Choosing Design Methods for Industrial Floor Slabs

Key factors to consider include type of slab construction and loading conditions
BY BOYD C. RINGO AND ROBERT B. ANDERSON

ndustrial slabs on grade take a lot of punishment, often serving as thoroughfares for cargoladen lift trucks. Thats why designing an industrial floor to withstand anticipated loading conditions is critical to satisfactory performance. There are five commonly used procedures for designing industrial floor slabs. All of them are effective when their recommendations and details are followed. So, how does a designer choose the best method for a particular floor? The most common approach is to determine the type of floor construction needed for expected loading conditions. Then, from the design procedures described on page 349, select the most appropriate method for determining floor thickness, reinforcement, joint spacing, and other details.

but may be strengthened at the joints by thickening, dowels, or keys. Relatively close joint spacing is the p ri m a ry means of controlling shrinkage effects. The Portland Cement Association recommends joint spacing in feet equal to two to three times the slab thickness in inches. Type B, slab with shrinkage-control reinforcement. Type B floor slabs are similar to plain concrete slabs, but they contain some distributed reinforcement to control the effects of shrinkage and temperature changes. Joint spacings usually are the same or slightly greater

option for shrinkage control. The steel fibers, typically added in amounts of 40 to 60 pounds per cubic yard of concrete, are distributed throughout the mix. They act as crack arresters to prevent the propagation of micro-cracking. The fibers also can increase the effective modulus of rupture. Type C, slab with shrinkagecompensating concrete. These slabs require reinforcing steel, which must be properly located. Shrinkage-compensating concrete does shrink, but before shrinking it expands by an amount intended to

FLOOR DESIGNS USUALLY ARE BASED ON ONE OR MORE OF THE FIVE DESIGN METHODS. . .EACH METHOD HAS PARTICULAR LOADING CONDITIONS AND SLAB TYPES FOR WHICH ITS MOST EFFECTIVE.

INDUSTRIAL

Types of Slab Construction

ACI 360.1R-92 (Ref. 1) describes six common types of floor slab construction. The primary differences between each type are reinforcement details and joint spacing. Except for Type F slabs, all slabs are expected to remain essentially uncracked under applied loads. Most types use Type I or II portland cement. Type A, plain concrete slab. Type A slabs contain no reinforcement, than for a plain concrete slab. Reinforcement in Type B slabs must be stiff enough to be properly placed, and single layers should be located at or above the mid-depth of the slab. Consider using bars or wires, in welded-wire fabric, with spacings in each direction of 14 to 16 inches. Be sure the steel is adequately supported to ensure proper positioning. The use of steel fibers also is an be slightly greater than the subsequent shrinkage. This concrete can be produced with an expansive admixture or with Type K cement. Joint spacings may be significantly greater than those of the two previously described slabs. Reference 8 can be used as a guide when designing a shrinkage-compensating concrete floor. Type D, slab post-tensioned for

crack control. Type D slabs contain post-tensioning tendons for crack control. The prestress forces increase the effective modulus of rupture and allow a wide spacing of construction joints with no intermediate contraction (control) joints. With post-tensioned slabs, one or two layers of polyethylene sheeting, perforated or nonperforated, often are used for reducing subgrade drag. Reference 7 gives design aids for this type of floor construction. Type E, lightly reinforced structural slab. These slabs are designed to support structural loads, such as columns and walls, directly on the slab. They also can be used to resist forces caused by swelling or shrinking of unstable soils. The slabs can be reinforced with bars, post-tensioning tendons, or both. Type F, structurally re i n f o rc e d slab. This slab differs from the others in that the design intentionally allows cracking at some determined level of loading. The slabs

are structurally reinforced with one or two layers of steel reinforcement in the form of deformed bars or welded-wire fabric. The location of the steel is critical to the slabs s t ru c t u ral capacity. Joint spacings are not critical to the design, other than for construction purposes, since some cracking is considered acceptable.

Methods of Slab Design

Industrial floor designs usually are based on one or more of the five design methods listed below. Each method has particular loading conditions and slab types for which its most effective. Table 1 correlates the slab construction types with appropriate design methods. It also shows which methods aid in slab thickness selection, and which have information on related details, such as joint spacings and reinforcement requirements. Table 2 shows which design method to use in selecting the appropriate slab thickness for each type of load. The

references cited after each method discuss the design process in detail. Portland Cement Association (PCA) method. PCAs charts and tables allow slab thickness selection for dual- and single-wheel axle loads, rack support post loading, and uniform loads with fixed or variable positions. Reinforcement is optional and is intended for shrinkage and temperature effects. Because loadings are assumed to be in the interior slab area, joint strengthening is recommended (Refs. 2 and 3). Wire Reinforcement Institute (WRI) method. WRI provides a method of thickness selection for single-wheel axle loads and uniform loads with aisles. Only loadings on the interior slab area are considered. WRI charts include the effects of relative slab stiffness with respect to the subgrade. Steel reinforcement is assumed in the design process (Ref. 4). United States Army Corps of Engineers (COE) method. Corps of

SLAB TYPES

Engineers design charts are based on We s t e rg a a rds equations for edge stresses in slabs on grade. T h e re f o re, they are appro p ri a t e when designing for loads immediately adjacent to joints or edges. Also included are load transfer effects across a joint in terms of a loadtransfer coefficient. Steel reinforce-

the intended reinforcement technique. They control shrinkage and t e m p e ra t u re effects and increase the modulus of rupture. Since the calculation process determines moments and shears, steel reinforcement also can be used with this design method (Ref. 7). American Concrete Institute

cation is critical to slab performance. It also provides for a wider spacing of joints and the elimination of shrinkage cracks (Ref. 8).

Using the Design Charts

A number of values are needed when using the design charts to determine concrete floor slab thickness and the effect of any prestressing or reinforcement. Some values come from loading specifications and some come from the materials, the site, and the designer. For example, for vehicle axle loads necessary information includes:

WHEN A

SLAB IS TO REMAIN UNCRACKED, THE OBJECTIVE IS TO LIMIT THE ACTUAL TENSILE STRESS TO AN ACCEPTABLE VALUE.

For the vehicle:

ment is optional, though its use is implied. Loadings considered are heavy axle loadings and other vehicle loads (Refs. 5 and 6). Post-Tensioning Institute (PTI) method. PTI publishes tables and charts that give strength requirements for loadings caused by soils which expand or contract significantly. Post-tensioning tendons are (ACI) Committee 223. This procedure does not deal directly with the selection of slab thickness, which must be determined by one of the other methods. Instead, it gives design details and construction practices for the control of early-age expansion and the subsequent shrinkage of the concrete slab. Reinforcing steel is required and its loOF

Vehicle weight, pounds Load capacity, pounds Total axle load, pounds Type of wheels (single or dual) Ty p eo ft i re s( s o l i do rp n e u m a t i c ) Tire width, inches, or tire pressure, psi Wheel contact area, square inches Wheel spacing, inches

TABLE 1. CORRELATION

SLAB CONSTRUCTION TYPE WITH DESIGN METHOD Design Methods

Slab Types A Plain concrete; no reinforcement; portland cement Temperature and shrinkage reinforcement; portland cement Temperature and shrinkage reinforcement; shrinkage-compensating cement Post-tensioning for crack control; portland cement Post-tensioning and/or nonprestressed steel reinforcement; portland cement Nonprestressed steel reinforcement; portland cement

PCA x x x x x

WRI

COE x x

PTI

ACI 223 Thickness selection Related details Thickness selection Related details

x x x

x x

Thickness selection Related details Thickness selection Related details Thickness selection Related details Thickness selection Related details

x x

x x

x x

x x

x x

(From Reference 1)

TABLE 2. SLAB THICKNESS SELECTION METHODS APPROPRIATE FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF LOADING Design Methods Type of Loading Uniform Loads and Aisles Storage Rack Post Loads Lift Truck Wheels: Interior Loadings Edge Loadings Concentrated Loads Fixed Locations Vehicle Loads With Impact Post-tensioning Prestress1 Shrinkage-compensating Concrete1
1

PCA WRI x x x x x x

COE

PTI

ACI 223

x x x x x

These are not thickness selection methods. However, the techniques affect the details of the other four design methods.

For the site and materials:

Concrete compressive strength, psi Concrete modulus of rupture, psi Modulus of subgrade reaction (soil), pci Safetyfactorselected by designer The vehicle axle load, commonly known as the lift truck load, can be any vehicle that travels on the concrete floor with its wheels in contact with the slab surface. This load frequently controls the slab thickness required. The best source of vehicle data is the specification sheet from the manufacturer. If this is not available, the designer may have to assume some values to complete the design. Industrial floor designs evaluate the capacity of the floor slab to resist the moment in the slab beneath the loaded axle. This loading causes tension on the bottom of the slab beneath the most loaded wheel. Its sometime called a positive moment. Since wheel loads normally are of equal value, both on the vehicle and in the design charts, the moments are equal beneath each wheel. PCA design charts can be adapted for special cases where wheel loads are unequal on the same axle.

When a slab is to remain uncracked, the objective is to limit the actual tensile stress to an acceptable value. This value, usually called the allowable stress, is the modulus of rupture divided by the selected safety factor. The thickness determination for this loading can be determined by PCA, WRI, and COE charts and tables. If the concrete floor does not need to remain completely crackfree (that is, if hairline cracks due to loading are acceptable), then the approach can change. The objective, then, is to determine the applied moment in the slab. The moment is then used to design the slab using common re i n f o rc e d - c o ncrete procedures and to select app ro p riate areas of steel re i n f o rc ement. This can be most easily done with WRI charts. Using shrinkage-compensating concrete or post-tensioning to build a slab alters the design p ro c e s s. The intent is to maintain an uncracked slab by chemical or physical prestressing rather than by adjusting slab thickness and joint spacings. Typically, wider joint spacings are used.

References 1. ACI Committee 360, Design of Slabs on Grade (ACI 360.1R-92), American Concrete Institute, Detroit, 1992. 2. Ralph Spears and William Panarese, Concrete Floors on Ground, Portland Cement Association, Skokie, Ill., revised 1990. 3. R. G. Packard, Slab Thickness Design for Industrial Concrete Floors on Grade, PCA, 1976. 4 . D e s i g nP ro c e d u re sf o rI n d u s t r i a l S l a b s , I n t e r i mR e p o rt ,1 9 7 3 ;a n d Structural Welded Wire FabricDetailing M a n u a l , A p p e n d i xA ,1 9 8 9 ,T h e Wire ReinforcementInstitute,Reston, Va. 5. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineering Design: Rigid Pavement for Roads, Streets, Walks, and Open Areas, Engineering Manual EM 11103-132, Department of the Army, Washington, D.C., 1984. 6. Departments of the Army and the Air Force, Concrete Floor Slabs on Grade Subjected to Heavy Loads, Technical Manual TM-5-809-12 and AFM 88-3, Chapter 15, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., August 1987. 7. Design and Construction of Posttensioned Slabs on Ground, Post-Tensioning Institute, Phoenix, Ariz., 1980. 8. ACI Committee 223, Shrinkage Compensating Concrete Design (ACI 223-83), ACI, 1983.

Boyd Ringo is a consulting engineer in Cincinnati, and has more than 40 years experience designing and building plain and conventionally reinforced concrete slabs on grade. Rober t Anderson, long active in the Post-Tensioning Institute, helped develop design pro c e d u re s for post-tensioned slabs. He is president of Robert B. Anderson Consulting Engineers, New Orleans.
Editors Note This article was adapted from Ringo and Andersons book, Designing Floor Slabs on Grade. This comprehensive reference helps designers select the most cost-effective approach for achieving superior crack control, stability, flatness, and overall strength. It gives step-by-step design procedures and contains all the necessary charts, tables, and equations.

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