CONCRETE FLOORS ASIA

Speaker Name : Mr Joseph Khoo

Speaker Company : Scancem Materials

Ground Bearing Slabs – What Are The Options?

1
Slab On Grade Design Concept

k value
Design Methods (Slab On Grade)
• Elastic Analysis method – Westergaard
(1920s)
– Based on plain concrete
– Mesh (typically 0.1 to 0.125%) is included to
controlled shrinkage induced cracks

• Plastic Analysis Method – Meyerhof

(1962), Losberg (1978)
– Requires that the slab has adequate ductility,
ie it contains sufficient fibres or reinforcement
to provide adequate post-cracking behaviour
– Result in thinner slabs

3
 kN THIRD POINT LOADING
60
55
Elastic Region
50 Plastic Region

L 45
O 40
A
D 35 First Crack
SFR Concrete
30

25

20

15
10
Plain Concrete
5

0
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 mm
deflection

Load Deflection Curve

 P P
Elastic Design
Brittle Failure Mode
d

P
P
Plastic Design
Ductile Failure Mode d
Moment Distribution – Elastic
Design

P
x

M
Moment Distribution – Plastic
Design

P
x

M
Design Process
• Design for flexure and punching
– Input – ground stiffness, loads,
joints spacing, concrete strength
- Output - slab thickness and
reinforcement

• Design saw cut joints and

construction joints
- to relieve shrinkage stress
8
Shrinkage Crack – How To Control
Bad Floors

10
Effects Of Restraints and Cracking

Original length
Restraint induce both
compression and tension but
majority of problem caused
Unrestrained
Shrinkage by tension
When tensile stress > tensile
strength, cracking will take
Restrained Shrinkage place
Develops Tensile Stress

If Tensile Stress Exceed

Tensile Strength, Concrete
Cracks
Types of Shrinkage Cracks
• Types of cracks – intrinsic, not
due to applied load

Early Age
1.Plastic cracks
2.Early age thermal cracks

Later Age
3. Drying shrinkage cracks
Plastic Cracks /Early Age
Cracking
Up to 1 day from placement includes:-
• Plastic shrinkage cracks – loss of
surface moisture in hot and dry weather which
causes young weak concrete to crack from the
surface

• Plastic settlement cracks – due to

restraints from reinforcement or inserts when
concrete settles after loss of bleed water

• Thermal Cracking – occurs when restrained

concrete cools down after expanding due to the
heat of hydration
What Are The Factors Affecting
Shrinkage Cracks
• Cement
– Higher cement - higher shrinkage

• Water Content
– higher water - higher shrinkage
– 1% increase in water - 2% increase in
shrinkage

• Aggregate

• Weather Condition (affect plastic

shrinkage)
 Effect of
weather
condition

Effect of weather condition

on rate of water evaporation
from concrete

0.5kg/m2/hr Chart from ACI305.R-91

Drying Shrinkage Cracks
Fig. 1 Drying in Laboratory Air from PCA Dev. Dept. Bulletin 103

% Of Ultimate Slab
Shrinkage Thickness
100
50mm
80 100mm
150mm
60
200mm
40
250mm

20 300mm

0
0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24
16
Age (months)
 Design Options -
Reinforcement For Crack Control

17
Design Options For Concrete Floor
(Non Suspended)

1. Plain Concrete
Thicker slab
Short joint spacing – 4m x 4m
Dry concrete – zero slump to minimize shrinkage
Low productivity
More construction joints requiring more
dowels
Design Options For Concrete Floor
(Non Suspended)
2. Rebar

Rebar Wire Mesh

Design Options For Concrete Floor
(Non Suspended)

3. Wire Mesh
Design Options For Conceptual
Concrete Floor (Non Suspended)
4. Steel fibres

21
Design Options For Conceptual
Concrete Floor (Non Suspended)

5. Synthetic fibres –
nylon, PP

6. Post tension
22
Design Option 2 & 3– Rebar & Wire
Mesh
• Rebar – uncommon
• Wire mesh – single layer
• Behaves like plain concrete
• If mesh below – no crack control
• If mesh above – slab behaves like plain
concrete

• Wire mesh – double layer

• Provide both load carrying and crack
control

23
Concrete Society Technical Report
TR34 Section 7.3 Steel Fabric
TR34 Section
7.3 Steel Fabric – Comparison between 0.125%
and 0.4%

Slab Area, mm2 0.125% Wire 0.4% steel Wire Mesh

Thickness/ steel Mesh (to limit
m width crack width
to 0.3mm)
100 mm 100,000 125 mm2 1 x A6 400 mm2 2 x A8
125 mm 125,000 156 mm2 1 x A7 500 mm2 2 x A8
150 mm 150,000 188 mm2 1 x A7 600 mm2 2 x A9
175 mm 175,000 219 mm2 1 x A8 700 mm2 2 x A10
200 mm 200,000 250 mm2 1 x A8 800 mm2 1 x A10 +
1 x A12

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Design Option 3 – Steel Fibres
SFRC
Design Option 3 – Steel Fibres
SFRC
Excellent crack control due to 3 dimensional reinforcement of the steel fibres.
Spacing < 25mm(3 dimensional), Reinforcing length ~ 450m / m2
Steel Fibres - Reduces Crack widths

0.2
28
 Visual Comparison Between Mesh and
Steel Fibre

For crack control, it’s the DISTRIBUTION of the steel that

is more effective than the AMOUNT of steel

Spacing 200mm(2 dimensional) Spacing 22.6mm(3 dimensional)

Reinforcing length 10m / m2 Reinforcing length 461.7m / m2
Benefits of Steel Fibres - Protection To Joints
and Edges

Damaged
Joints

Damaged Edge
Benefit of Steel Fibres- Protection To Joints
and Edges

Local Damage to Conventionally Reinforced Concrete

Fibre Reinforced Concrete - Universal Crack Control

Eliminates concern that mesh is not in the right place

Benefits of Steel Fibres - Higher
Fatigue Strength

100

95

90

85

80

75
Benefit of Steel Fibres –
Higher Impact Resistance
Productivity

35
Improved Productivity with SFRC
SFRC vs Rebars/Wire Mesh - Productivity
Benefits
SFRC Wire Mesh
Faster and Easier Construction – Concrete Longer Construction Time – Conventional
trucks can backup to point of discharge and reinforcement obstructs concrete truck and hence
deposit the concrete without pump or crane. need to be pump into place, thus increasing cost
The elimination of conventional reinforcement and time.
saves substantial construction time. It also results
in a neater workplace.
Mixing Of Steel Fibre Concrete

• One common occurrence

with steel fibre concrete is
“Balling”
• This happens for fibres with
aspect ratio of L/d > 50
ie. high performance fibres
• Adding fibres too quickly
• This is overcome with
“glued fibres”
Addition Video Mixing of SFRC
 Steel Fibres
Video Pouring of SFRC 2
Joint Design
• Purpose – to limit the frequency and
width of random cracks caused by
– Saw cuts (contraction joints)
– Construction joints

• Other types of joints

– Isolation joint (to prevent restraint)
– Expansion joint (for external only)
– Movement joints (for suspended slab)

42
Location of
joints

43
Formed dowelled contraction
(FDC) joint
Misaligned Dowels at
Construction Joints
Diamond Dowelled
Construction Joints
Using Dowel Sleeves –
Easy Fixing & Alignment
Dowel
Sleeves
Movement
Joints
Dowel Sleeve– After
Demoulding
Dowel Sleeve –
Inserting Metal Plate
Movement Joint For Suspended Slab

Movement joints just

days after casting
Movement Joint For Suspended Slab

To relieve shrinkage stress,

incorporate movement joints

Movement joint after 3 months

Movement Joint For Suspended Slab

To relieve shrinkage
stress we incorporate
movement joints

Movement joint after

3 years
Issue With Re-entrant Corner

Cracks tend develop off

a re-entrant corner due
to stress concentration
Issue With Re-entrant Corner
 Cracking around
column corners

56
Issue With Re-entrant Corner
Issue With Re-entrant Corner
Issue With Re-entrant Corner
 Construction of
isolation joint
around column

60
Isolation Joint around column
61
Trimmer Bars around column
62
Trimmer Bars around column

63
Applications

64
WAREHOUSE

65
WAREHOUSE 66
LOADING / UNLOADING BAY
67
• FLOOR REPAIR OR TOPPING
Rectangular Crack Patterns
(wire mesh with insufficient cover)

69
HANGAR
HANGAR
HANGAR : APRON

2001
HANGAR: APRON
CAR PARK
FACTORIES
EXTERNAL DRIVEWAYS
 Summary
• Ground Slabs can be designed by :-
– elastic design and incorporating one or two
layer of mesh for crack control or by
– plastic design by incorporating sufficient
dosage of steel fibres
• In crack control, the distribution of steel
is more critical than the amount of steel
• Joint design is also a critical part of
ground slab design

80
 Thank You

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