Design of Slabs

Flexural resistance of one-way slabs

A one-way slab is a reinforced concrete floor panel that
transfers load to the supporting beams in one direction only

It is said that this slab spans in the short direction ( Lx ) and

is considered a one-way slab.

The span ( Ly) is significantly

larger than the span (Lx )
such that

Ly / Lx>2
Direction of the
main reinforcement
The load carried in the short (x) direction is 16 times larger than that
carried in the long (y) direction, or approximately 94% (16 /17) of the total
load. It is generally considered that when the span ratio for a slab
supported
pp by
y beams is 2.0 or larger,
g the slab can be considered to
behave like a one-way slab.
 Slab Thickness
CSA A23.3 prescribes the span/depth ( ln / h) ratio limits for
beams and slabs that will result in members with sufficient
stiffness that detailed deflection calculations are not deemed
necessary

One-way slabs

beams
 1000
A A
S b S

As: the area of tension reinforcement for a 1000 mm wide

strip (usually expressed in square millimeters per meter)
Ab: the area of one reinforcing bar
p g ((mm))
S: the centre-to-centre bar spacing
 1000
SA
b A
S
Slab reinforcement is usually denoted by bar size and spacing;
for example, 15M@300 denotes 15M bars at 300 mm spacing.

Example: It is required to provide reinforcement area As of

750 mm2/m using g 15M bars.

1000
S 200 S 266 mm
750
Use 15M@250
@
Moment Resistance of One-
One-Way
Sl b
Slabs
 Example
A typical cross-section of a one-way slab is shown in the
figure
gu e be
below.
o The e sslab
ab is
s 200
00 mm tthick
c aand
d is
s reinforced
e o ced with
t
15M bars at 300 mm spacing (15M@300) at the bottom
face. For analysis purposes, use an effective depth of 170
mm. The slab is properly reinforced. fc=25 MPa fy=400 MPa
Find the factored moment resistance for the slab.
 Design of one-
one-way slabs
Minimum slab reinforcement
Minimum reinforcement in slabs is intended to provide cracking control due to
shrinkage and temperature effects and to preserve slab integrity after cracking.
The minimum reinforcement specified for slabs of uniform thickness is

A 0.002 A 0.002 bh
s g
min

Maximum tension bar spacing

The maximum permitted bar spacing is equal to the lesser of 3h and 500 mm,
 Shrinkage and temperature reinforcement
Shrinkage cracks develop in reinforced concrete slabs.
However, if steel reinforcement is placed at close spacing,
small hairline cracks develop in a relatively distributed
manner.
CSA A23.3 prescribes the minimum amount and spacing of
reinforcement in each slab direction to ensure uniform
crack distribution due to shrinkage and temperature
variations during the service life of the structure.
The minimum amount of
temperature reinforcement is

0.002 A 0.002bh
g

The maximum
Th i permitted
itt d
spacing is equal to the lesser
of 5h and 500 mm,
 Shear design
The shear design of RC one-way slabs and beams is very
ssimilar.
a Foro des
design
g purposes,
pu poses, o
one-way
e ay sslabs
abs a
are
e ttreated
eated as
wide beams of a unit width equal to 1000 mm and a depth
equal to the slab thickness.

Flexure and deflections usually govern in slab design. Due

to the low shear loads in one-way slabs, shear
reinforcement is usually not required, but the shear check
needs to be performed.
performed

V f 'b d For slabs with overall thickness not

c c c w v
greater than 350 mm = 0.21
 Example
The slab spans 6 m (centre-to-centre between the supports)
and it supports a uniform dead load (DL) of 6 kPa (including
SWL) and d a uniform
if lilive lload
d (LL) off 5 kP
kPa.
Consider a 25 mm clear cover to the tension steel. Use 15M
bars for tension reinforcement and 20 mm maximum
aggregate size for the concrete. fc=25 MPa fy=400 MPa