GUIDED BY: Prof. V.R.

SHAH
Mrs. DHARA SHAH
Mrs. AANAL SHAH

PREPARED BY: APURV S. BOKIL

SD 0210

HISTORY OF HOLLOW CORE SLAB

BUBBLE DECK TECHNOLOGY
SITE INSTALLATION
COMPOSITION/THEORY
TYPES OF BUBBLE DECK/COMPONENTS
EXAMPLES
REFERENCES

A concrete block is one of several precast concrete

products used in construction. The term precast refers to
the fact that the blocks are formed and hardened before
they are brought to the job site.

In the 1950s, hollow-core slab were invented. The voided

or hollow core system was created to reduce the weight of
the concrete from the system. this concept removes and
replaces concrete from center of the slab, where it is less
useful with lighter material in order to decreases the dead
wt of concrete floor.however,these hollow cavities
significantly decrease the slab resistance to shear and fire,
thus reduce its structural integrity.

The first hollow concrete block was designed in 1890 by

Harmon S. Palmer in the United States. After 10 years of
experimenting, Palmer patented the design in 1900.
Palmer's blocks were 8 in (20.3 cm) by 10 in (25.4 cm) by
30 in (76.2 cm), and they were so heavy they had to be
lifted into place with a small crane. By 1905, an estimated
1,500 companies were manufacturing concrete blocks in
the United States.

These early blocks were usually cast by hand, and the

average output was about 10 blocks per person per hour.
Today, concrete block manufacturing is a highly automated
process that can produce up to 2,000 blocks per hour

BUBBLE DECK TECHNOLOGY

Bubble

deck slab is the slab in which some amount of the

concrete is replaced by the plastic bubbles or ellipsoid
which are made by the waste plastic material, which
reduces the self weight of the structure.

Design

of this type of the slab is based on the euro and

the British codes.

In the 1990ies, a new system was invented, eliminating

the some of the problems. It is used in Dutch:German
invented by JORGEN BREUNING. He locks ellipsoids
between the top and bottom reinforcement meshes,
thereby creating a natural cell structure, acting like a
solid slab.
The slab is created with the same capabilities as a solid
slab, but with considerably less weight due to the
elimination of excessive concrete.

Denmark
North America

uk

Russia

Brazil
Australia
New Zealand

 Saves 30 to 50 % weight compared to a corresponding

solid slab equal stiffness.
20% concrete reduction in other components.
The reduced weight of the slab will typical result in a
change in design to longer spans and/or reduced deck
thickness.
It is also seismic friendly as it lowers the total weight of the
building.
Reduced concrete usage 1 kg recycled plastic replaces 100
kg of concrete.
The company estimates that building costs are reduced by
8 to 10 %.

SITE INSTALLATION
( Type A- Filigree Elements)

Temporary Support Propping on parallel beams

Placing Elements Semi pre-cast elements mechanically

lifted into position

Joint Reinforcement Insert loose bottom splice bars

and tie top mesh across joints between elements

Perimeter shuttering Fix shuttering to bottom pre-cast

concrete layer & tie to top mesh reinforcement

Soffit shuttering Prop plywood across joints

between element bays and between elements & columns

Preparation Seal joints between elements, clean and

moisten bottom pre-cast concrete layer

Concreting Pour, vibrate and aggregate in-situ concrete

Temporary works Remove, typically after 3 5 days,

according to specific site advice

Finishing no further work required.

Typical arrangement of
props and propping
beams
Loaded trailers
arriving on site

Lifting
element
into
position

Aligning bubbles
between elements

Pouring, Vibrating
& Floating Site
Concrete

Several methods have been introduced during the last

decades, but with very limited success, due to major
problems with shear capacity and fire resistance as well as
impractical execution.

Most attempts have consisted of laying blocks of a less

heavy material like expanded polystyrene between the
bottom and top reinforcement.

But the use will always be very limited due to reduced

resistances towards shear, local punching and fire.

which is why the use of these systems has never gained

acceptance and they are only used in a limited number of
projects

The voids are positioned in the middle of the cross section,

where concrete has limited effect, while maintaining solid
sections in top and bottom where high stresses can exist.
Hence, the slab is fully functional with regards to both
positive and negative bending.

 In

principle, Bubble Deck slabs acts like solid slabs.

Designing is consequently like for solid slabs, just
with less load corresponding to the reduced
amount of concrete. Thorough investigations
according to Euro codes are made at universities in
Germany, Netherlands and Denmark, concluding
that a Bubble Deck slab acts like as a solid slab.

 Only

top compressive portion and bottom

reinforcing steel of a solid concrete slab contribute
to flexure stiffness in bending.
Bubble deck removes concrete from the center of
the flexural slab and replaces with hollow HDPE
spheres. It is having equal bending stiffness as solid
slab.
But technical university of Denmark also carried
out test on stiffness of bubble deck slab. they
verified the result and they found out, for same
strength, bubble deck has 87% of bending stiffness
of similar solid slab but only 66% concrete volume
due to HDPE spheres.

 As

a result, deflection was higher in bubble deck.

However,

significant lower dead weight

compensated for the slightly reduced stiffness and
therefore bubble deck gave higher carrying
capacity.

As,

reduced permanent load positively affects long

term response in the serviceability limit state
design, which governs crack propagation.

It

has been concluded that adding a minimum

amount of extra reinforcing steel would satisfy the
criteria.

 The

main difference between a solid slab and a

voided, voided slab refers to shear resistance. Due
to the reduced concrete volume, the shear
resistance will also be reduced.
For a BubbleDeck slab the shear resistance is
proportional to the amount of concrete, as the
special geometry shaped by the ellipsoidal voids
acts like ,hence enabling all concrete to be
effective.
The reduced shear resistance will not lead to
problems, as balls are simply left out where the
shear is high, at columns and walls

 In

calculations, a reduction factor of 0.6 is

used on the shear capacity for all bubble
deck slab.

This guarantees a large safety margin. Areas

with high shear loads need therefore a
special attention, e.g. around columns. That
is solved by omitting a few balls in the
critical area around the columns, therefore
giving full shear capacity.

 The

simple Bubble Deck is cast

over the pre-fabricated bubble lattice
on traditional formwork.(cast in situ)
In

the filigree-element Bubble Deck

the bottom side of the
bubble-lattice unit is furnished
with a pre-cast concrete
layer which on the building site
replaces the horizontal part of
the formwork.(semi pre cast)

 The

simple Bubble Deck may also

be delivered to the building site as
pre-cast factory-made slabs.(pre cast)

COMPONENTS

-Grade of steel: Generally Fe

500,550.
-Rebar size depends on the
thickness of the slab and span.

-spacing: Max 1 m. or maximum

3 balls between two girder.
Two types:
(a). Self supporting
(b). Trussed type.

Main bar 10mm minimum

for 200 to 300 mm slab
thickness.
12mm- for size 300 mm

 Plastic

balls or ellipsoids are made up of the plastic

waste.
Diameter:
Material

always 0.9 of the slab size.

of balls:
1.polyethin.
2.pvp- poly vinyl propylene.
3.pvc- poly vinyl chloride.

Concrete
Type: self compacting concrete
Grade: Any grade of concrete can be used,
generally M 20, 30 grade is use.

 The

largest Bubble Deck

structure so far erected in
Great Britain. The structure
comprises 7,800 m2 of Bubble
Deck floor slabs between 3
and 6 stories high supported
on in-situ reinforced concrete
columns. Over 400,000 of
savings were realized as a
direct result of incorporating
Bubble Deck into this project,
amounting to a 3% saving off
the total project cost.

1.LeCoieHousing:

Sogn Arena, Oslo in Norway

City Hall and

Offices, in
Denmark

Bubble deck-advanced structure engineering by Paul

harding,managing director bubble deck C.I.ltd.
Bubble deck structure solution (UNITED KINGDOM)
Structural Behavior of bubble deck slab by
Massachusetts institute of Technology