STAIR SLABS

Stairways are sloping one-way spanning slabs

The usual form of stairs can be classified into two types:

1) Those spanning horizontally in the transverse direction

2) Those spanning longitudinally

Stairs spanning horizontally

These may be supported on both sides or they may be cantilevered from a supporting wall. Each step is
usually designed as having a breadth b and an effective depth of d=D/2. Distribution steel in the
longitudinal direction is placed is placed above the mail reinforcement.

For cantilever stairs, the effective depth of the member is taken as the mean effective depth of the
section and the main reinforcement must be placed in the top of the stairs and anchored in to the
support. A light mesh of reinforcement is placed in the bottom face to resist shrinkage cracking.
Slabs spanning longitudinally

The stair slab may span into landings which span at right angles to the stairs or may span between
supporting beams .

The
permanent load is calculated along the slope length of
the stairs but the variable load is based on the plan
area. The effective span (l) is measured horizontally
between the centers of supports and the thickness of
the waist (h) is taken as the slab thickness.

Stair slabs which are continuous and constructed monolithically with their supporting slabs or beams
can be designed for a bending moment of say FL/10, where F is the total ultimate load. However, in
many instances the stairs are constructed after the main structure, pockets with dowels being left in the
supporting beams to receive the stairs, and with no appreciable end restraint, the design moment
should be FL/8.

Example:

Stairs spanning horizontally and set into pockets in the two supporting beams are to be designed. The
effective span is 3 m and the rise if the stairs is 1.5m with 260mm threads and 150mm risers. The
variable load is 3kN/m2 and the characteristic material strength are fck=30N/mm2 and fyk=500N/mm2