INVESTIGATION OF DEFLECTION AND CRACKS IN REINFORCED CONCRETE SOLID SLABS AS A FUNCTION OF CONCRETE THICKNESS USING STAAD PRO AND TEKLA TEDDS

Abstract

Since the late 19th century, reinforced concrete has been used in construction. The inventionof this viable composite material brought about a revolution in structural and civilengineering at large. Massive structures that were previously deemed unsafe were built.However, despite its many advantages, reinforced concrete does have its weaknesses. Themost important and of more consequence of these are deflection and cracking. This researchaims to study the behaviour of solid slabs as related to cracking and deflection under varyingdesign considerations. It was done by using STAAD Pro and Tekla Tedds; two engineeringsoftware, to carry out rigorous design calculations and generate models of the test slab. Thevarying parameters in this study are slab thickness, concrete grade, reinforcement size andreinforcement spacing. In the end, it was discovered that concrete grade had the least effecton deflection and cracking characteristics of solid slabs irrespective of slab thickness. Theoptimum conditions for each design parameter were also determined.