On the Computation of Slab Effective Widths

Abstract

An approximate closed‐form solution is presented for the computation of effective widths of floor slabs in laterally‐loaded multi‐story buildings. The resulting formula yields answers in good agreement with existing numerical techniques throughout the entire range of slab aspect ratios and column sizes found in practice. Since the necessary computations consist essentially of a summation of two series and thus, can readily be performed on a programmable calculator, the proposed method is especially suited for quick estimates of effective width at the preliminary design stage. The proposed method can easily be extended to anisotropic slabs and to boundary conditions other than those usually assumed in analyses of this type.