Moataz Habba
Hassan Ghattas
Arab academy for science and
technology and maritime transport
faculty of
engineering
construction department
design of
reinforced concrete 1 CB354
INTRODUCTION
 Reinforced concrete slabs are used in
floors, roofs and as decks of bridges.
 Slabs may span in one direction or in
two directions, depending on the
dimensions and the surrounding
supporting conditions.
 Slabs spanning in one direction are
referred to as one-way slabs while
those spanning in two directions are
referred to as two-way slabs.
• Solid slabs are structural elements
used in construction. They are
typically made of reinforced concrete
or precast concrete. Solid slabs
provide a solid and stable platform
for floors, roofs, and other horizontal
surfaces. They are used in both
residential and commercial buildings.
Solid slabs can be designed as one-
way or two-way spanning systems.
One-way solid slabs are extensively
used in buildings, especially for spans
less than 4 meters. They are referred
to as one-way slabs because the
bending is mainly in short direction.
• To classify a slab as two-way slab,
the length of the long should be less
than twice the length of the short
side.
PROPERTIES
• Solid slabs offer excellent load-
carrying capacity and structural
strength. They can resist heavy loads
and provide long-span capabilities.
• Solid slabs are commonly used in
areas with high traffic and heavy
equipment, such as parking garages
and industrial buildings.
• They offer superior fire resistance
compared to other types of flooring
systems.
• Solid slabs can help to reduce noise
transmission between floors.
Concrete Cover
The concrete protection below the
reinforcement should follow the requirements
of calling for 20 mm below the bottom of the
steel. In a typical slab, 25 mm below the
center of the steel may be assumed.
Where:
fy: yield strength of steel, MPa
fc': concrete compressive strength, Mpa
epsilon, cu: concrete compressive strain
which is equal to 0.002
Under the supervision of: Dr.
Presenters:
Solid Slabs
How to Differentiate One-way Slab
from Two-way Slab?
When a rectangular slab is supported on
all four sides, but the ratio of the longer
side, L, to the shorter side, S, is 2 or
more, L/S ≥ 2.0, then, the slab will act
as a one-way slab, with bending
primarily occurring in the short
direction. The main reinforcement is
placed in the shorter direction which is
the span, while shrinkage reinforcement
is provided in the longer direction to
limit cracking.
When the slab is supported on only two
sides, the load will be transferred to
these sides regardless of its ratio of
longer span to shorter span, and it will
be classified as a one-way slab.
Behavior of One-way Slab
The structural action of a one-way slab
can be visualized in terms of the
deformed shape of the loaded surface.
The deflected shape of a rectangular
slab, simply supported along its two
opposite long edges and free of any
support along the two-opposite short
edges is shown in Figure-1. The
deflected shape is shown by solid lines.
Bending moments are the same in all
strips (S) spanning in a short direction
between supported edges whereas there
is no bending moment in the long strips
(l) parallel to the supported edges. The
surface is approximately cylindrical
Reinforcements in Concrete Slabs
Generally, two types of reinforcements
are provided in slabs, namely, main
reinforcements ( primary reinforcement)
and secondary reinforcement (shrinkage
and temperature reinforcement). These
are discussed below:
1. Main Reinforcement
The main reinforcements are placed
perpendicular to the supports of the slab
i.e. they are responsible for transferring
loads to the supports as shown in
Figure-3. The purpose of design
calculation is to compute the required
quantity of the primary reinforcement.
The primary reinforcement can be
computed using the flexural formula of
the beam. The process involves
estimating loads on the slab and then
calculating the applied moment. One
can find area of main reinforcement by
equating applied moment to resisting
moment. This calculation procedure is
discussed in the design procedure of the
one-way slab below.
Abdelrahman Hemdan Dr. Ahmed Nagib
Mohamed Ayman
Abraam Nassf
Mina William
Tarek El Essnawy
Unit strip Basis for Flexural Design
For the purpose of analysis and design, a
unit of the slab is cut out at right angles
to the supporting beams, shown in
Figure-2, which may be considered as a
rectangular beam of unit width, with
depth (h) equal to the slab thickness and
the span (l)  equal to the distance
between supporting edges. Strip Basis for
Design of One-way Slab
1. The strip illustrated in Figure-2 can be
analyzed by the methods that are used
for rectangular beams.
2. The bending moment is computed for
the strip of unit width.
3. The load per unit area on the slab
becomes the load per unit length on the
slab strip.
4. Since all the loads on the slab must be
transmitted to the two supporting beams,
all the reinforcement should be placed at
right angles to these beams, with the
exception of any bars that may be placed
in the other direction to control shrinkage
and temperature cracking
5. Therefore, a one-way slab consists of a
set of rectangular beams side by side.
Minimum Reinforcement Ratio
The minimum primary reinforcement
ratio is equal to the shrinkage and
temperature reinforcement computed
using Equation 1; the usual minimums
for flexural steel do not apply.
Maximum and Minimum Spacing between Steel
bars
1. The lateral maximum spacing of the
bars, except those used only to
control shrinkage and temperature
cracks, should not exceed 3 times the
thickness (h) or 450 mm, whichever
is smaller.
2. The maximum spacing between
shrinkage and temperature
reinforcement bars is five times the
slab thickness or 450 mm, whichever
is smaller.
 
3. The minimum distance is 25 mm, the
diameter of steel bar, or (4/3*
maximum aggregate size).
Bar Size
The bar size should be selected so that
the actual spacing is not less than about
1.5 times the slab thickness, to avoid
excessive cost for bar fabrication and
handling. Also, to reduce cost, straight
bars are usually used for slab
reinforcement.