CEng3204-Reinforced Concrete

Structures I
Design of Ribbed Slabs

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Ribbed Slab
 Outlines
Introduction
Ribbed slab proportions
Procedures of design of a floor system of Ribbed
slabs
Construction procedures of Ribbed slabs

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 Introduction
 Long-span floors for relatively light live loads can be
constructed as a series of closely spaced cast-in-place
T-beams (or joists or ribs) with a cross section.
 Since concrete is weak in tension and its tensile
strength is neglected in design, the use of ribbed slab
eliminate much of tension concrete in a slab that
results in a saving of weight with little alteration in
the structural behavior of the slab.
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 Introduction

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Analysis and Design of one way 4
 Introduction

Ribbed floor-slab supported by system of beams and girders

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 Introduction

Ribs/Joists

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 Introduction
Ribbed floor slabs are economical than solid slabs
for buildings such as apartment houses, hotels and
hospitals where live loads are fairly small and the
spans are comparatively long.
Ribbed floors are not suitable for heavy
construction, such as in ware houses and heavy
manufacturing buildings.

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 Introduction
They may be constructed in a variety of ways.
Two principal methods of construction are:

a) Ribbed slabs without permanent blocks,

b) Ribbed slabs with permanent hollow or solid
blocks.

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 Introduction

Ribbed slab

Ribbed slab with hollow blocks

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 Introduction

Typical Ribbed slab cross-section

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 Ribbed slab proportions
The topping or concrete floor panels between ribs
may or may not be considered to contribute to the
strength of the slab.
The hollow or solid blocks may also be counted in
assessing the strength using rules given in the
codes.

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 Ribbed slab proportions
Minimum slab thickness

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 Ribbed slab proportions
Minimum slab thickness
To ensure adequate stiffness against bending and
torsion and to allow ribbed slabs to be treated as
solid slabs for the purpose of analysis, ES EN 1992:
2015 Part 1-1 recommends that the following
restrictions on size are satisfied.

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 Ribbed slab proportions
1) The center-to-center spacing of ribs should not
exceed 1,500mm.
2) The minimum rib width should be determined by
consideration of cover, bar spacing and fire
resistance.
 In the code, the minimum rib width is 125 mm.

1) The depth of ribs excluding topping should not

exceed four times their average width.
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 Ribbed slab proportions
4) The thickness of structural topping or flange
should not be less than 50 mm or one tenth of the
clear distance between ribs.
 In the case of ribbed slabs incorporating permanent
blocks, the lower limit of 50mm may be reduced to
40mm.

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 Ribbed slab proportions
Minimum area of reinforcement and their spacing
Topping slab is reinforced primarily for
temperature and shrinkage stresses using small
bars placed at right angles to the joists.
The area of this reinforcement is usually about
0.12% of the cross-sectional area of topping slab
in each direction should be provided. .

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 Ribbed slab proportions
 The spacing of reinforcements should not exceed one-half
the center-to-center distance of the ribs.
 The mesh reinforcement is placed in the center of the
topping and requirements of cover in the code should be
satisfied.
 If the ribs are widely spaced (ribbed spacing larger than
1,500mm), the topping may need to be designed for
moment and shear as a continuous one-way slab between
ribs.
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 Ribbed slab proportions
 Generally, ribs (joists) are designed as regular T-beam sections
supported by girders.
 The minimum reinforcement of the ribs usually consists of two bars,
where one is bent near the support and the other straight.
 If the span of the ribs exceeds 6m, transverse ribs may be provided
as the thickness of the topping will be larger.
 The girder supporting the joist may be rectangular or T-beam with the
flange thickness equal to the floor thickness.
 The girder supporting the joist may be rectangular or T-beam with
the flange thickness equal to the floor thickness.
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Procedures of design of a floor system of ribbed slab

Step1: Ribbed slab proportions

 Thickness of topping slab, width, depth and spacing
of ribs are assumed based on code’s
recommendations.
Step2: Determine design loads supported by each ribs.
 Loads may be computed on the basis of center line
of the spacing of joists.

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Procedures of design of a floor system of ribbed slab

Step3: Analyze the ribs as regular simply supported or

continuous T-beams supported by the supporting
girders.
Step4: Check adequacy of depth of ribs for both flexure
and shear.
 If the shear stress developed in the rib section
exceeds the shear strength of T-beam, shear
reinforcement is provided for excess shear.
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Procedures of design of a floor system of ribbed slab

 Shear reinforcement shall not be provided in the

narrow web of joist thus a check for the section
capacity against shear is carried out.
 The shear capacity may be approximated as of
regular rectangular sections.
 Determine flexural reinforcement and consider
minimum provision in the final solution.

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Procedures of design of a floor system of ribbed slab

Step5: Provide the topping or slab with reinforcement

as per temperature and shrinkage requirement.
Step6: Design the girder as a beam.

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 Construction procedures of Ribbed slabs

Placing of HCB

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 Construction procedures of Ribbed slabs

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 Construction procedures of Ribbed slabs

Casting of concrete

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