MBEYA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

CEB 3118: REINFORCED CONCRETE DESIGN AND DETAILING I

PROF. J. J. MSAMBICHAKA

FEBRUARY 2021

TOPIC: DESIGN OF REINFORCED CONCRETE STAIRS

1.0 INTRODUCTION

 Statutory requirements laid down in Building Regulations define

o Private and
o Common stairways.
 The private stairway is for use with one dwelling.
 The common stairway is used for more than one dwelling.
 Dimensions Requirements from the Building Regulations are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Building regulation for dimensions of stairs.

2.0 TYPES OF STAIR SLAB

 Stairways are sloping one-way spanning slabs.

 Two methods of construction are used.
o Longitudinal spanning stair slab
o Transverse spanning stair slabs

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2.1. Transverse spanning stair slabs

 Transverse spanning stair slabs span between walls, a wall and stringer (an edge
beam) or between two stringers.
 The stair slab may also be cantilevered from a wall.
 A stair slab spanning between a wall and a stringer is shown in Figure 2(a).
 The stair slab is designed as a series of beams consisting of one step with
assumed breadth and effective depth shown in the Figure 2(c).
 The moment reinforcement is generally bars per step.
 Secondary reinforcement is placed longitudinally along the flight.

Figure 2 (a) Transverse section; (b) longitudinal section; (c) assumptions for design.

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2.2. Longitudinal spanning stair slab

 The stair slab spans between supports at the top and bottom of the flight.
 The supports may be beams, walls or landing slabs.
 A common type of staircase is shown in Figure 3
 The effective span l lies between the centre of the top landing beam and the
centre of support in the wall.
 If the total design load on the stair is W the maximum positive design moment at
mid-span and the maximum negative design moment over top beam B are both
taken as
Max M =

 The arrangement of moment reinforcement is shown in the Figure 3.

 Secondary reinforcement runs transversely across the stair.
 A staircase around a lift well is shown in the Figure 4.
 The effective span L of the stair is defined in the code BS 8110 in section 3.10.

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 Figure 3: Longitudinal spanning stair case.

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 Figure 4: (a) Plan (b) section AA.

3.0 CODE DESIGN REQUIREMENTS

3.1. Imposed loading

 The imposed loading on stairs is given in BS 6399: Part 1:1996, Table 1.


 From this table the imposed distributed loading is as follows:
(a) Dwelling not over three storeys, 1.5 kN/m2
(b) All other buildings, the same as the floors, between 3 kN/m2 and 4
kN/m2

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3.2. Design provisions

 Provisions for design of staircases are set out in BS 8110: Part 1, section 3.10
and are summarized below:
(a) The code states that the staircase may be taken to include a section of the
landing, spanning in the same direction and continuous with the stair flight;
(b) The design ultimate load is to be taken as uniform over the plan area.
(c) When two spans intersect at right angles as shown in the Figure the load
on the common area can be divided equally between the two spans;
(d) When a staircase or landing spans in the direction of the flight and is built
into the wall at least 110 mm along part or all of the length, a strip 150 mm
wide may be deducted from the loaded area (see Figure);

(e) When the staircase is built monolithically at its ends into structural
members spanning at right angles to its span, the effective span is given
by
La + 0.5(Lb1 +Lb2)
where
La is the clear horizontal distance between supporting members.
Lb1 is the breadth of a supporting member at one end or 1.8 m
whichever is the smaller
Lb2 is the breadth of a supporting member at the other end or 1.8
m whichever is the smaller
(f) The effective span of simply supported staircases without stringer beams
should be taken as the horizontal distance between centrelines of supports
or the clear distance between faces of supports plus the effective depth
whichever is less;

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 (g) The depth of the section is to be taken as the minimum thickness
perpendicular to the soffit of the stair slab;
(h) The design procedure is the same as for beams and slabs
(i) For staircases without stringer beams when the stair flight occupies at
least 60% of the span the permissible span-to-effective depth ratio may be
increased by 15%.

4.0 EXAMPLE OF DESIGN OF STAIR SLAB

Design the side flight of a staircase surrounding an open stair well. A section through
the stairs is shown in the Figure. The stair slab is supported on a beam at the top
and on the landing of the flight at right angles at the bottom. The imposed loading is
5 kN/m2. The stair is built 110 mm into the sidewall of the stair well. The clear width
of the stairs is 1.25 m and the flight consists of eight risers at 180 mm and seven
goings of 220 mm with 20 mm nosing. The stair treads and landings have 15 mm
granolithic finish and the underside of the stair and landing slab has 15 mm of plaster
finish. Assume the waist thickness of structural concrete is 100 mm, the cover is 25
mm and the bar diameter is 10 mm. The overall thickness including the top and
underside finish is 130 mm. The materials are grade C30 concrete and grade 460
reinforcement.

(a) Design Data

Imposed loading = 5 kN/m2.
Built 110 mm into the sidewall
Stairs clear width = 1.25 m
Flight has 8 risers @ 180 mm
7 goings @ 220 mm
20 mm nosing.
The treads and landings have 15 mm granolithic finish
Soffit has 15 mm of plaster finish
Thickness of soffit = 100 mm,
Cover = 25 mm
Bar diameter = 10 mm.
Concrete grade C30

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Reinforcement grade 460.

(b) Loading and moment

(i) Loading
The loaded width and effective breadth of the stair slab are shown in section AA.

The effective span of the stair slab = the clear horizontal distance + the distance of
the stair to the centre of the top beam + one-half of the breadth of the landing,

Leff = 1540 + 235 + 1250/2 = 2400 mm.

(ii) Landing slab

Thickness of slab = 100 + 15 + 15 = 130 mm
Dead load = 0.13×24×1.4 = 4.4 kN/m2
Imposed load = 5×1.6 = 8.0 kN/m2

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Total design ultimate load = 4.4 + 8.0 =12.4 kN/m2
One-half of the load on the landing slab is included for the stair slab under
consideration.
The loaded width is 1.1 m.
50% of landing load = 0.5×12.4×0.625×1.1 = 4.26 kN

(iii) Stair slab

Dead Load
The slope length = √(0.182 + 0.222)8 = 2.29 m
Steps project 152 mm from top surface of the waist.
The average thickness including finishes is 100 + 152/2 + 30 = 206 mm
Dead load = LBHρɣ = 0.206×24×2.29×1.1×1.4 = 17.44 kN

Imposed load
Loaded plan length = 1.54 + 0.235 = 1.78 m
Imposed load = 5×1.78×1.1×1.6 = 15.66 kN

Total load
Total load = 17.44 + 15.66 = 33.1 kN

The dead load is calculated using the slope length while the imposed load acts on
the plan length. The loaded width is 1.1 m.

(iv) Total for Stair and Landing Slab

The total load on the span = Stair + Landing = 4.26 + 33.1 = 37.36 kN

(v) Maximum Shear Force

The maximum shear at the top support = W/2 = 18.7 kN.

(vi) Design moment

The design moment for sagging moment near mid-span and the hogging moment
over the supports:

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 Max M = WL/10 = 37.36×2.4/10 = 8.97 kNm

(c) Main reinforcement

The effective depth
d = 100−25−5 = 70 mm
The effective width b will be taken as the width of the stair slab, 1250 mm.
k = M/ (bd2 fcu) = 8.97×106/ (1250×702×30) = 0.049<0.156
z/d = 0.5 + √(0.25–0.049/0.9) = 0.94<0.95
z = 0.94×70 = 66 mm
As = 8.97×106/(0.95×460×66) = 311 mm2 for the full 1250 mm width.
Provide eight 8 mm diameter bars to give an area of 402 mm2.
Space the bars at 180 mm centres.
The same steel is provided in the top of the slab over both supports.

Check Minimum reinforcement

The minimum area of reinforcement is
(0.13 /100)×100×1000 = 130 mm2
Provide 8 mm diameter bars at 300 mm centres to give 167 mm2/m transversely as
distribution steel.

(d) Shear resistance

Shear = 18.7 kN
v = 18.7 ×103/(1250×70) = 0.22 N/mm2
100 AS/(bd) = 100×402/(1250×70) = 0.46<3.0
400/d = 400/70 = 5.7 >1.0
vc = 0.79×(0.46)1/3(5.7)1/4(30/25)1/3/1.25 = 0.8 N/mm2
The slab is satisfactory with respect to shear.

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 Loading diagram.

(e) Deflection
The slab is checked for deflection.
The basic span/d ratio is 26 as the slab is effectively continuous at both ends of the
2.4 m span considered.
The modification factor for tension reinforcement:
M/(bd2) = 8.97×106/(1250×702) = 1.47
fs = (2/3)×460×(311/402) = 237 N/mm2
0.55 + (477–237)/ (120×(0.9 + 1.47) = 1.39<2.0
Allowable (span/d) = 26×1.39×1.15 = 41.68
Actual (span/d) = 2400/70 = 34.3
Note that the stair flight with a plan length of 1540 mm occupies 64% of the span and
the allowable span/d ratio can be increased by 15% (BS 8110: Part 1, clause
3.10.2.2).

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(f) Cracking
For crack control the clear distance between bars is not to exceed 3d = 210 mm. The
reinforcement spacing of 180 mm is satisfactory.

(g) Reinforcement
The reinforcement is shown in the Figure.

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