Abstract
The modern construction industry and conventional reinforced concrete (RC) design techniques result in massive concrete usage hence increasing self-weight demand on the structure along with other critical issues like excessive usage of raw materials, increased carbon footprint, and depletion of natural resources. This study is focused on an innovative solution to address the challenges mentioned, which involves adopting hollow reinforced concrete slabs (HRCS). The current study developed an optimized analysis technique for simulating the flexural performance of HRCS. In this study, HRCS with different hole parameters from the literature are numerically modeled and simulated in finite element (FE) based software and are validated against the experimental data. The computational scheme proposed in this study is easily applicable and computationally efficient, with a high degree of accuracy in approximating the flexural capacity of HRCS. Finally, a parametric study is conducted to expand the applicability of the proposed computational model. Effects of various parameters such as area, shape, material, number of cores, as well as top reinforcement, length of the slab, and concrete's compressive strength on the capacity of the HRCS are studied. The findings from the study demonstrate a noteworthy reduction in self-weight and carbon emissions. Specifically, HRCS with a core diameter of 76 mm exhibited an approximate 20 percent decrease, while cores with a diameter of 66 mm showed a reduction of 14.7 percent, and cores with a diameter of 56 mm exhibited a decrease of 10.6 percent. It was also found that HRCS incorporating plaster of Paris pipes demonstrates superior flexural strength compared to other configurations. The proposed computational scheme for modeling HRCS will be a significant contribution to modern construction technologies. Furthermore, the technique will reduce the usage of natural resources, and contribute to sustainable and speedy construction.
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Original draft manuscript, validation, and numerical investigations were performed by K.A.K, experimental investigations were performed by A.G, K.S and H.A.W supervised the research, while M.I proofread the manuscript. All authors have reviewed the manuscript.
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Afzal Khan, K., Khan, S., Gul, A. et al. Numerical modeling and parametric study of hollow reinforced concrete slabs for flexural behavior. Asian J Civ Eng (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42107-024-01066-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42107-024-01066-0