SLABS
Slabs are supported by beams or walls on one or more sides or supported directly by
column known as flat slab, span in either one or two direction, be solid and consist of a
number of ribs to reduce weight.
TYPES OF SLABS
Slabs can be classified as “One way slab”, “two way slab”, “Flat slab” or “ribbed slab”.
ONE WAY SLAB
A one way slab is best suited by a rectangular column grid with long beam spans and shorter
slab span.
A ratio of longer to shorter span greater than 2.
FLAT SLAB
A flat slab is a reinforced concrete slab supported directly by the columns with no
intermediate beams.
It is simple to construct and requires little amount of formwork.
It will minimise the construction depths. It will provide a clear soffit for routing services
below the slab. It is a slab supported on columns without beams.
However the disadvantages of not having beams includes:
1. The slab has to carry the shear forces which are concentrated around the column.
2. Transmit the moment to the edge and corner columns
3. Suffer greater deflections.
Flat slabs are best suited but not limited to a square column grid. SOLID SLABS of constant
thickness are easy to construct. Shear reinforcement may have to be provided around the
column heads to avoid punching failure.
In flat slab shear reinforcement around the column heads can be avoided or reduced by
providing ENLARGED COLUMN HEADS ALSO CALLED MUSHROOM HEAD OR
COLUMNN CAPITALS. These complicates the construction process, but enable longer
spans to be produced.
The DROP PANELS around the column heads enables flat slabs to carry large shear forces
without the need for shear reinforcement.
RIBBED OR WAFFLE SLAB
It is a slab with topping or flange supported by closely spaced ribs.
Two way spanning Ribbed slab or waffle slab are best suited, but not limited to square
column grid arrangement of larger dimension than for a solid slab. Solid sections are
provided around the columns to resist punching shear.
Solid beam strips are provided
between the columns.
One way spanning ribbed slabs, or trough slabs are best suited to a rectangular column grid
with long slab spans and shorter beam spans. A lightly reinforced structural topping is
provided, through which openings for services are easily formed.
Here ribs span between
beams within the depth of the
slab to provide a level soffit.
Here the ribs span
onto 15m downstand
beams to provide a
large clear area.
Theoretically all slabs are 2-dimensional systems with bending in two orthogonal directions.
In practice, however, some slabs are continuously supported on just two opposite, parallel
sides, such that bending effectively occurs in only one direction, the bending moments in the
transverse direction being negligible.
According to classical plate theory, in addition to bending moments Mx ands My there are
also twisting moments Myx and Mxy, as well as the plate shears Vx and Vy.
In general, for reinforced concrete floor slabs it is only necessary to design for Mx and My
and sometimes to provide restraint against the twisting moments at external slab corners.
Any system of floor slabs can be analysed as a grillage or finite element plate by any number
of computer programs.
A plastic analysis such as yield line theory or strip method also may be used.
Generally, 1 –way spanning slabs are analysed as a continuous beam strip subject to the most
unfavourable arrangements of load. The continuous slab spans between the transverse beam
supports.
Rather than analyse the full width of the slab, it is common practice to analyse a 1 metre wide
strip or a single rib. The resulting moments may be re-distributed.
The main reinforcement is placed in the outer layer in the direction of spanning to provide the
maximum lever arm. In solid slabs secondary or distribution reinforcement, generally a
minimum percentage, is placed in the transverse direction to form a reinforcement mesh.
2 WAY SPANNING SLABS
It is a rectangular one supported on four sides with length to breadth ratio smaller than 2.
A square, unrestrained simply supported slab of effective span l, continuously supported on
all four sides is subjected to a uniform distributed load of w per unit area. The mid span
moment per unit width in each direction is B wlx².
For a 1- way spanning simply supported slab the value of B is 0.125 , but being supported on
all four sides reduces the mid-span deflection and hence the bending moment. In this case the
by exactly half to 0.0625.
The load on the slab is shared equally between the four sides, thus
But as the aspect ratio (longer side to shorter side) of the slab is increased, the amount of load
transferred to the shorter sides remains the same, while the increased load is transferred to the
longer sides, thus
QUESTION: When the aspect ratio exceeds …………. The slab can be considered to be 1-
way spanning. What is this value?
Explain??????????????????
However, most 2 way spanning slabs have a mixture of continuous and simply supported
(discontinuous) edges. External corners are usually restrained.
Yield line analysis has been used to calculate a constant moment field over the centre three
quarters of the slab for a range of edge conditions and aspect ratios.
This has produced a table of values for B which can be substituted in the following equations
for bending moment per unit width of slab.
