ucv
Dean of Postgraduate Research
Vice-Chancellor's Office
Extension:
Email:
7285
lucy.johnston@canterbmy.ac.nz
UNIVERSITY OF
CANTERBURY
Te Whare Wananga o Waitaha
CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND
Summer Research Scholarship Scheme
2014-2015
Project Application Form
Please complete and submit the application form as a WORD document and send to
summerscholarships@canterbury.ac.nz
The Project
Title of Project (max 30 words):
Minimum Slab Thickness in Composite Floor Diaphragms
Project Leader(s):
Gregory MacRae
Host Department/Organization:
Civil and Natural Resources Engineering
Other persons involved in this topic/activity:
(List other significant members involved along with their affiliation to the research project.)
Name
Affiliation to project
Alireza Glwlam/wseini
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Brief outline of project
Describe the proposed research project -maximum of 400 words (box will expand as you type).
Composite slabs consisting of steel decking and structural concrete is widely used in structural frames in
seismic regions. As well as carrying the entire applied vertical loads (e.g. dead and live loads), composite
slabs have a major function of transferring any lateral load to the to supporting frames. Numerous
research studies have been carried out to determine the minimum thickness of slab required to support
short-term and long-term effects of vertical loads. However, limited knowledge is available on the
requirements slab thickness to carry lateral loads; and this is often neglected by structural designers as
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there is not enough guidance available in current codes. Many failures in the past earthquakes have been
reported on the lack of slabs strength and poor detailing to tra11sfer the lateral loads. Due to high
slenderness ratio of composite slabs, the earthquake-induced compression forces in composite slab may
cause out-of-plan buckling in concrete slab or steel decking. The proposed research in this project will be
conducted in order to determine the minimum slab thickness to satisfy limit states under earthquake and other
load conditions. The research project will be carried out on several buildings with regular and irregular
plans in separate stages as follows:
1) Calculation of thickness of composite slabs for vertical load carrying purposes
2) Calculation of acceleration and transfer .forces and displacements in each floor due to
earthquake loading in two directions
3) Numerical analysis to check and verify the slab thickness and shear force transfer by utilizing ,
Nonlinear finite element (FE) software
The project will be conducted for varying steel decking profiles shapes and thicknesses and co11crete
strengths. The effects of cracking of concrete and size of opening in slab (due to utility ducting) will be
considered and reliable guidance for proper reinforcement detailing will be proposed. The results will be
checked against the provisions of current codes and recommendation to enhance the performance of
composite slabs in earthquake loading will be presented.
If the project involves work away from the University campus (e.g., at fieldwork sites) please detail all locations.
Not Applicable
If the student be required to work outside of normal university hours (8am-5pm) please provide details
Not Applicable
Benefits student will gain from involvement in the project
Describe the research experience and skills that the student will acquire through involvement in this research project maximum of 100 words.
Student will design several composite slabs and also develop numerical models in a finite element software
to evaluate the lateral performance of composite slabs. They will become .familiar with step-by-step
methodology of structural modelling of composite slabs and will expand the knowledge that is currently
absent in the open literature for practising engineers. They will also talk to a number of practitioners in this
field who are interested in finding solutions to this problem which was listed as high priority according to
the Royal Commission on the Canterbury Earthquakes.
Specific student requirements
Please provide details of all requirements you have for the student to work on this project -for example, if specific
courses/experience are necessary.
Candidate is required to have completed at ENC/ 336A Structural Steel, and have a basic knowledge
Microsoft Excel and be willing to develop structural analysis skills using software such as ABAQUS.
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