Circular Slabs

Introduction:
They are commonly used as:
Roof of a circular room.
Base slab or cover slab for circular water tanks.
Cover slabs for wells.
Circular footing for a circular column.
Roof of a traffic control post.
When loaded, these slabs bend like a saucer
producing tensile stresses at bottom and
compressive stresses on top.

Analysis:

Analysis of circular slabs is based on theory of

elasticity assuming Poissons ratio concrete as
zero.

For convenience, circular slabs are usually

analysed in polar coordinates so that the
bending moments are expressed as radial
moments (Mr) and tangential moments (M ).

Any point in a circular plate is conveniently

represented by radial distance r from centre
and the angel made by that radius with respect
to fixed direction.

Radial and Circumferential(tangential)

moments in circular slab:

If the boundary conditions and loads are

axisymmetrical, the condition of a strip represents
the condition of entire slab.

In other words, there is no twisting and variation with

. It means Mr= Mr=Q=0.

Thus, the element is subjected to Mr,M and Qr only.

Support conditions:
Simply supported at edges
Fixed at edges
Partially fixed at edges
Equations for moment and shear for a few standard cases:
(1) Slab simply supported at edges and loaded with U.D.L.
(2) Fixed at edges and loaded with U.D.L.
(3) Partially fixed at edges and loaded uniformly
(4) Simply supported at edges with U.D.L. along the
circumference of a concentric circle
(5) Simply supported at edges with U.D.L. inside a
concentric
circle.

Notations:
w = uniformly distributed load (ie load per unit
area)
a = radius of the slab
Mr= radial bending moment per unit width at
any radius r
(Mr)c and (Mr)e= radial bending moment per
unit witdth at
centre and edge respectively
M= circumferential bending moment per unit width at
any radius r
(M)c and (M)e= circumferential bending
moment per unit

(1) S.S. Slab with U.D.L

(2) Fixed Slab with U.D.L

(3) Partially fixed Slab with U.D.L

This case is intermediate between the case of

a simply supported slab and a fixed slab.
Hence the moment may be taken as the
average of the moment of the corresponding
moment of the two cases. For radial moment
the point of contraflexure occurs at a radius

(4) SS Slab with U.D.L. along the

circumference of a concentric circle

(5) SS Slab with U.D.L. inside a concentric

circle

Derivation of expressions for moments and

shear force using plate bending theory:
Overview:

Bending of plates or plate bending refers to

the deflection of a plate perpendicular to the
plane of the plate under the action of external
forces and moments. The amount of
deflection can be determined by solving the
differential equations of an appropriate
plate theory. The stresses in the plate can be
calculated from these deflections.

Detailing of reinforcements:

Logically, we should provide steel in radial direction for

radial moment and steel in circumferential direction for
circumferential moment.But such a provision of steel will
lead to congestion of steel at the centre.
Hence, it is preferrable to adopt rectangular grid
arrangement of reinforcements
In such arrangement,reinforcement is designed for the
maximum of Mr and M.
For positive circumferential moment at edges,
circumferential steel is provided at the bottom of slabs to a
distance of anchorage length.
To resist negative radial moment at edges,radial steel is
provided at top of slab to a sufficient anchorage length.

Example:

Data:

Shear check:
v =.5*10.688*2.5/(1000*103)=0.129 N/mm2<k c

Permissible shear stress for Ast=386mm2(pt=.375%)

and k=1.3 is=0.546 N/mm2

References:

Reinforced concrete vol-II by Dr.H.J.Shah

Advanced RCC design by Bhavikatti
Limit state design of Reinforced concrete by
B.C.Punmia,Ashok Kr. Jain,Arun Kr.Jain
Design of reinforced concrete structures by
M.L.Gambhir
Reinforced concrete design by P.C.Varghese
En.wikipedia.org (for plate bending theory)

Thank you.