Controlling Deflection

Of Composite Deck Slabs

Countering the effects of higher yield-strength steels and new design methods

BY J. THOMAS RYAN

omposite construction is
the most common structural system for elevated
floors. It consists of concrete placed on metal decking
thats supported by structural steel
beams and girders. As the concrete
hardens, the steel framing and
concrete bond together to carry
dead and live loads. Until the concrete hardens, however, the framing and metal deck must carry construction loads that include the
weight of the fresh concrete.
During concrete placement, the
weight of the concrete causes the
steel members to deflect. Mo re
c o n c rete must be added to keep
the slab surface level, but the
weight of this additional concrete
causes further deflection (ponding). These deflections can be a
c o n c e rn to building ow n e r s, arc h i t e c t s, engineers and contra ctors. If concrete isnt added to level the floor, the concave surf a c e
may cause gaps under partitions,
f i x t u res and furn i t u re. Costly extras result if the contractor has to
level floors after concrete hardens.
Even if enough concrete is added
to keep the floor level, there may
be insufficient space for ductwork
between the underside of deflected beams and the false ceiling for
the floor below.
To minimize floor levelness
problems in composite construc-

Figure 1. Comparison of composite-construction framing-member sizes for

combinations of design methods and steel strengths.
tion, both the designer and contractor should be aware of design
and construction decisions that affect deflection.

Design Issues
A few years ago, floors were designed using ASTM A36 steel
(36,000-psi yield strength) and Allowable Stress Design (ASD), equivalent to the working stress method
for concrete design. In composite
structures designed by ASD with
A36 steel, filler beams were usually
placed 6 to 8 feet on center.
Today, ASTM A 572, Grade 50 steel
(50,000-psi yield strength) has almost totally replaced A36 steel, and
Load and Resistance Factor Design
(LRFD), which is equivalent to ultimate strength design in concrete,
has begun to replace ASD. There is
also a trend toward increasing fillerbeam spacing to 10 feet and using
longer spans for beams and girders
to increase column spacing. The re-

sult of these changes is a much more

efficient steel design with fewer and
lighter members. But the combination of higher yield-strength steel
and LRFD results in shallower
beams and girders that arent as stiff
as deeper members.
Figure 1 shows a comparison of
the framing-member sizes for different combinations of design
methods and steel strengths. When
the steel grade changes from A36
(left diagram) to Grade 50 (middle
diagram) for ASD, the approximately 40% increase in steel
strength accounts for the decrease
in member size. The right diagram
illustrates the further decrease in
member size when LRFD design
and Grade 50 steel are combined.
The consequences of this decreased steel-member size are significantly greater construction deflection and slightly greater
deflection of the composite section
under design loads.

Its important to recognize that

the total deflection in a particular
bay will be the sum of the deck,
beam and girder deflections. This is
shown schematically in Figure 2.
Figure 3 shows the construction deflection results of the three designs
included in Figure 1. The first column for each design gives theoretical deflections assuming that concrete thickness remains uniform
(no ponding). Expected total deflection is about 1 inch for a floor
with A36 framing designed by ASD.
It doubles with Grade 50 framing
designed by LRFD.
Ponded concrete increases deflection, as shown in the second
column. The ponded concrete creates a lens-shaped slab that requires more concrete than a slab of
uniform cross section. The approximate volumes of concrete above
the theoretical amounts for each of
the three designs are 15%, 25% and
32% respectively.

Design and Construction

Alternatives
These significant deflections and
volumes of additional concrete,
particularly with the use of Grade
50 steel and LRFD, cant be overlooked in either the design or construction phases. Four methods for
controlling levelness of composite
floors include:
1. Increase the beam or girder
sizes or both to reduce construction deflection.
2. Camber the steel beams or girders or both.
3. Place additional concrete to
compensate for the deflection.
4. Shore the beams or girders or
both.
The design engineer can choose
one or a combination of these approaches to use for a particular
project. My recommendation is a
combination of methods 1, 2 and 3.
Increase beam or girder sizes. I
recommend increasing beam or

Figure 2. Total
deflection in a bay
is the sum of the
deck, beam and
girder deflections.

Figure 3. Deflection during construction of composite slabs with 30-foot bays can
double as a result of switching from A36 steel and Allowable Stress Design to
Grade 50 steel and Load and Resistance Factor Design.

girder sizes to limit the maximum

construction dead-load deflection
of any individual member to the
span length divided by 360. I also
recommend using beam and girder sizes that limit the total construction dead-load deflection of
the system to the diagonal length
divided by 360. These limits are
shown in Figure 4.
For the 30-foot bays in Figure 3,
the limits allow a maximum individual deflection of 1 inch for both the
beam and girder, and 1.4 inches for
the total system. In Figure 3, the ASD
design using A36 steel meets these
criteria, but the ASD and LRFD designs for Grade 50 steel dont. Thus,
deeper members would be required
to control deflections for Grade 50
steel framing. This would result in
higher steel costs that would be only
partially offset by a reduced volume
of concrete above theoretical. The
major justification for this approach
is fewer problems with excessive deflections.
Camber the beams or girders.
Cambering the steel is desirable,
particularly for spans of 30 feet or
more and for construction deflections of 1 inch or more. Recommended camber is about two-thirds

USE AJUSTABLE BULKHEADS

OR EDGE FORMS
Because of ponding deflection
caused by wet concrete, the use
of standard prefabricated bulkheads or steel-angle edge forms
can cause problems. Typically
the same depth as the theoretical slab thickness, these forms
are of little use for variable-thickness slabs. They also dont account for acceptable steel camber tolerances, which causes
problems with perimeter members and at framed openings
near the midpoint of a bay. At
these locations, its best not to
use preformed bulkheads or
edge forms. Instead, use forms
that have a longer leg height
than the anticipated steel deflection. Then concrete thickness
can be adjusted as needed.

to three-quarters of the dead-load

deflection, depending on the type
of beam-end connection.
Minimum and maximum camber are limited by the American Institute of Steel Construction. For
beams 30 to 42 feet long, minimum
camber is 34 inch and maximum is
212 inches for W14 through W21
sections. For W24 sections and
larger, these values are 1 inch and 2
inches, respectively. For beams of
this size, AISC camber tolerances
are +12 inch and 0 inch. Because of
these tolerances and because only
75% of the camber is likely to remain by the time the beam arrives
at the jobsite, cambering isnt particularly precise.
Whether or not camber fully
comes out of a beam when its
loaded with concrete can also be
a function of the beam-end connections used. Connections with
i n c reased end re s t raint will reduce we t - c o n c rete deflection.
When this happens, construction
loads dont remove all the camber,
resulting in a thinner concre t e
slab over the beam or gird e r. Because of all the variables affecting
c a m b e r, the concrete must be
placed in a manner that allow s
adjustments to compensate for
camber and deflection differe n c e s. (See the thre e - p a rt art i c l e
Construction of Elevated Slabs,
Concrete Construction, Nov. 1990,
Jan. 1991 and March 1991.)
Place additional concrete. Fo r
a stru c t u ral slab with Grade 50
steel and designed by LRFD, its
usually not prudent to rely on
additional concrete alone to
compensate for total deflection,
since this could result in more
than 2 inches of additional conc rete at the center of the bay. Bu t
if this approach is used, then
c e rtainly the additional dead
load should be included in the
design of the members, and the
anticipated deflection should be
indicated on the design dra wi n g s. Then the contractor bidding the project will re a l i ze that
30% or more additional concre t e

Figure 4. Limiting composite slab deflection to the amounts shown increases

steel costs but reduces floor-levelness problems.
may be re q u i re d .
The added weight of concrete
generally doesnt decrease flexuralload capacity because the additional concrete increases the section
modulus, and thus the load capacity, of the composite slab and
frame. This increased load capacity offsets the additional dead load.
The exception to this is when there
are significant beam deflections
and the beams frame into relatively stiff girders. The girders could
pick up significant additional dead
load without appreciable deflection and a corresponding increase
in section modulus. Thus, girder
capacity may need to be checked
when additional concrete dead
load is added. The effect of higher
dead loads on columns and footings because of added concrete
weight should also be accounted
for in the design.
Composite floors with shallower
beams and girders may be slightly
more susceptible to vibration than
floors with deeper members. But
since additional concrete tends to
dampen vibration, this isnt likely to
be a problem.
Sh o re the beams or gird e r s . If
the ponded concrete deflections
are particularly large, contractors
can shore beams and girders during concreting and curing instead
of relying entirely on va rying the

c o n c rete thickness. Although

shoring the beams and girders will
work, it has several disadvantages.
It can add significantly to project
cost and make the floor system
less efficient. And although
s h o ring may improve the fit of
f l o o r-to-ceiling partitions by
keeping the underside of the floor
beams more nearly level duri n g
construction, it can cause greater
l o n g - t e rm deflections. When the
shores are removed, the slab carries the concrete dead load
t h rough composite action, subjecting the composite slab to
creep forces parallel to the beam.
Combined with concrete shri n kage, this creep decreases concrete
slab stresses and increases steel
stresses, thus increasing time-dependent deflection.

Construction Issues
To avoid objectionable deflections in composite slabs with Grade
50 steel and LRFD designs, contractors usually must vary concrete
thickness to produce a reasonably
level floor. Concrete placement requires careful preplanning. The
goal is to load the steel floor system
with the wet concrete and allow the
steel to deflect before finishing the
concrete to a level condition. Following are two approaches contractors can take:

APPROACH 1
Simultaneously work two adjacent structural bays having a
common girder.
Rough-fill both bays with concrete. The steel will deflect as
concrete is placed, with most deflection occurring within about
30 minutes. Use a retarded concrete mix so that deflections occur while the concrete is still
plastic.
Using a laser level, establish wet
screed pads of concrete in the
first bay.
Screed the first bay, continually
monitoring the wet-screed elevations as the structure deflects.
If necessary, add extra concrete
to compensate for the deflection
and maintain a level floor.
Rough-fill the third bay with concrete, then screed the second bay.
Continue in this manner
throughout the floor.
APPROACH 2
Work one structural bay at a
time.

Rough-fill the bay with concrete.

Place wet screed pads of concrete, setting the elevation with a
laser level.
Screed the bay while continually
monitoring elevations with the
laser level. Add extra concrete to
compensate for the deflection
and maintain a level floor.
Proceed to the next bay, generally one having a common girder
with the previously placed bay.
As this bay is placed, the common girder will deflect an additional amount, compromising to
some extent the levelness of the
first bay placed. If this is a problem, loose-shore the girder.
Loose shores have a gap at the
bottom, allowing some deflection of the steel before the shore
is loaded. If shores are used,
leave them in place until the concrete slab reaches the specified
28-day compressive strength.
I strongly recommend a preconstruction placement conference
among all parties to review all the as-

pects of the concrete placement, especially the specifics of how to obtain

a level finished-floor system. Much
greater attention to this issue is required by engineers and contractors
alike if we are to obtain satisfactory
floors for building owners.

J. Thomas Ryan, P.E., is a re t i re d

principal of Ryan-Biggs Associates,
Troy, N.Y. He now ser ves as a consultant to the firm.

PUBLICATION #C970734
Copyright 1997, The Aberdeen Group
All rights reserved