Membrane action of unrestrained lightly reinforced concrete slabs at largedisplacements

Authors
Citation
Cg. Bailey, Membrane action of unrestrained lightly reinforced concrete slabs at largedisplacements, ENG STRUCT, 23(5), 2001, pp. 470-483
Citations number
21
Categorie Soggetti
Civil Engineering
Journal title
ENGINEERING STRUCTURES
ISSN journal
01410296 → ACNP
Volume
23
Issue
5
Year of publication
2001
Pages
470 - 483
Database
ISI
SICI code
0141-0296(200105)23:5<470:MAOULR>2.0.ZU;2-Q
Abstract
Following full-scale fire tests on a steel-framed building, together with o bservations from real fires, it has been shown that membrane action, at lar ge displacements, of composite floors comprising steel deck, concrete, and anti-crack mesh, is extremely beneficial to the survival of the building. I t was therefore decided to review previous research conducted on unrestrain ed concrete slabs, under large displacements, at normal temperatures. It wa s found that the assumptions used to develop previous theoretical predictio ns for the load-carrying capacity, for a given vertical displacement, are o nly valid for square slabs and do not conform to test observations for rect angular slabs. A new theoretical approach is therefore presented which is v alid for both square and rectangular slabs and conforms to the mode of beha viour observed in tests. The design method is shown to give excellent corre lation with published test data. A prediction for ultimate collapse of the slab due to fracture of the reinforcement is also presented, which limits t he allowable mechanical strain in the reinforcement. Comparison with availa ble test data shows that this prediction is always conservative. (C) 2001 E lsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.