Consideration of the Torsional Stiffness in Hollow-Core Slabs’ Design

Abstract

The paper discusses the principles of precast concrete hollow-core slabs taking into account their spatial work. It is shown that consideration of spatial work makes it possible to determine the forces in individual floor slabs significantly more precise. The fact that strain redistribution between precast floor slabs depends on slabs’ bending and torsional stiffness is shown. The research has been mostly devoted to determination of the bending stiffness with regard to formation of cracks and the change in torsional stiffness, especially considering the presence of normal cracks, which is still unstudied. This paper presents the technique for determining the torsional stiffness of hollow-core slabs with normal cracks. In order to determine the components included in the resolving system of equations, it is proposed to use an approximation method based on the processing of numerical data using spatial finite elements.