One Way Slab

A slab made of reinforced concrete with no voids and supported on two sides only then it will bend or deflect in the direction perpendicular to the supported edges. The structural action is one way and almost all loads being carried by the slab in the shorter direction. This type of slab is called One Way slab. If the slab is supported on all four sides and the ratio of longer side to shorter side is greater than or equal to two, then again structural action will be one way and the slab will be One Way slab.

Plan of a one way slab which has support on two sides only (beams along the shorter dimension).

Plan of one way slab which has support on all four sides in the form of beams but its longer side is greater than twice the shorter side.

STEPS FOR DESIGNING OF ONE WAY SLAB

One term which you will encounter frequently in One Way slab designing is span. Remember that span is the distance between the two supports which are carrying almost the entire load of slab . Also bear this in mind we design the slab using a portion of slab i.e. a unit length of slab. The steps for designing of one way slab are discussed below

Determine the type of one way slab you have. The different types of one way slabs are o Simply supported

Plan of one way slab with beams and columns on four sides.

One end continuous

Plan of one way slab with beams and columns on four sides. This slab has continuity on one side in the form of adjoining slab.

Two end continuous

Plan of one way slab with beams and columns on four sides. This slab has continuity on both sides in the form of adjoining slabs.

Cantilever

Plan of one way slab with beam and columns on one side.

y y

Calculate the slab thickness based on the type of slab given by ACI code. Calculate loads on slab. The different types of loads on slab are o Dead load  Self weight  Finishes load  Partition wall load  Sunk load o Live load Calculate the maximum moment values on different parts of the selected section of the slab. Using the value of moment calculate the value of Ru using the formula

y y

Using the above calculated value of Ru calculate the value of .

 

This will give a quadratic equation solving which we can obtain values of .

y y

Compare this value of

with

. Which ever will be greater will be used. calculated above by using the formula

Calculate area of steel, As, using the value of

If

was used then As will be calculated according to the following conditions.  For steel having strength 40-50 ksi

For steel having strength 60 ksi

For steel having strength greater than 60 ksi



Clear cover will be decided according to the following  For #14 - #18 bars Cover = 1/2

For bars > #11 Cover = 3/4

Spacing will be calculated by using

 

Where Ab is the area of bar As is the area of steel calculated before