Rigidities of Horizontally Curved Flat Structures

Abstract

Horizontally curved, wide flat structures are quite often used as superstructures of bridges and as floor slabs in large exhibition halls. Such structures are built in reinforced or prestressed concrete construction, or in composite construction with a concrete‐slab‐on‐rigid‐steel gridwork. To predict accurately the response of such curved structures to static and dynamic loads, it is essential to use accurate estimates of the structure's various rigidities. In this paper, analytical expressions are derived for predicting the flexural and torsional rigidities during the precracking and postcracking stages. The experimental program consisted of nine tests on one‐eighth‐scale, horizontally curved, concrete waffle slabs. There were three series of tests, each consisting of three types of specimens—two rectangular in plan for the pure bending tests and the third square in plan for the pure twisting test. Results from the experimental investigation confirm the analytical predictions for the various rigidities during the precracking and postcracking stages. It is also shown that the torsional stiffnesses of horizontally curved, flat structures are much higher than previously estimated.