Flexural behavior of lightweight precast concrete sandwich one-way slabs

Abstract

Ten one-way prototype precast concrete sandwich panels are tested in this investigation to study the effect of variables such as panel thickness, grid size of wire mesh used as wythe reinforcement and presence of reinforced edge ribs and/or rebars in bottom wythe together with wire mesh on their failure mode, failure load, load-deflection behavior and load-strain behavior. Truss-shaped shear connectors made of wires are found to be effective until failure of the panels. Test results indicate that, presence of reinforced edge ribs and/or rebars in bottom wythe significantly affect the flexural behavior and cracking behavior, and are found to increase the flexural load carrying capacity of the panels. The behavior of concrete sandwich panels with edge ribs is found to be similar to conventional RC slabs. Test results also indicate that, reinforced edge ribs are required to preclude shear failure of the panels when rebars are present in bottom wythe of the panels. Cracking behavior such as crack spacing and number of cracks are found to be significantly affected by mesh size and volume ratio of tensile reinforcement in bottom wythe similar to ferrocement.