1

Stairs
Reinforced Concrete II
CENG 411

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

2 Stair Types

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

3 Stair Types

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

4 Stair Types

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

5 Stair Types

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

6 Technical terms
•Going: horizontal upper portion of a step.
•Rise: vertical distance between two consecutive treads.
•Flight: a series of steps provided between two landings.
•Landing: a horizontal slab provided between two flights.
•Waist: the least thickness of a stair slab.

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

7 Technical terms
•Winder: radiating or angular tapering steps.
•Soffit: the bottom surface of a stair slab.
•Nosing: the intersection of the going and the riser.
•Headroom: the vertical distance from a line connecting the nosings of
all treads and the soffit above.

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

8 General Design Requirements

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

9 Stair type based on the structural loading type

Simply supported stair Simply supported stair

(transversely supported) (longitudinally supported)

Cantilever stair
Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411
10 Design of transversely supported stairs

Loading:
a. Dead load:
The dead load includes own weight of the step, own weight of the waist
slab, and surface finishes on the steps and on the soffit.

b. Live Load:
Live load is taken as building design live load plus 1.5 kN/m2, with a
maximum value of 5 kN/m2.

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

11 Design of transversely supported stairs
Direction of bending

Main reinforcement

Shrinkage reinforcement

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

Direction of bending
12 Design of transversely supported stairs

 Design for Shear and Flexure:

 Each step is designed for shear and flexure as if it is a
beam. Main reinforcement runs in the transverse direction at
the bottom side of the steps while shrinkage reinforcement
runs at the bottom side of the slab in the longitudinal direction.
Since the step is not rectangular, the effective depth d is found
by an equivalent rectangular section that can be used with an
average height equal to:

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

13 Design of transversely supported stairs
Example 1
Design a straight flight stair in a residential building supported on
reinforced concrete walls 1.5 m apart (center to center), given:
L.L = 3 kN/m2; covering material = 0.5 kN/m; The risers are 16 cm
and goings are 30 cm; fc’=25 MPa, fy= 420 MPa

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

14 Loads and Analysis
l 1.5
t = = = 0.075m
20 20

0.075 0.16
have = += 0.165m
( 0.34 ) 2
0.30

D.L(O.W) =0.340.075  25 + (1/2)  0.16  0.3  25=1.24 kN/m

D.L (covering material) = 0.5 kN/m
0.3
D.L (total) = 1.74 kN/m 0.16 
L.L =30.3 =0.9 kN/m
0.302 + 0.162 = 0.34

1.5 m
Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411
15

Shear diagram

Moment diagram
Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411
 Design for moment
16
M u = 1kN .m
d = 165 − 20 − 6 = 139mm
bw = 300mm
 2M u 
 = 0.85f c ' 1− 1−
fy   0.85f c ' b d 2 

0.85 (25 )   2110 6 
= 1− 1−  = 0.0005
 2 
420 
  (0.9 )0.85 (25 ) 300 139  
A s = 0.0005 300139 = 20.9mm 2
As ,min = 0.0018 300165 = 89.1mm 2  As
 A s = A s ,min = 89.1mm 2

Use 112 for each step

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

17 Design for shear

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18 Design of longitudinally supported stairs
Direction of bending

Shrinkage reinforcement

Main reinforcement

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

19 Design of longitudinally supported stairs

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

20 Design of longitudinally supported stairs
Deflection Requirement:
Since a flight of stairs is stiffer than a slab of thickness equal to the waist t,
minimum required slab depth is reduced by 15 %.
Effective Span:
The effective span is taken as the horizontal distance between centerlines of supporting
elements.

n = number of goings

X = Width of supporting landing slab

at one end of the stairs slab
Y = Width of supporting landing slab
at the other end of the stairs slab.

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

21 Design of longitudinally supported stairs
Deflection Requirement:
Since a flight of stairs is stiffer than a slab of thickness equal to the waist t,
minimum required slab depth is reduced by 15 %.
Effective Span:
The effective span is taken as the horizontal distance between centerlines of
supporting elements.

n = number of goings

X = Width of supporting
landing slab at one end of the
stairs slab
Y = Width of supporting
landing slab at the other end of
the stairs slab.

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

22 Design of longitudinally supported stairs
Loading:
a. Dead Load:
The dead load, which can be calculated on horizontal plan, includes:
•Own weight of the steps.
•Own weight of the slab.
•Surface finishes on the flight and on the landings.
Note: For flight load calculations, the part of load acting on slope is to be increased by dividing it by cosα.
This is because analysis for moment and shear is conducted on the horizontal span of the flight, but the load
is that carried on the inclined span.

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

23 Design of longitudinally supported stairs
Loading:

b. Live Load:
Live load is taken as the building design live load plus 1.5 kN/m2, with a
maximum value of 5 kN/m2. Live load is always given on the horizontal
projection.

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

24 Design of longitudinally supported stairs
Joint detail:
The stairs slab is designed for maximum shear and flexure. Main reinforcement runs in the
longitudinal direction, while shrinkage reinforcement runs in the transverse direction.
Special attention has to be paid to reinforcement detail at opening joints.

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

25 Design of longitudinally supported stairs
Example 2
Design the U- stair in a residential building shown in the
figure, given:
L.L = 3 kN/m2; covering material = 2 kN/m2; The rises are 16
cm and goings are 30 cm, fc’=25 MPa, fy= 420 MPa

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

26
Loads and Analysis

l 525
t = 0.85 =  22cm
20 20

cos() = 0.3/ 0.34 = 0.88

Take a unit strip along the span:
D.L (slab) = 0.221.025/0.88 =6kN/m
0.3
D.L (step) = (1/2)  0.161.0  25=2 kN/m 0.16
D.L (covering material) = 21.0=2 kN/m 0.34
D.L (flight) = 10 kN/m
D.L (landing) = 8 kN/m
L.L =3 1.0=3 kN/m

Wu (flight) = 1.2(10)+1.6(3)=16.8kN/m
Wu (landing) = 1.2(8)+1.6(3)=14.4kN/m
Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411
27
Moment and shear diagram

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

 Design for moment
28
M u = 52.2kN .m
d = 22 − 2 − 0.6 = 19.4cm = 194mm
bw = 1000mm

0.85 (25 )   252.210 6 

= 1− 1−  = 0.0037
 2 
420 
  0.85 (0.9 ) (25 ) 1000194  
As = 0.00371000194 = 718mm 2

As ,min = 0.00181000 220 = 396mm 2  A OK

s

Use 812

(22)=3.96 cm2/m

Design for shear

 V C = 0.75 0.17 25 194 1000 / 1000 = 127.3kN V u = 38.25kN OK
Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411
29

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

30 Design of quarter-turn stairs

A landing may be shared on two different stair slabs. The load of the shared landing can be
assumed to be divided equally and each stair slab carries on half.

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411

31 Design of stair beams

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal CENG 411