Chapter

DESIGN OF EDGE

11
SUPPORTED
RIBBED (JOISTS)
SLABS

Introduction
Concrete in the tension side of any flexural member does not contribute to its flexural
strength. It merely, participation resisting the shear, protects the tension steel reinforcement
and provides a medium space for the exchange of stresses between the reinforcement bars
and the surrounding concrete. Therefore, if shear is not critical which is usually the case in
slabs, part of the ineffective concrete may be removed in order to reduce the own weight of
the slabs.

The overall goal in using ribbed slabs is to decrease the self-weight of slabs in buildings
with large spans. Solid slabs in large spans are not economic due to its higher self-weight.
Ribbed slabs are suitable and economically used for floors in educational and office
buildings, hotels, and hospitals, where spans of one-way and two-way slabs exceed 5 m and
8 m respectively and also imposed live load between 2-4 kN/ m2.

a) One-way ribbed slab system (no filler material)

187
Reinforced Concrete Design Design of Edge Supported Ribbed (Joists) Slabs

b) Plan for One-way hollow block slab system

c) Two-way ribbed slab system (no filler material)

d) Plan for Two-way hollow block slab system

188
Reinforced Concrete Design Design of Edge Supported Ribbed (Joists) Slabs

Classification of ribbed slabs

As shown in the figures above, ribbed slabs can be classified as one-way ribbed slab when
ribs are running only in one direction and two-way slab when ribs are running in two
directions. Also ribbed slabs may be constructed with removable pans or permanent hollow
blocks between ribs.

Ribbed slab consists of regularly spaced ribs monolithically built with a top floor slab. The
voids between the ribs may be either lightweight material such as hollow blocks or it may
left unfilled as shown in the figure below. Pans (removable forms) can be used to make
voids between ribs.

hp

a) Section in a ribbed slab without filler material

hb

b) Section in a ribbed slab with filler material (hollow blocks) between ribs

Main Components and Common Dimensions

1- Top slab

1. Thickness (ts) 50 mm or (C-br)/12; use the greater.

2. Top slab should be satisfied with tensile stress developed between the ribs
as plain concrete. The slab will be treated as plain concrete as follows (b =
1000 mm & C=ts/2):

189
Reinforced Concrete Design Design of Edge Supported Ribbed (Joists) Slabs

wu

Mu C-br Mu

3. Top slab should be reinforced with shrinkage reinforcement Asmin in both

directions which should be 20% of As of ribs. For top slab 50 mm thick and
500mm between ribs, 5 ϕ 6 mm/m perpendicular to ribs and 1 ϕ 6 mm @ 500
mm between ribs can be used.
4. Clear spacing between ribs (C-br) 75 cm. Usually (C-br) varies from 40 to 75
cm.

2- Ribs

1. The average width of rib (br) ≥ 10 cm and bmin should be checked.

2. Height of rib stem (hp or hb) 3.5 br

3- Hollow blocks

1. Burned clay or light weight concrete can be used between ribs.

2. Usually the voids in hollow block are half of the block volume and the density
of the blocks ( ) varies between 6 to 10 kN/m3.
3. The common available weights and sizes of the light concrete blocks (Length x
Width x height) are:
Size (mm) (LxWxhb) Weight (kg)
400 mm

1. (400/380) x 200 x 150 8-10

2. (400/380) x 200 x 200 10-12
3. (400/380) x 200 x 250 12-14
4. (400/380) x 200 x300 14-16 380 mm

Minimum Thickness of ribbed slabs

1. For one-way ribbed floor system, the table of the ACI code (given before in one-
way solid slab) should be used to find the minimum thickness of the slab.
2. For two-way ribbed floor system, the equations of the ACI code (given before in
two-way solid slab) should be used with some modification as will be given later.

190
Reinforced Concrete Design Design of Edge Supported Ribbed (Joists) Slabs

Layout of ribbed slabs

One of the important steps of the design of ribbed system is to prepare layout of floor plan
which including:

1. Arrangement of ribs and pans (or blocks) in the floor plan according to the system
and constructed method.
2. Surrounding the slab panel, solid parts should be used between ribs and supported
beams (no pans or block in solid parts, just reinforced concrete material).
3. Sometime cross ribs are needed in one-way ribbed slab as will be given later.
4. Finally, find exactly the number of the ribs and pans (or blocks) in both directions.

Solid strips (solid parts)

Solid parts used as pads at supports to increase shear and flexural capacity of ribs. The
width of solid part can be considered the largest of [10]:
1)- rib width,
2)- ½ beam width,
3)- block width (20 cm).

191
Reinforced Concrete Design Design of Edge Supported Ribbed (Joists) Slabs

One-Way Ribbed and Hollow Block Slabs

The following points apply to design of one-way ribbed slabs:

1. The dimension requirements of important elements are shown above.

2. Shear strength Vc provided by concrete for the ribs may be taken 10% greater than
that for beams.
3. The ACI coefficients for calculating moments in continuous slabs can be used for
continuous ribbed slabs design.
4. At –ve Moments, solid parts should be added.
5. Secondary transverse ribs (cross ribs) having the dimensions and amount of steel
as the main ribs should be provided as follows (act as floor stiffeners):
 If LL ≤ 3 KN/m2 and L > 5 m, one cross rib should be provided at mid
span.
 If LL > 3.0 KN/m2 and L = 4 - 7 m, one cross rib should be provided at mid
span.
 If LL > 3.0 KN/m2 and L >7 m, at least two transverse ribs at 1/3 span
should be provided.
6. The design procedure and requirements of ribbed slabs follow the same steps as
those for rectangular and of T–section explained before.
Load direction

192
Reinforced Concrete Design Design of Edge Supported Ribbed (Joists) Slabs

h hb

h hb

h hb

Own Weight of a One-Way Hollow Block Slab

Example

Compute the own weight per square meter of a one way

hallow block slab if:
 Top slab is 50 mm thick,
 500mm between ribs (center to center),
 Block is 25x 20 x 40 cm,
 Density of hollow block, 8 kN/m3,
 Density of reinforced concrete, 25 kN/m3.

Solution

Top slab = 0.05 * 1 * 1 * 25 = 1.25 KN/m2.

Ribs = 2 (0.1 * 0.25 * 1) * 25 = 1.25 KN/m2.
Hollow block = 10 * 0.25 * 0.2 * 0.4 * 8 = 1.6 KN/m2.
 Own weight of the slab= 1.25 + 1.25 + 1.6 = 4.1 KN/m2.

193
Reinforced Concrete Design Design of Edge Supported Ribbed (Joists) Slabs

Example

Design a 6.0m x 8.0 m simply supported One-way hollow block slab panel shown in the
figure. Supporting beams of 0.25 m width may be used and the following data can be
considered:

The surface finishing load is 2 KN/m2

The specified live load is 2 KN/m2
= 21 MPa.
= 280 MPa.

Solution

1) Layout of ribs

The span > 5 m and L.L < 3 KN/m2  One-cross-rib.

Size of block (width x length) = 0.2 * 0.4 m

Assume the rib width = 100 mm and the spacing between ribs is 500 mm.

Solid part width (in each side) = (6-0.25-0.1-2*13*0.2)/2 = 0.225m > 0.15 m

2) Thickness of the slab

From the table of minimum thickness of one-way ribbed slab:

194
Reinforced Concrete Design Design of Edge Supported Ribbed (Joists) Slabs

Use h=300mm, a top slab 50 mm thick together with block 250 mm high will
used. Ribs of 100 mm width and spaced at 500 mm. (Thickness of topping slab
1/12 of clear spacing between ribs (500 - 100 mm)).

3) Load/rib

The own weight of the slab has been calculated in the previous example;

Own weight of the slab = 4.1 KN/m2

Surface finish = 2.0 KN/m2
DL = 6.1 KN/m2
LL = 2.0 KN/m2
Wu = 1.2 * 6.1 + 1.6 * 2 = 10.52 KN/m2
Wu / rib = 10.52 * 0.5 = 5.26 KN/m

4) Check of shear

Support reaction, R=Wu *L /2 =5.26*6/2=15.78 KN

Assume d= 300 – 30 = 270 mm
Vu = Ru – Wu X =15.78 – 5.26 (0.25/2+0.225+0.27) = 12.52 KN

 Vc > Vu use minimum web reinforcement; Use 5  6 mm/m stirrups.

5) Reinforcement for moment

+ve ⁄ ⁄

be = 500 mm which is min. of : 1- 16ts+bw.

2-L/4

3-CL-CL of adjacent slabs

Check of the position of N.A. assume the section is rectangular and the depth of
compression block a is 50 mm and b= be & a= ts = 50mm

195
Reinforced Concrete Design Design of Edge Supported Ribbed (Joists) Slabs

( )

Check Ø…

Therefore the section behaves as a rectangular section with b=be

From table, ρ=0.00263 and As =0.00263*be *d = 0.00263*500*270= 350.1 mm2.

Use 2 ϕ 16mm (As provided As=402 mm2). bmin of the rib is satisfactory because the
rib is wide at the bottom.

For ribs use 2 ϕ 16 mm/rib to resist the positive moment, stirrups Ф 6mm @ 200
mm and 1 Ф 12 / rib in the top as a hanger for the bottom reinforcements.
Negative moments in the ribs near the support due to restraint of the slab should be
checked (use ACI moment coefficients) and 1 ϕ 16mm is enough.

6) Check tensile stress in the top slab

Factored load on topping Slab: Wu= 7.1 KN/m2, b = 1000 mm & ts=50mm
Mu= Wu(C-br)2/12 = 0.095 kN.m
Treat the topping slab as a plain concrete:

For topping slab use 5 Ф 6 perpendicular to the ribs & 1Ф 6 /50cm parallel to the
ribs.

7) Drawing and detailing

196
Reinforced Concrete Design Design of Edge Supported Ribbed (Joists) Slabs

197
Reinforced Concrete Design Design of Edge Supported Ribbed (Joists) Slabs

198