Title: Design Tool for Finding Minimum Heights of Reinforced Concrete Beams and One-Way Slabs

Author(s): Marc Sanabra-Loewe, David Garcia, Nikola Tosic, and Albert de la Fuente

Publication: Structural Journal

Volume: 121

Issue: 3

Appears on pages(s): 43-56

Keywords: beam; deflection control; maximum slenderness; one-way solid slab; reinforced concrete (RC); serviceability; stiffness

DOI: 10.14359/51740458

Date: 5/1/2024

Abstract:
Finding the minimum height of reinforced concrete (RC) slabs and beams at the early stages of design is critical for efficient material use. Hence, methods are needed for determining the maximum slenderness, L/h, that are both easy to use and able to consider as many influencing factors as possible, given that deflection typically controls the design of this kind of structure. One such method is the “long method of Rangan-Scanlon,” with recent advances in new closed-form solutions enabling direct calculation. This study builds on those advances, presenting a parametric study for RC beams and one-way slabs to determine the effect of key factors (compressive strength of concrete, reinforcement cover, span, tributary width, load, and boundary conditions) on the effective moment of inertia factor α and slenderness L/h. The results provide practical design tools for determining the maximum slenderness of RC one-way slabs by previously finding the α factor and directly determining the maximum slenderness for RC beams.