An a ly s is a n d d e s ign o f wa ff le s la b wit h

d iffe r e n t bo u n d a r y c o n d it io n s
Indrajit Chowdhury andJitendraP. Singh

When a large space within a building needs to be covered

without hindrance and supports, architects often deploy
wafe slabs to construct oors and ceilings. Structural
designers analyse such slabs, assuming the gridwork as simply supported system (all four edges) and
deriving solutions based on displacement compatibility
of beams or plates to arrive at an approximate solution
or performing a detailed nite element analysis (FEM)
of the slab beam system using any of the generalized
nite element software available in the market. This is
so because no analytical solution or quick computational
tool exists, except for the case of slabs with all edges
simply supported. This paper proposes a semi analytical
method for the analysis of wafe slab with any arbitrary
boundary conditions; xed, free and simply supported.
To validate the results, selected cases are compared with
nite element analysis.
Keyword s: Anisotropic plates, Bending moment, Deection,
Galerkins weighted residual method, Plate equations, Shape
functions, Shear force, Wafe slab.
Whenever architects w ant a large area to rem ain open or
u nhind ered of su p p orts, they often d ep loy w afe slabs
as an effective solu tion to constru ct oors and ceilings. It
is a very p op ular stru ctural congu ration often d eployed
in the constru ction of hotel p orticos, airp ort term inal

bu ild ings, large banqu et halls, convention center and

car p arks.
Wafe slabs not only look aesthetically p leasing, bu t are
also quite robu st as a stru ctu ral conguration to su p port
load s over a large sp an . H ow ever, th eir an alysis is
either m arred by over sim p lication or overw helmingly
elaborate for the com fort of a typ ical d esign er. The
latter involves analysing the beam slab system u sing
nite elem ent analysis w here accu racy d ep end s on the
correctness of the elem ent typ e and the d egree of m esh
renem ent.

ysis i v g

Before d elvin g in to th e p rop osed m eth od , it w ou ld

be ed u cative to briey review the m ethod s those are
practiced for analysis of su ch w afe slab in m any d esign
ofces. This is necessary to get a better u nd erstand ing
of the p roblem .

M t

sp

p s

i IS c

IS 456:2000 Plain and Reinforced concrete cod e of

p ractice, recom m end s d esigning ribbed slabs as an
equivalent solid slabs w here moments in the slab m ay be
obtained from coefcients given in Table 26 of the cod e.1
These coefcients are valid only for the rib sp acing and
wid th as cited in Clau se 30.1 to 30.7 of the cod e. For other
sp acing and w id ths, slabs m ay be d esigned as sim p ly

..... 2010 Th e In d Ia n Co n Cr eTe Jo u r n a l

su p p orted beam s, p rovid ed these are not exp osed to

w eather or corrosion.
A m ajor d isad van tage w ith th is m eth od is th at th e
Table 26 gives m om en t coefficien ts on ly, w h ile for
lon g sp an slabs (>10 m ) sh ear can also be equ ally
im p ortant. The cod e is silent on to how to ad d ress this
anom aly analytically, excep t for offering som e d etailing
recom m end ations.
Table 26 of IS 456 giv es d esign ben d in g m om en t
coefficien ts at su p p ort an d m id -sp an on ly. It d oes
not give m om ents and shears at other locations, thu s
cu rtailm ent of steel rem ains a gu essw ork if the sp an of
the slab is larger than 6 m .

It is ap p arent from above that this ap p roach ignores

overall p late behaviou r of the slab, and assu m es ribs as
beam s sim p ly su p p orted at end s. Since ed ge cond itions
can be other than simp ly su pported , assu ming the slab to
behave as a beam is an oversimplication of the problem.
It can cu lm inate in a signicant error.

P t t

ki

-G s

ff t

Tim s

......(3)

On the other hand , treating the ribs as sim p ly su pp orted

m ay not alw ays correctly rep resent the case becau se in
m any cases the ed ge cond itions m ay vary from xed ,
free and sim p ly su p p orted .

yb s

Based on Tim osh en kos p late th eory (Tim osh en ko

1987) the w afe slab (Figu re 1a) can be assu m ed to be
an orthotrop ic p late, w hen sim p ly su p p orted . The p late
3
d eection can be exp ressed as.

......(4)

Som e d esigners ap p ly Rankine Grashoff theory (Raju

2
2005) for d esign of su ch w afe slab.
In this m ethod , w afe slab is assu m ed to be sim p ly
supported on all four ed ges (Figure 1a) and displacements
at the centre of the slab in x and y d irections are assu med
to be com p atible, giving d istribu tion of load in these
d irections as given below :
......(1)

Bend ing m om ents and shears are given as

......(5)

and ,

......(6)
......(2)

w here
a and b = Length of the sp an in x and y d irections
resp ectively
w = Load p er u nit area inclu d ing d ead load and live
load
wx and w y = Load p er u nit area in x and y d irections
resp ectively
a1 = Sp acing of ribs sp anning p arallel to y d irection
b1 = Sp acing of ribs sp anning p arallel to x d irection
M x and M y = Mom ents on strip s of u nit w id th
sp anning in x and y d irections resp ectively
Vy and Vy = Shear on strip s of u nit w id th sp anning in
x and y d irections resp ectively.

Th e In d Ia n Co n Cr eTe Jo u r n a l .....2010

Where w = Load p er u nit area,

D x , D y = Flexu ral rigid ity p er u nit length of p late in x
and y d irection.
C1 , C2 = Torsional rigid ity p er u nit length of p late in x
and y d irection.
Wh ile bein g r ealistic an d r igor ou s, th is th eor y is
restricted by the fact that excep t for the case of slab
being sim p ly being su p p orted on all fou r ed ges, the
shap e fu nctions are far too com p licated for the d irect
analysis of the slab.

Fi it e m

ta

ysis (Fe M)

For m an y r eal life w a ffle sla b str u ctu r es, h a v in g

complicated bound ary cond itions, nite element analysis
is often resorted to, to arrive at the solu tion. H ow ever,
accu racy of the solu tion is restricted by availability
of the right kind of p late elem ent in its nite elem ent
library and the d egree of m esh renem ent. It has been
often fou nd that d esp ite the best m eshing, the resu lts
obtained have either an u p p er or low er bou nd solu tion
comp ared to exact analysis. Ad d itionally, intense labou r
involvement in d evelopment of the mathematical mod el,
p rep aration of in p u t d ata an d extraction of d esign
p aram eters for nal d esign often m akes the analysis
exp ensive and tim e consu m ing. Clearly, these factors
d o not m ake FEM an au tom atic choice.

P p s

m t

To start w ith, this m ethod consid ers the sim p lest case
of a w afe slab having fou r ed ges sim p ly su p p orted
as show n in Figu re 1a. The slab can be consid ered as
grid w ork of p arallel beam s sp aced equ al d istance in
x and y d irections and rigid ly connected at the p oints
of interaction. Beam s are su p p orted at the end and the
load is ap p lied norm al to the x-y p lane as u niform ly
d istribu ted load (w kN / m 2).
For a sim p ly su p p orted beam p arallel to x-axis, the
d ifferential equ ation for static equ ilibrium for uniformly
d istribu ted load can be exp ressed as

......(7)
Mallick and Bhu shan (1983) and Bhu shan (1983) have
fu r n ish ed solu tion s to th e p r oblem of an alysis by
consid ering the wafe slab as a grillage beam , provid ing
an ap p roxim ate solu tion to the system , w herein they
have clearly stated that their ap proach m ay only be u sed
for p relim inary d esign and that it m u st be su bstantiated
4,5
by a d etailed com p u ter analysis.

......(8)

......(9)

For a simply supp orted beam , we consid er the bou nd ary

cond itions as u nd er
1. At x = 0 u = 0 => 2= 0
2. At x = L u=0 => 1=-L3/ 12

......(10)

Th erefore, d eection (u) at an y d istan ce x from th e

su p p ort is

......(11)

Equ ation (11) can be fu rther exp ressed as u nd er:

......(12)

w h ere, x = x/ L a n on d im ension al term th at varies

betw een 0-1.
From equ ation (12), one can conclu d e that for a sim p ly
su p p orted beam su bjected to u n iform ly d istribu ted

..... 2010 Th e In d Ia n Co n Cr eTe Jo u r n a l

load , the generic shap e fu nction of d isp lacem ent can

be exp ressed as

......(13)

Proceed ing in an id entical fashion it can be show n that

in y- d irection, generic shap e fu nction for d isp lacem ent
in natu ral co-ord inate can be exp ressed as

Where, u is d isp lacem ent of the p late u nd er a p ressu re

load q. a1 and b1 are d istances betw een beam s p arallel
to y an d x axis resp ectively; C1 an d C2 are torsion al
rigid ities of beam s p arallel to x and y resp ectively and
I1 and I2 are m om ent of inertia of a T beam in x and y
axes resp ectively.
In natu ral coord in ate, u sing equ ations (13) and (14),
Equ ation (17) can be exp ressed as

......(18)
......(14)

Where
= y/ B a n on d im ensional term that varies
betw een 0-1.
The d erived shap e fu nctions in equ ations (13) and (14)
w ill generically satisfy the p late equ ilibriu m equ ation
h a v in g b o u n d a r y co n d it io n s o f a ll sid es sim p ly
su p p orted , bu t m ay still h ave resid u al error (Re ) as
th ey are n ot d erived from th e exact an alysis of th e
fou rth ord er p artial d ifferential of an anisotrop ic p late
3
exp ressed in equ ation (15) (Tim oshenko 1987).

w here d isp lacem ent u is exp ressed as

......(19)

N atu ral coord inates x and h can be exp ressed as x = x/ a

and h = y/ b resp ectively and both varies betw een 0-1.
Su bstitu ting equ ation (19) in (18) w e have

......(15)

Equation (15) can also be ap plied to the grid work system

for the p resent case. For this grid w ork, D x, and D y are
d ened as

......(16)

Where, I1 and I2 are m om ent of inertia of equ ivalent

T b ea m s (Fig u r e 1b) p a r allel to x-a xis an d y-axis
resp ectively. In equ ation (15), cou p ling rigid ity of the
w afe slab (D 1) d u e to Poissons ratio is zero and the
qu an tity D xy can be exp ressed in term s of torsion al
rigid ities C1 and C2 of the beam s p arallel to the x and y
axes, resp ectively. For the grid w ork show n in Figu re 1a,
d ifferential equ ation of the d eection su rface is

......(17)

Th e In d Ia n Co n Cr eTe Jo u r n a l .....2010

......(20)

Shap e fu nctions
and
w ill generically satisfy
equ ation (20) as they conform to the bou nd ary cond ition
of the given p late. H ow ever, these m ay have resid u al
error Re w hich m ay be exp ressed as:

......(21)

Resid u al err or R e is n ow m in im ised ov er th e slab

6
d omain by Galerkins (Chowd hury and Dasgup ta 2008)
w eighted resid u al m ethod based on w hich

......(22)

Equ ation (26) gives a com p lete d isp lacem ent p role of
the w afe slab for any x and h betw een lim its 0-1 in both
x and y d irections.
Bend ing m om ents, tw isting m om ents and shear force
ind u ced in the T-beam s can be exp ressed as fu rnished
in Equ ation (4) to (6). Figu re 2 show s p ositive d irection
of m om ents and shear forces.

Equ ation (22) can thu s be exp ressed as

......(23)

In n a tu r al co-or d in ate su bstitu tin g eq u ation (25),

bend ing m om ents and shears can be calcu lated u sing
the follow ing equ ations.

......(27)

Equ ation (23) can be exp ressed in a sim p lied form as

......(24)

......(28)

......(29)

Equ ation (24) can be exp ressed as

.....(25)

Where X1, X2, X3 and X4 are integral fu nctions w hich can

be solved nu m erically or exp licitly and are as exp ressed
in Table 3.
The d isp lacem ent u can thu s be exp ressed as

......(26)

..... 2010 Th e In d Ia n Co n Cr eTe Jo u r n a l

Tab le 2. G en eric sh ap e fu n ction s for d ifferen t

b ou n d ary con d ition s

......(30)

G en eric sh ap e fu n ction of d isp lacemen t is

(Wh ere an d are n on d im en sion al
term th at varies b etw een 0-1)
Case

ti

yc

iti

One of the m ajor ad vantages of the p rop osed m ethod

is that all typ es of p ossible bou nd ary cond itions can
be analysed , for w hich there is no m ethod available
in literatu re. Proced u re given for sim p ly su p p orted
w afe slab can be ap p lied to oth er cases also u sin g
ap p rop riate shap e fu nctions. This change in the shap e
fu nction of slab w ill also change the integral valu es X1,
X2 etc (Table 3).
Overall ve d ifferent bou nd ary cond itions w ere covered
in th is stu d y (Table 1). Case 1 is given in d etail to
show the calcu lations of d esign m om ents and shears
at the ed ges and insid e the w afe slabs. To calcu late
d isp lacem en ts, m om en ts an d sh ear forces for oth er
bou nd ary cond itions, shap e fu nctions are as given in
Table 2.

Calculation of nal moments and forces in the

wafe slab
Ribs are p laced at d iscrete p oints in the w afe slab as
show n in Figu re 1a. Let u s say, the beam s p arallel to

Tab le 3. Valu es of in tegral fu n ction s X1 to X4 for

d ifferen t b ou n d ary con d ition s

Tab le 1. Fixity at fou r ed ges in d ifferen t cases

Integral
X1
X2
X3
X4

Case

En d con d ition s at fou r ed ges of slab

ed ge 1

ed ge 2

ed ge 3

SS

SS

SS

SS

Fixed

Fixed

Fixed

Fixed

Fixed

Fixed

SS

SS

Fixed

Free

Fixed

Fixed

Fixed

Free

SS

SS

Th e In d Ia n Co n Cr eTe Jo u r n a l .....2010

ed ge 4

Case 1
24.77
24.74
24.77
0.41

Integral Valu es for d ifferent Cases

Case 2
Case 3
Case 4
83.22
19.97
52.59
23.78
24.25
-0.93
83.22
103.19
1.30
0.28
0.34
0.21

Case 5
12.62
-0.95
1.61
0.26

X-axis are p laced at a sp acing

b1 (sp acing on Y-axis) centre to
centre. Therefore, in natural coord inates the beams are placed
at -axis (Y-axis) at = (b1/ b),
(2b1/ b)(n-1) (b1/ b), where n =
b/ b1. Sim ilarly, beam s p arallel
to Y-axis are p laced at -axis
(X-axis) at = (a1/ a), (2a1/ a)
(m-1)( a1/ a), where m = a/ a1. To
nd ou t m om ents and shear in
the ribs, these d iscrete p oints
can be u sed in equ ations (27)
to (30).
N ote th at th e m om en ts an d
forces calcu lated in Equ ation
(27) to (30) are valid for the u nit
w id th of the grid and in ord er
to obtain the nal exp ression
for the moments and forces of a
rib w e still have to mu ltip ly the
m om ents and shear, as given
by Equ ation (27) to (30) , by
the sp acing of the ribs. H ere,
it is assu m ed that there is no variation in the resp onse
qu antity w ithin the sp acing of ribs. In the rst step ,
m om ents and shear forces are calcu lated at the d iscrete
p oints w here ribs are p laced in the w afe slab. After
that m om ent M x, Shear Q x and torsional m om ent M xy
are m u ltip lied by inter-rib sp acing b1 and M y, Q y and
Q yx by inter-rib sp acing a1 to obtain nal m om ents and
shear forces.

Finite element analysis of the wafe

s b
Fin ite Elem en t (FEM) an alysis w as car r ied ou t to
exam ine the effect of cou p ling stiffness of slab on d esign
p aram eters and to com p are resu lts w ith the p rop osed
m eth od . For th is p u rp ose, An sys (An sys 2006) w as
u sed .7 Tw o sets of bou nd ary cond itions nam ely sim p ly
su p p orted (Case 1) and xed (Case 2) w ere consid ered
to nd ou t analysis resu lts. The follow ing geom etry and
m aterial p rop erties w ere assu m ed ,
Da t a :
Size of grid = 12 m 16 m ; Sp acing of ribs = 2m ; Grad e
of concrete = M-20
Live load = 1.5 kN / m 2
Dimensions of Slab and Beams

Th ickness of slab = 100m m ; d ep th of ribs based on

(Sp an/ d ep th = 20) is = 600m m ; w id th of rib = 200m m

M m

ts

by Fe M

ysis

A 100 m m thick concrete slab, 12m 16m w as m eshed

in to 0.5m 0.5m sh ell elem en ts by AN SYS softw are
as show n in Figu re 3a. For these shell elem ents only
bend ing effect w as consid ered for the above w afe slab
analysis. Ribs w ere m od eled as Beam 4 3D elem en ts
(Figu re 3b). Self w eight of Shell and Beam 4 elem ents
w ere not consid ered becau se they w ere inclu d ed in the
effective u niform load ing.

C mp

is

s ts f

giv

x mp

The resu lts obtained from the p rop osed m ethod w ere
com p ared w ith the FEM analysis. For this p u rp ose, tw o
bou nd ary cond itions w ere consid ered . 1) Slab sim p ly
su p p orted on all fou r ed ges 2) Fixed at all fou r ed ges.
Displacement and Bend ing Mom ents plots are as shown
in Figu res 4 and 5 and su m m arised in Table 4. For both
the bou nd ary cond itions, tw o w afe slabs of 12m 16m
and 12m 12m w ere consid ered to com p are m om ents
and sh ear forces. Disp lacem en t and m om en t p role
by the p rop osed m ethod w ere p lotted in MATH CAD
softw are an d th en com p ared w ith th e sam e p rofile
obtained from FEM analysis.
FEM resu lts w ere low er bou n d by abou t 12% w ith
resp ect to Tim oshen kos valu e for sim p ly su p p orted

..... 2010 Th e In d Ia n Co n Cr eTe Jo u r n a l

slab and the variation w ith p rop osed m ethod w as 11%.

Calcu lated d isp lacem ents from the p rop osed m ethod
w ere generally higher for all bou nd ary cond itions. (See
Table 4 for FEM analysis resu lts ,) bu t it w as com p arable
with Timoshenkos analysis. For all the other cases, nite
elem ent and the p rop osed m eth od gave com p arable
resu lts giving an u p p er bou nd solu tion to FEM.

herein gives reasonable resu lts w ithou t resorting to an

elaborate FEM analysis

Mom ents and Shears by Prop osed Method

c si

A com p u tationally efcient m ethod is p rop osed that

is com p arable to FEM an alysis. It can be ad ap ted
for analysis of w afe slab for gen eralized bou nd ary
cond ition s. The w eighted resid u al m ethod p rop osed

Th e In d Ia n Co n Cr eTe Jo u r n a l .....2010

Sample calculation for wafe slab simply

s pp t
by p p s
m t
a = 12 m , b =16 m ; a1 = b1=2 m ; h = 100 m m , H t = 600 m m ,
bw= 200 m m

Flexu ral rigid ities of beam s D x = D y =

Tab le 4. Com p arison of resu lts

Case

Case 1 (all ed ges simp ly

su pp orted ) 12m 16m

Case 1 (all ed ges simp ly

su pp orted ) 12m 12m

Case 2 (all ed ges xed )

12m 16m

Case 2 (all ed ges xed )

12m 12m

Calcu lated Param eter

Param eter
Location in slab
u
center
Mx
center
My
center
Qx
ed ge
Qy
ed ge
u
center
Mx
center
My
center
Qx
ed ge
Qy
ed ge
u
center
center
Mx
ed ge
center
My
ed ge
Qx
ed ge
Qy
ed ge
u
center
center
Mx
ed ge
center
My
ed ge
Qx
ed ge
Qy
ed ge

Valu e of given p aram eter b y

Tim osh en k os an alysis
Prop osed M eth od
FE an alysis (b y AN SYS)
15.0 mm
15.15 mm
13.29 mm
216.0 kN -m
212.4 kN -m
181.2 kN -m
122.0 kN -m
119.5 kN -m
91.8 kN -m
60.0 kN
72.9 kN
71.6 kN
26.8 kN
32.7 kN
54.6 kN
9.81 mm
8.72 mm
137.6 kN -m
114.1 kN -m
137.6 kN -m
114.1 kN -m
48.3 kN
56.6 kN
48.3 kN
56.6 kN
3.26 mm
2.80 mm
76.1 kN -m
64.8 kN -m
152.2 kN -m
137.2 kN -m
42.8 kN -m
39.5 kN -m
85.6 kN -m
104.7 kN -m
76.1 kN
67.9 kN
32.1 kN
53.3 kN
2.12 mm
1.83 mm
49.6 kN -m
38.9 kN -m
99.2 kN -m
98.3 kN -m
49.6 kN -m
38.9 kN -m
99.2 kN -m
98.3 kN -m
49.6 kN
53.7 kN
49.6 kN
53.7 kN

..... 2010 Th e In d Ia n Co n Cr eTe Jo u r n a l

= 1.05210 kN -m / m

For nal m om ents and forces, above qu antities have to

be m u ltip lied by rib sp acings as

Torsional rigid ities of beam s C1 = C2

= 1.399104 kN -m 2
Effective u niform load ing over the w afe slab (includ ing
live load , nishing load , self w eight of 100m m thick slab
2
and self w eight of ribs) = 6.463 kN/m
Maxim u m am p litu d e of d isp lacem ent

Sim ilarly M y at (0.5, 0.5) = -59.742a1 = -119.484 kN-m

Qx=72.924 kN and Q y = 32.696 kN
r f

1. Ind ian Stand ard cod e for plain and Reinforced concrete IS456-2000 Bu reau
of Ind ian Stand ard N ew Delhi
2. Raju K (2005) Ad vanced Reinforced Concrete d esign CBS Pu blishers New
Delhi Ind ia.
3. Timoshenko S & Krieger W (1987) Theory of Plates and Shells McGraw H ill Pu blication N.Y.USA.

N u m ber of d iscrete p oints for ribs p ositions in the slab

along X-axis are m = (12/ 2) = 6 and along Y-axis n =
(16/ 2) = 8 . In natu ral coord inates beam s are p laced at x
= 0.167, 0.333, 0.5, 0.667, 0.833 and h = 0.125, 0.25, 0.375,
0.5, 0.625, 0.75, 0.875.
Therefore d isp lacem ent at the centre (=0.5, =0.5) of
w afe slab-

Mom ents at the center and forces at the ed ges of slab

for p er u nit w id th

Sim ilarly M y at (0.5, 0.5) = -59.742 kN-m/m

Q x(0,0.5) = 36.462 kN/m and Q y(0.5,0) = 16.348 kN/m

Th e In d Ia n Co n Cr eTe Jo u r n a l .....2010

4. Mallick S.K & Bh u sh an N (1983) Meth od s of An alysis of rein forced

concrete grid s for roofs and oors Ind ian Concrete Jou rnal Vol. 57, No.
9, p p . 241-246.
5. Bhu shan N (1983) N o torsion analysis of reinforced concrete grid s Ind ian
Concrete Jou rnal, Vol. 57 No. 3, p p 76-81.
6. Ch ow d h u ry I & Da sg u p ta S.P. (2008) Dy n am ics of Stru ctu r es an d
Fou nd ations a u nied ap p roach Volu me-1 Taylor and Francis Pu blication
Leid en H olland .
7. AN SYS Inc. (2006), General Finite Element Analysis Program, Version
11.0 ANSYS, Inc. Canonsbu rg, Pa.

M r . I n d r a j i t Ch o w d h u r y holds a B.E. ( Civil)

from Jadavpur Universit y Kolkat a and M.Tech.
from I I T Kharagpur. He is Head of t he Depart m ent
of Civil and St ruct ural Engineering, Pet rofac
I nt ernat ional Lim it ed, Sharj ah, Unit ed Arab
Em irat es ( UAE) . His int erest s include st ruct ural
and soil dynam ics, design of RCC st ruct ures,
nit e elem ent analysis, m achine foundat ion, eart hquake
engineering et c.
D r . Ji t en d r a P. Si n g h received his B.E.
( Civil) from BI ET Jhansi, M.Tech. and Ph.D.
from Depart m ent of Eart hquake Engineering,
I I T Roorkee. He is w orking in t he Depart m ent
of Civil and St ruct ural Engineering, Pet rofac
I nt ernat ional Lim it ed, Sharj ah, UAE. His
int erest s include st rong m ot ion inst rum ent at ion
and dat a processing, full scale t est ing of st ruct ures, nit e
elem ent analysis, geophysical t est ing of soil and eart hquake
engineering.