EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF DEPTH VARIATION IN FLANGED RIBBED LIGHTWEIGHT CONCRETE SLABS

Abstract

Ribbed slabs provide a lighter and stiffer slab than an equivalent traditional slab with minimizing the total volume of the materials. Four flanged one-way lightweight concrete ribbed slabs have been cast then tested under two-point load as simply supported up to failure. The main investigated variable was the ratio of the rib depth to the overall beam depth. All the slabs have the same concrete volume and the same steel reinforcement area. Also, the width of the rib is equal to the slab thickness as a constraint condition in all the slabs. Data were recorded at the loading stages to determine the load capacity and the deflection. The results showed that increasing the ratio of the rib depth to the overall beam depth improved the structural behavior by increasing the carrying load capacity and reduces the deflection up to a certain limit. It was found that the ideal ratio was approached (0.835).