Demountable reinforced concrete slabs using dry connection

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental investigation of a new dry connection for reinforced concrete slab elements. Seven full-scale slabs were tested; one slab was monolithic as control specimens, while the other six were assembled using top and bottom steel plates joined by high tensile steel bolts. Two scenarios were proposed for the connection, a simple bolted connection, and a connection with a shear key. The parameters studied were the use of stirrups at the connection section, the step size of the shear key as well as the bolt diameter and number. The test results showed that using a shear key at the assembled section in demountable slabs is more efficient than the simple bolted connection, providing higher flexural stiffness, load capacity, and less deflection. However, increasing the shear key step size improved the flexural performance of the demountable slabs. In addition, adding stirrups to the assembled section enhanced the flexural stiffness and the total load capacity of the demountable slabs. Furthermore, the predictions for the moment capacity and deflection demountable slabs have reasonably good agreement with the experimental results but require additional calibrated data from experiments to be generalized.