CBI presents: Shear capacity of reinforced concrete slabs with openings

Reinforced concrete slabs are more and more often designed with integrated pipe openings in structural and industrial construction. The reasons for this are the increasing demands on technical building equipment and, for example, heat transfer in flat slab systems with concrete core activation in building construction.

The project aims to develop an application guideline with design rules for different reinforcement elements (double-headed anchors, lattice girders) based on existing investigations.

Reinforced concrete slabs are a central component in structural and industrial construction, which is why the load-bearing behavior both with and without shear reinforcement has been extensively investigated in the past. In practice, reinforced concrete slabs and especially flat slabs are more and more often planned and executed with integrated cable openings due to the increasing importance of technical building equipment (TGA). Depending on the construction project, these vary in size, location and number, sometimes considerably, and result in a reduction of the load-bearing capacity due to the weakening of the cross-section. Consequently, investigations are necessary into the load-bearing behavior of reinforced concrete slabs with integrated cable ducts and possible measures to increase the load-bearing capacity. Due to the many possibilities to compensate for this loss of shear force bearing capacity, the current technical possibilities and existing design approaches for special reinforcement elements (double-headed anchors and lattice girders) must first be investigated.

Therefore, the aim of the project is the development of an application guideline for the definition of the reduction of the shear force bearing capacity by the arrangement of cable openings as well as for the application of different reinforcement elements for the increase of the shear force bearing capacity based on a well-founded inventory of the existing national and international investigations. Based on the results, the definition of future-oriented special reinforcement elements can be carried out, if necessary, which are to be examined more closely in subsequent projects (consortial or bilateral).

The CBI would like to thank the companies for their effective cooperation!