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TCE.M6-CV-064
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DESIGN GUIDE
FOR
SLABS ON GRADE
FILE: M6-CV-064(R1)
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DATE
M6-CV-064(R1)-3.jpg,
M6-CV-064(R1)-6.jpg
1996-07-29
2000-03-30
INITIALS
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INITIALS
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Date
Description
2000-03-30
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FORM NO. 120 R1
SECTION:CONTENTS
CONTENTS
SL.NO.
TITLE
SHEET NO.
1.0
INTRODUCTION
2.0
SCOPE
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
DESIGN OF SLAB
7.0
JOINTING PRACTICES
10
TABLE-I
13
TABLE-II
16
APPENDIX-1
FIGURES
17
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1.0
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INTRODUCTION
With the rapid industrialisation, the amount of expenditure incurred on
industrial buildings has been considerably increased. One of the important
elements of such industrial buildings is the flooring to meet the requirements of
the various types of movements within the building. Flooring essentially
consists of the top finish, grade slab, sub base and sub grade (See Fig.No.1).
Many times, the floor cost contributes as large as 10% of the building cost.
Hence, it is very essential to give sufficient attention to design the grade slab in
such a way to reduce its costs and at the same time satisfy the basic
requirements of the industry.
2.0
SCOPE
This design guide covers different design methods being practised to arrive at
the optimum grade slab thickness for the required design loads. It also covers
guidelines for sub base thickness and joint practices.
In general this guide can be used to arrive at the thickness of the grade slab in
the buildings used for industrial purposes.
3.0
IRC:58
IS:1834
IS:1838
4.0
4.1
DEFINITIONS
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NOTATIONS
5.0
in
: inches
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For weak sub grades of soil types, such as clay, silt and sandy silty clay with
water table within 600 mm of formation level, a sub-base of 150 mm thickness
is recommended. In case of normal sub grades of soil types comprising of
well-graded and drained sand or sandy gravel, 80-mm thick sub-base is
recommended.
These recommendations apply to sub-bases under roof cover, and hold good in
situations where the construction traffic consists only of small dampers and
possibly trunk mixers. Where the sub-base is exposed to the weather and to
heavy construction traffic, it is recommended that the above sub base thickness
is increased by 75 mm.
In case of expansive soils such as Black cotton soils proper care shall be
exercised in consultation with the Geo technical specialists. These are
prone to significant volume changes.
In the absence of detail
recommendations at least the top 600mm of such soil shall be replaced
totally with a suitable base material. Provision of a vapour barrier such
as thick polyethylene sheet shall be considered on the base. Vapour
barriers in direct contact with the slab are discouraged. The barriers
shall be covered with about 100 to 150 mm of fine granular material to
provide a permeable and absorptive base directly under the slab.
Where the ground is very unstable or where considerable depths of fill have
been used and high settlements are expected, the floor may be designed as a
suspended slab on pile foundations.
5.1
Normally, for good abrasive resistance under the action of moving wheels,
dragging of heavy castings and such other metal equipment, fork lifts with irontyped wheels, etc. Concrete with a cube-crushing strength of 40 N/mm2 at 28
days, (grade M40) is recommended. Under normal loading conditions grade
M20 is generally adequate.
Specify workable concrete with the largest practical maximum size of
coarse aggregate. It is also worth while to consider using 60 or 90-day
strengths in slab thickness design to permit use of concrete with lower
shrinkage than could be achieved with the same strength at 28 days if
permitted otherwise.
Thus the topping may be about 50 mm for integral construction and about 75
mm for bonded construction.
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BAY LAYOUT
From practical considerations, preferably the bay width should not exceed
about 4.5 m. If the slab is not reinforced, joints should be formed at intervals
not exceeding 6 m. Floors are usually constructed as follows.
Long-strip Construction: The floor pattern is usually in long stretches
lengthwise, 25 m to 30 m long between expansion joints in between control
joints are so planned that the resulting bays are approximately square. The
strips are divided into smaller bays by means of induced transverse control
joints either formed in the green concrete or by sawing shallow grooves in the
surface two or three days after the concrete has hardened.
Chequer Board Construction: In fill bays are usually laid after 7 days or more
in an attempt to eliminate shrinkage contraction movement.
It is recommended that preference be given to long-strip construction.
6.0
DESIGN OF SLAB
Various design methods have been evolved for calculating the thickness of
slabs on grade, such as PCA (Portland Cement Association) method, WRI
(Wire Reinforcement Institute) method, PTI (Post-Tensioning Institute)
methods etc. There is no single or unique design technique that can be
recommended for all applications. However, PCA method can be used for
most of the general applications.
6.1
FACTOR OF SAFETY
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Portland Cement Association has studied the pavement theory and developed
thickness design charts for floors on grade. Portland Cement Association also
publishes the design methods. The method is also applicable to slabs on
ground for outdoor storage and material handling areas. The factors involved
in determining the required floor slab thickness is:
i. Strength of sub-grade and sub-base
ii. Strength of concrete
iii. Location and frequency of imposed loads
Grade slabs are generally subjected to Vehicle wheel loads, Concentrated loads
such as Rack storage Leg loads and Uniform loads including strip loads. For
grade slabs intended for industrial loading a minimum thickness of 125mm (5
inches) is suggested.
6.2.1 For Vehicle Loads( Refer Fig 2.0)
Following factors are required to arrive at the thickness of the grade slab.
i. Maximum axle loads
ii. Number of load repetitions
iii. Wheel contact area (tyre data)
iv. Spacing between wheels on the heaviest axle
v. Sub grade strength ( Standard modulus of sub grade reaction)
vi. Flexural strength of concrete
If the tyre data is not available, the contact area can be estimated for pneumatic
tyres by dividing wheel load by inflation pressure. Tyre inflation pressure for
pneumatic tyres range from 80 to 100 psi. Steel cord tire pressure ranges
up to 120 psi.
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Refer Fig.2.0, locate the point left hand side vertical axis corresponds to stress
12.8 psi, move right to contact area of 114 sq.inches, down to wheel spacing
of 37 inches taken right to read a slab thickness of 7.9 inches on the line for
sub grade modulus k of 100 psi.
Hence, use 8 inches thick slab.
In case of axles having Dual tires/ wheels on either side of axle it is
suggested to consider as a single equivalent wheel on either side and
contact area can be considered accordingly as a conservative estimate.
After that the same Fig 2.0 can be applied.
6.2.2 For High Rack Storage Leg Loads
When loads on rack legs exceed the wheel loads of vehicles operating in
the wear house, leg loads will control the thickness of slab. When a correct
size of the base plate is used, concrete bearing and punching shear stresses
will remain within acceptable limits. The design factors are same as used for
vehicle loads except that a higher safety factor is selected. Safety factors in
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the range of 3.9 to 4.8 will satisfy building code requirements when the
rack leg is regarded as a supporting column and the slab is regarded as
a non-reinforced spread footing.
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6.3
DESIGN OF REINFORCEMENT
Reinforcing steel will enhance the performance of the slab on grade. Steel
reinforcement will help in preventing the formation of cracks.
There are two aspects to give attention in the use of reinforcement for
industrial floors. One is the quantity of the reinforcement. The second is
the placement of the steel within slab.
Reinforcement in concrete grade slabs is designed to counteract the tensile
stresses caused by shrinkage and contraction due to temperature or moisture
changes.
The amount of longitudinal and transverse steel required per metre width
or length of slab is computed by the following formula:
Lfw 2
cm /m width or length
2S
Dist. in 'm' between free transverse or free longitudinal joints
Area of steel A =
Where L =
f
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help transfer the load evenly over the sub grade. The minimum
reinforcement required is 0.15% in each direction in case of High yield
strength deformed bars. In case of plain mild steel bars the minimum
reinforcement shall be 0.20% in each direction. The maximum
reinforcement shall be restricted to 0.6% in both the cases.
Spacing shall not exceed 3 times the effective thickness of the slab or 450mm whichever is less. It is suggested to go for spacing in the range of 150
to 200mm and also equally in both the directions.
7.0
7.1
ISOLATION JOINTS
Isolation joints are placed as shown in Fig.5.0 & Fig.6.0 wherever complete
separation between the floor and adjoining concrete is needed to allow them to
move independently without damage. Isolation joint permits horizontal and
vertical movement between the abutting faces of the floor slab and other parts
of the building because there is no keyway, bond or mechanical connection
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across the joint. It is important that the entire surface of each isolation joint be
covered with joint material as shown in Fig.5.0 conforming to IS:1838 to
be sure that there is no concrete-to-concrete contact because such contact
is likely to cause spalling at the joint.
7.2
EXPANSION JOINTS
These joints are meant to accommodate expansion and are provided with a
clear gap for the full depth between adjacent slabs. They are spaced at 25 m
to 30 m along the slab length and are filled with expansion joint filler , which
is compressible enough to accommodate the expansion of the adjacent slabs.
For this purpose, it is required to use filler confirming to IS:1838. Dowel bars
may be omitted for slabs less than 150 mm thick. Expansion joints may be
provided with load transfer devices which are generally dowel bars
cantilevering out 450 mm on either side of the joint or tongue-and-groove
joints.
Load transfer devices transfer the load from one panel to the other at the
expansion joint.
It is not possible to have a load transfer device at the entrance; the base slab
thickness may therefore be locally increased by 50 percent.
7.3
Control joints act to relieve stress and with proper spacing they eliminate
the cause of uncontrolled random cracking. They allow horizontal movement
of the slab. Control joints in industrial and commercial floors are usually cut
with a saw. They should be cut to a depth of generally 1/4 the slab
thickness.
The objective is to form a plane of weakness in the slab so that the crack
will occur along that line to avoid random cracking and curling. In case of
thick slabs a crack induced is anchored to the sub grade immediately
below the joint. Load transfer across a control joint is provided by the
interlocking of the jagged face formed at the crack. For long joint
spacing or heavily loaded slabs, dowel bars are used as load transfer
devices. The above-discussed varieties of control joints are shown in Fig.7.0.
The steel must be discontinued at all control joints.
In general spacing of joints shall be 2 to 3 times slab thickness in inches
expressed in feet.
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CONSTRUCTION JOINTS
Construction joints usually form the edges at the end of each day's work.
They are located to confirm to the floor-jointing pattern. Where there is
no control or isolation joint, a butt-type construction joint is satisfactory for
thin floors. For thick and more heavily loaded floors, a tongue and groove
joint is used or dowels are added to the butt joint. A bonded construction
joint in a plain slab is a butt type construction joint with tie bars when
concrete placement is interrupted for 30 minutes. Different varieties of
construction joints are shown in Fig.8.0.
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TABLE - I
ALLOWABLE DISTRIBUTED LOADS, UNJOINTED AISLE
(UNIFORM LOAD, VARIABLE LAYOUT)
Notes:
1) K of Sub Grade : Disregard increase in k due to sub base.
2) Critical aisle width equals 2.209 times the radius of relative stiffness
Eh3
where h is thickness, k is modulus of
12 1 2 k
sub grade and is poisons ratio.
4) Assumed load width = 300 in; Allowable load varies only slightly for other
load widths.
5) Allowable stress = 0.5 * Flexural strength
3) Relative stiffness= l =
Slab
Thickness
Working
Stress
Psi
Inches
Critical
Aisle
At criWidth Tical
Ft
aisle
width
14-ft
aisle
300
350
400
5.6
5.6
5.6
610
710
815
615
715
820
670
785
895
815
950
1,085
1,050
1,225
1,400
1,215
1,420
1,620
300
350
400
6.4
6.4
6.4
670
785
895
675
785
895
695
810
925
780
910
1,040
945
1,100
1,260
1,175
1,370
1,570
300
350
400
8.0
8.0
8.0
770
900
1,025
800
935
1,070
770
900
1,025
800
935
1,065
880
1,025
1,175
1,010
1,180
1,350
10
300
350
400
9.4
9.4
9.4
845
985
1,130
930
1,085
1,240
855
1,000
1,145
850
990
1,135
885
1,035
1,185
960
1,120
1,285
12
300
350
400
10.8
10.8
10.8
915
1,065
1,220
1,065
1,240
1,420
955
1,115
1,270
915
1,070
1,220
925
1,080
1,230
965
1,125
1,290
14
300
350
400
12.1
12.1
12.1
980
1,145
1,310
1,225
1,430
1,630
1,070
1,245
1,425
1,000
1,170
1,335
980
1,145
1,310
995
1,160
1,330
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TABLE I (Contd)
SlabThickness
Inches
Working
Stress
Critical
At
Aisle
Width
Ft
Psi
Critical
Aisle
width
6-ft
aisle
8 - ft
aisle
10 -ft 12 ft
aisle aisle
14-ft
aisle
300
350
400
4.7
4.7
4.7
865
1,010
1,155
900
1,050
1,200
1,090
1,270
1,455
1,470
1,715
1,955
1,745
2,035
2,325
1,810
2,115
2,415
300
350
400
5.4
5.4
5.4
950
1,105
1,265
955
1,115
1,275
1,065
1,245
1,420
1,320
1,540
1,760
1,700
1,985
2,270
1,925
2,245
2,565
300
350
400
6.7
6.7
6.7
1,095
1,280
1,460
1,105
1,285
1,470
1,120
1,305
1,495
1,240
1,445
1,650
1,465
1,705
1,950
1,815
2,120
2,420
10
300
350
400
7.9
7.9
7.9
1,215
1,420
1,625
1,265
1,475
1,645
1,215
1,420
1,625
1,270
1,480
1,690
1,395
1,630
1,860
1,610
1,880
2,150
12
300
350
400
9.1
9.1
9.1
1,320
1,540
1,755
1,425
1,665
1,900
1,325
1,545
1,770
1,330
1,550
1,770
1,400
1,635
1,865
1,535
1,795
2,050
14
300
350
400
10.2
10.2
10.2
1,405
1,640
1,875
1,590
1,855
2,120
1,445
1,685
1,925
1,405
1,640
1,875
1,435
1,675
1,915
1,525
1,775
2,030
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TABLE I (Contd)
Slab
Thickness
inches
Working
Stress
Critical
At
Critical
Aisle
Psi
Width
Ft
Sub grade k = 200 pci
Aisle
width
8 - ft
aisle
10 -ft 12 ft
aisle aisle
14-ft
aisle
300
350
400
4.0
4.0
4.0
1,225
1,425
1,630
1,400
1,630
1,865
1,930
2,255
2,575
2,450
2,860
3,270
2,565
2,990
3,420
2,520
2,940
3,360
300
350
400
4.5
4.5
4.5
1,340
1,565
1,785
1,415
1,650
1,890
1,755
2,050
2,345
2,395
2,800
3,190
2,740
3,200
3,655
2,810
3,275
3,745
300
350
400
5.6
5.6
5.6
1,550
1,810
2,065
1,550
1,810
2,070
1,695
1,980
2,615
2,045
2,385
2,730
2,635
3,075
3,515
3,070
3,580
4,095
10
300
350
400
6.6
6.6
6.6
1,730
2,020
2,310
1,745
2,035
2,325
1,775
2,070
2,365
1,965
2,290
2,620
2,330
2,715
3,105
2,895
3,300
3,860
12
300
350
400
7.6
7.6
7.6
1,890
2,205
2,520
1,945
2,270
2,595
1,895
2,210
2,525
1,995
2,330
2,660
2,230
2,600
2,972
2,610
3,045
3,480
14
300
350
400
8.6
8.6
8.6
2,025
2,360
2,700
2,150
2,510
2,870
2,030
2,365
2,705
2,065
2,405
2,750
2,210
2,580
2,950
2,480
2,890
3,305
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TABLE-II
Slab
Sub
grade
k
pci
550
50
100
200
535
760
1,075
585
830
1,175
635
900
1,270
685
965
1,370
50
100
200
585
830
1,175
640
905
1,280
695
980
1,390
750
1,055
1,495
50
100
200
680
960
1,355
740
1,045
1,480
800
1,135
1,603
865
1,220
1,725
10
50
100
200
760
1,070
1,515
830
1,170
1,655
895
1,265
1,790
965
1,365
1,930
12
50
100
200
830
1,175
1,660
905
1,280
1,810
980
1,390
1,965
1,055
1,495
2,115
14
50
100
200
895
1,270
1,795
980
1,385
1,960
1,060
1,500
2,120
1,140
1,615
2,285
Thickness
in
5
700
Notes:
1) K of Sub Grade : Disregard increase in k due to sub base.
2) Allowable stress = 0.5 * Flexural strength
3) Based on aisle and load widths giving maximum stress
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FIGURES
The following figures (Graphs & Charts) are enclosed in the Appendix 1.
In soft copy format these figures are kept in separate JPEG files.
SLAB1.JPEG:
FIG 1 :
FIG 2 :
SLAB2.JPEG:
FIG 3 A :
PCA Design chart for Post loads where sub grade modulus is 50 pci
SLAB3.JPEG:
FIG 3 B :
PCA Design chart for Post loads where sub grade modulus is 100pci
FIG 3 C :
PCA Design chart for Post loads where sub grade modulus is 200 pci
SLAB4.JPEG:
FIG 4 TO 7 : ISOLATION JOINTS
SLAB5.JPEG:
FIG 8 :
CONSTRUCTION JOINTS
SLAB6.JPEG:
FIG 9 :
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