Design of Prestressed Hollow Core Slabs with Reference to Web Shear Failure

Abstract

A design procedure to determine the capacity against shear failure of webs of prestressed hollow core slabs is presented. The additional shear stresses in webs caused by prestress forces of strands have been taken into account in this procedure. The proposed procedure has been applied to model slabs and also to test specimens. The capability of the proposed procedure to predict the shear failure of web has been demonstrated by the obtained good agreement between the results predicted by FEM and the results predicted by the suggested formula. Agreement was also good between the test observations and the results predicted by the suggested formula. The proposed procedure can more accurately predict the capacity against shear failure of web than the formulas suggested in design codes. The procedure is reasonable and general in nature, and it can be applied to different loading cases, prestress levels, types of cross section, material, and geometric parameters.