Introduction
Ground bearing floor slabs are most commonly found within industrial installations, such as warehouses or factories. Nevertheless, they can also be installed in all types of structures where there is no basement, provided that ground conditions are suitable. The design and detailing of these slabs is an involved process, as the interaction between the natural and/or made ground and the rigid concrete floor slab presents challenges with respect to cracking, movement and flatness. The last aspect is of utmost importance to factory floors and warehouses where the plant requires the floor to be extremely flat and level in order to function properly.
This Technical Guidance Note provides an introduction to ground bearing floor slabs, touching on the slabs’ reinforcement by considering both historical use of mesh as well as current plastic and steel fibre reinforcement methods.
(This article was updated in October 2016 to reflect errata issued since its original publication.)