Numerical Study on the Performance and Behavior of Two-way Reinforced Concrete Slabs with Different Types of Styropor Blocks

Abstract

This paper studies the performance of two-way reinforced concrete slabs with different sizesand shapes of cavities numerically under uniform load. Nineteen simply supported slab models were modeled with dimensions of (1060 1060  70) mm. One of them wasthe reference model which was solid slab and the others were with different shapes, sizes and numbers of cavities.The slab models with cavities divided into three groupsaccording to the shape of the cavities, each group contained six slab models, first group contained slab models with square shape of cavities while the second group contained the models with diamond cavities and third group contained models with circular cavities.In each group there were different numbers of cavities (9, 16 and 25), and the thickness was either 2 cm or 4 cm. The numerical results show that, when the percentage reduction of models weight was (14 %) which is corresponding to the cavities thickness of (2 cm), for this case the ultimate load capacity reduced by (3.40 - 13.61)%. While when the percentage reduction in weight was (28 %) which is corresponding with the cavities thickness of (2 cm), the ultimate load capacity reduced by (14.97 - 24.49) %.