5/24/2018

Design of Reinforced Concrete Slabs

Code of Practice - EC2 Design of concrete structures

Introduction
Reinforced concrete slabs are used in floors, roofs and walls in buildings and as the deck
of bridges. The floor system of a structure can take many forms such as in situ solid
slabs, ribbed slabs or pre-cast units. Slabs may span in one direction or two directions
and they may be supported on monolithic concrete beams, steel beams, walls or
directly by the structure’s columns.

Continuous slabs should in principle be designed to withstand the most unfavourable

arrangements of loads, in the same manner as beams. Slabs may be analysed using
following methods.
- using bending moment and shear force coefficients
- yield line method
- finite element method

Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

1 B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
 5/24/2018

One way spanning slabs

If these coefficients are used the reinforcement must be of ductility class B or C and the
neutral axis depth x ≤ 0.25*d and lever arm z ≥ 0.9*d to allow for moment re-
distribution incorporated in the values given (which may be up to 20%). These
coefficients should only be used when there are at least 3 spans that do not differ in
length by more than 15%, and Qk ≤ Min [1.25Gk, 5kN/m2]
2 Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage
B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
 5/24/2018
Two way spanning slabs

The moments in slabs spanning in two directions can also be determined using
tabulated coefficients. Slabs which are not rectangular in plan or which support an
irregular loading arrangement may be analysed by techniques such as the yield line
method or the Hileborg strip method.
Concrete slabs are defined as members where the breadth is not less than 5 times the
overall depth and behave primarily as flexural members with the design similar to that
of beams and somewhat simpler because,
- the breadth of the slab is already fixed and a unit breadth of 1m is used in
the calculations.
- the shear stresses are usually low in a slab except when there are heavy
concentrated loads
- compression reinforcement is seldom required

Deflection requirements are usually dominate

3 Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
 5/24/2018

4 Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
 5/24/2018

5 Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
Shear in slabs 5/24/2018

6 Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
 5/24/2018

Compared with the beams, shallow slabs fail at slightly high shear and this is
incorporated into the values of the ultimate concrete shear resistance , VRd,c. Since shear
stresses in slabs subject to uniformly distributed loads are generally small, shear
reinforcement will seldom be required and it would be usual to design the slab such
that the design ultimate shear force VEd is less than the shear strength of the
unreinforced section, VRd,c. In this case it is not necessary to provide any shear
reinforcement.

7 Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
 5/24/2018

Punching shear – analysis and design

A concentrated load on a slab causes shearing stresses on a section around the load;
this effect is referred to as punching shear. The critical surface for checking punching
shear is located at 2.0d from the loaded area.

8 Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
 5/24/2018

If reinforcement is required to resist shear around the control perimeter it should be

placed between not more than 0.5d from the loaded area and a distance 1.5d inside the
outer control perimeter at which shear reinforcement is no longer required.

Length of outer perimeter =

If this length is less than 3d from the face of the loaded area , then reinforcement
should be placed in the zone between 0.3d and 1.5d from loaded face.
Vertical links will normally be used and provided around at least two perimeters not
more than 0.75d apart. Link spacing around a perimeter within 2d of the face of the
loaded area should not be greater than 1.5d, increasing to a limit of 2.0d at greater
perimeters. Provided that the slab is greater than 200mm thick overall then the amount
of reinforcement required is given as follows:

9 Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
 5/24/2018

10 Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
Span-effective depth ratios 5/24/2018
Excessive deflections of slabs will cause damage to the ceiling, floor finishes or other
architectural finishes. To avoid this, limits are set on the span-depth ratio. As a slab is
usually a slender member, the restrictions on the span-depth ratio become more
important and this can often control the depth of slab required.

Minimum effective depth = span/(basic ratio x correction factor)

The correction factors account for slab type and support conditions as well as cases of
spans greater than 7m and for flat slabs greater than 8.5m. The basis ratio may also be
corrected to account for grades of steel other than grade 500 and for when more
reinforcement is provided than that required for design at the ultimate limit state.
It may normally be assumed that, in using available tables, slabs are lightly stressed
although a more exact determination can be made from the graph when the percentage
of tension reinforcement is know.
In the case of two-way spanning slabs, the check on the span-effective depth ratio
should be based on the shorter span length. This does not apply to flat slabs where the
longer span should be checked.

11 Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
 5/24/2018

12 Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
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13 Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
Flat Slab Floors 5/24/2018
A flat slab floor is a reinforced concrete slab supported directly by concrete columns
without the use of intermediary beams. The slab may be of constant thickness
throughout or in the area of the column it may be thickened as a drop panel. The
column may also be of constant section or it may be flared to form a column head or
capital.

14 Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
 5/24/2018
The flat slab floor has many advantages over the beam and slab floor. The simplified
formwork and the reduced storey heights make it more economical. The absence of
sharp corners gives greater fire resistance as there is less danger of the concrete spalling
and exposing the reinforcement. Deflection requirements will generally govern slab
thickness which should not normally be less than 180mm for fire resistance as indicated
in table below.

15 Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
 5/24/2018
The analysis of a flat slab structure may be carried out by dividing the structure into a
series of equivalent frames. The moments in these frames may be determined by

- a method of frame analysis such as moment distribution, or the stiffness method on

a computer:
- A simplified method using the moment and shear coefficients from the tables
subject to the following requirements;
i. the lateral stability is not dependent on the slab-column connections.
ii. there are at least three rows of panels approximately equal span in the
direction being considered.
iii. the bay size exceeds 30m2

Interior panels of the flat slab should be divided as shown in figure below. Drop panels
should be ignored if their smaller dimension is less than one-third of the smaller panel
dimension. If a panel is not square, strip widths in both directions are based on smaller
panel dimension.
Moments determined from a structural analysis or the coefficients from the previously
presented tables are distributed between the strips as shown in following tables.

16 Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
 5/24/2018

17 Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
 5/24/2018
Column moments can be calculated from the analysis of the equivalent frame. Particular
care is needed over the transfer of moments to edge columns. This is to ensure that
there is adequate moment capacity within the slab adjacent to the column since
moments will only be able to be transferred to the edge column by a strip of slab
considerably narrower than the normal internal panel column strip width.
The reinforcement for a flat slab should generally be arranged according to the
simplified rules but at least 2 bottom bars in each orthogonal direction should pass
through internal columns to enhance robustness.
In considering punching shear, EC2 places additional requirements on the amount and
distribution of reinforcement around column heads to ensure that full punching shear
capacity is developed.

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B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
Stair Slab 5/24/2018

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B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
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20 Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
 5/24/2018
Problem 1
A 260mm thick slab of class C25/30 concrete is reinforced by 12mm high yield bars at
125mm centres in each direction. The slab is subject to a dry environment and must be
able to carry a localized concentrated ultimate load of 650kN over a square area of
300mm side. Determine the shear reinforcement required for fyk = 500N/mm2

Problem 2
The four span slab shown in figure below supports a variable load of 3kN/m2 plus floor
finishes and a ceiling load of 1.0kN/m2. Design the slab using fck = 25N/mm2, fyk =
500N/mm2.

21 Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
 5/24/2018
Problem 3
The slab is 220mm thick and spans in two directions. The effective span in each
direction is 4.5m and 6.3m and the slab supports a variable load of 10kn/m2. Design the
slab using fck = 25N/mm2, fyk = 500N/mm2.

Problem 4
The columns are at 6.5m centres in each direction and the slab supports a variable load
of 5kN/m2. The characteristic material strengths are fck=25N/mm2 and fyk =
500N/mm2.
It is decided to use a floor slab as shown in figure below with 250mm overall depth, and
drop panels 2.5m square by 100mm deep. The column heads are to be made 1.2m
diameter.

22 Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage

B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)