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REVISION NO.:

SAFE
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EXAMPLE BS 8110-97 RC-SL-001

Slab Flexural Design
PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
The purpose of this example is to verify slab flexural design in SAFE.
A one-way, simple-span slab supported by walls on two opposite edges is
modeled using SAFE. The slab is 150 mm thick and spans 4 meters between
walls. To ensure one-way action, Poissons ratio is taken to be zero. The
computational model uses a finite element mesh, automatically generated by
SAFE. The maximum element size was specified to be 1.0 meter. The slab is
modeled using thin plate elements. The walls are modeled as line supports
without rotational stiffnesses and with very large vertical stiffness (1 1015
kN/m). To obtain factored moments and flexural reinforcement in a design strip,
one one-meter wide strip is defined in the X-direction on the slab, as shown in
Figure 1.

Simply
supported
edge at wall

Simply
supported
edge at wall

4 m span
Free edge

1 m design strip

Y
X

Free edge
Figure 1 Plan View of One-Way Slab

One dead load case (DL4KPa) and one live load case (LL5KPa) with uniformly
distributed surface loads of magnitudes 4 and 5 kN/m2, respectively, are defined
in the model. A load combination (COMB5kPa) is defined using the BS 8110-97
load combination factors, 1.4 for dead loads and 1.6 for live loads. The model is
analyzed for both load cases and the load combination.
The slab moment on a strip of unit width is computed analytically. The total
factored strip moments are compared with the SAFE results. After completing
the analysis, design was performed using the BS 8110-97 code by SAFE and also
by hand computation. Table 1 shows the comparison of the design
reinforcements computed by the two methods.

EXAMPLE BS 8110-97 RC-SL-001 - 1

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GEOMETRY, PROPERTIES AND LOADING

Thickness
Depth of tensile reinf.
Effective depth
Clear span

T, h
dc
d
ln, l1

=
=
=
=

150
25
125
4000

mm
mm
mm
mm

Concrete strength
Yield strength of steel
Concrete unit weight
Modulus of elasticity
Modulus of elasticity
Poissons ratio

fc
fsy
wc
Ec
Es

=
=
=
=
=
=

30
460
0
25000
2x106
0

MPa
MPa
N/m3
MPa
MPa

Dead load
Live load

wd
wl

=
=

4.0 kPa
5.0 kPa

TECHNICAL FEATURES OF SAFE TESTED

Calculation of flexural reinforcement
Application of minimum flexural reinforcement
RESULTS COMPARISON
Table 1 shows the comparison of the SAFE total factored moments in the design
strip with the moments obtained by the hand computation method. Table 1 also
shows the comparison of the design reinforcements.
Table 1 Comparison of Design Moments and Reinforcements

Load
Level

Reinforcement Area
(sq-cm)

Method

Strip
Moment
(kN-m)

SAFE

27.197

5.853

Calculated

27.200

5.850

As+

Medium

A s ,min = 162.5 sq-mm

EXAMPLE BS 8110-97 RC-SL-001 - 2

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COMPUTER FILE: BS 8110-97 RC-SL-001.FDB

CONCLUSION
The SAFE results show an exact comparison with the independent results.

EXAMPLE BS 8110-97 RC-SL-001 - 3

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HAND CALCULATION
The following quantities are computed for the load combination:

m, steel

= 1.15

m, concrete = 1.50
b

= 1000 mm

For the load combination, w and M are calculated as follows:

w = (1.4wd + 1.6wt) b
M

wl12
8

As,min = 0.0013bwd
= 162.5 sq-mm
COMB100
wd =

4.0 kPa

wt

5.0 kPa

w = 13.6 kN/m
M-strip = 27.2 kN-m
M-design = 27.2366 kN-m
The depth of the compression block is given by:

M
= 0.05810 < 0.156
f cu bd 2

The area of tensile steel reinforcement is then given by:

K
0.95d =116.3283
z d 0.5 0.25
0.9

As

M
= 585.046 sq-mm > As,min
0.87 f y z

As = 5.850 sq-cm

EXAMPLE BS 8110-97 RC-SL-001 - 4