. For Malt 1, the increased glucose/maltose ratio after Neutrase addition led to higher ethanol concentration than that with no Neutrase (4.06% vs. 2.09%), whereas for Malt 2, no significant differences were observed (2.92% vs. 3.09%). HS‐SPME‐GC–MS showed that for Malt 1 and Malt 2, Neutrase not influenced the violate compounds composition, whereas reduced their contents. This suggests that malt protein removal by Neutrase impairs the production of volatile compounds.