DESIGN BASIS FOR STAIR SLABS SUPPORTED AT LANDING LEVEL

By I. Ahmed; A. Muqtadir,2 and S. Ahmad3

ABSTRACT: This paper reports the development of a new design guideline for the stair slabs, supported on
the structural member spanning at right angle to the direction of the flight. The study is based on finite-element
analyses of two common types of stairs, dog-legged and open-well stairs. Results of the finite-element inves-
tigation have been compared with the experimental findings, ensuring reliability of the predicted response.
The stair slabs, usually supported on walls or beams at landing levels, derive significant rigidity from such
supporting arrangement. This results in an efficient distribution of moment along the length of the flight. This
distinctive feature of stair slab is not recognized by the leading codes of practice. In order to establish the
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characteristic behavior of stairs of the aforenamed types, a sensitivity study for the geometric parameters of
the stair slab has been carried out. Based on the findings of the present study, a new design rationale for stair
slab has been proposed. The guidelines presented here enable straightforward estimation of the design forces,
which are generally overestimated by 300-400% when determined by the conventional design practices.

INTRODUCTION

l
Owing to their inherent supporting arrangements, the stair AI A2 220
1\\1 1481
slab with supports on three sides at landing level have a very
efficient way of transferring load. The leading codes of prac-
I 1
'~ 'I I
~~~1481 n
tice do not provide proper appreciation to the actual behavior
of stair slab of this type.
---- - - - --ur.r.
.//
I A3
- _

Regarding the design of stairs, the American Concrete In- 4fol ·1- 2515 ~'I
250 1220 1220 250
stitute (ACI) Code (1989) does not provide any recommen- (a) 1101 (48) 1991 (48) llOl
dation for the restraining effect on the stair slab owing to its
support conditons. As a result, users of the code usually de-
sign a stair slab as a simple, one-way slab with span equal to
the horizontal distance between the supports (Winter and X AI A2 1220 X
(48)
Nilson 19(1). The British Code (CP 110, "Code" 1972), on L _
the other hand, provides some reduction in the effective span
of a stair slab. Reduction in the effective span as suggested
------- --\-_-~-~~--1--- , I ,
1220---.11
(48)
by the British Code, obviously results in some saving in the : I 1 A3 1220
, 1 1 1481
design. A limited experimental study (Saqib and Ahmad 1982) U_ .I - L +r,...........,JA
on a full-scale, single-flight stair suggested that the stair slab
does not respond in the same manner as do the simple one- 2$15
250 1220 1220250
way slabs. The study further revealed that a typical stair slab (b) 110) (48) 1991 1481 (10)
of same thickness as designed by the British Code requires
nearly half the reinforcement required by the conventional
American design practice (Winter and Nilson 1991). A single-
flight stair designed by the British Code was constructed and
tested. It was found that the stair sustained 133% of the load
corresponding to the ultimate strength without any sign of JOOl. [;fZz2zo/
failure. This fact indicated that even though the British Code 14 1 t
of Practice regarding the design of stairs is more liberal than
the ACI Code, further savings can be made. This was en- (c)
dorsed elsewhere (Ahmed 1983; Zahedi 1985).
FIG. 1. (a) Experimental Model and Typical Dimensions of Dog-
Legged Stair; (b) Typical Dimensions of Open-Well Stair; (c) Sec-
SCOPE tional Elevation X-x for Stair of (a) and (b) [mm (in.)]
Finite-element investigations of stair slabs, built monolith-
ically with structural members spanning at right angle to the legged and open-well type (Fig. 1) of stair have been studied.
direction of the flight have been carried out. The deflections The influences of the various geometric parameters on the
obtained by the finite-element method have been compared design forces have also been studied. Based on the findings
with the experimental results. The behaviors of both dog- of this study, a guideline for the estimation of design forces
is proposed. A comparison of the proposed and the conven-
'Asst. Prof., Dept. of Civ. Engrg.. Bangladesh Univ. of Engrg, and
Techno!.. Dhaka 1000. Bangladesh. tional design approaches has also been made.
'Assoc. Prof.. Dept. ofCiv, Engrg., Bangladesh Univ. of Engrg. and
Techno!.. Dhaka 1000. Bangladesh. EXPERIMENTAL VERSUS FINITE-ELEMENT MODEL
'Prof.. Dept. of Civ, Engrg.. Bangladesh Univ. of Engrg. and Tech-
no!., Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh. An experimental model for a stair slab was constructed
Note. Associate Editor: Arturo E. Schultz. Discussion open until [Fig. l(a)] and tested by Ahmed (1983). Test results of Ahmed's
December I. 1995. To extend the closing date one month, a written
request must be filed with the ASCE Manager of Journals. The manu-
(1983) study are compared with the results of the finite-ele-
script for this paper was submitted for review and possible publication ment investigation carried out by the present writers. For this
on September 15, 1993. This paper is part of the Journal of Structural purpose, the finite-element mesh of Fig. 2 has been used with
Engineering. Vo!. 121, No.7. July, 1995. ©ASCE, ISSN 0733-9445/951 thin shell linear element (stiff63) of ANSYS (Desalvo and
0IKl7-1051-1057/$2.1Kl + $.25 per page. Paper No, 6984. Swanson 1985). This element has four nodes with six degrees
JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING 1 JULY 1995/1051

J. Struct. Eng. 1995.121:1051-1057.

 y

I. .. .I in Fig. l(a) was chosen for the purpose of comparing the

OuTER EO<l E
Iua
1481
Z51S
1991
.. IZZ0lol81

~'~4
experimental results (Ahmed 1983) and the finite-element
Z ZZ ;il •
I
results of the present study. Fig. 3 presents this comparison
A of the load-deflection response. The overall deflection curve
IZ 20 ------.lJ obtained from the experimental study and that predicted by
1481
the present finite-element analysis are in good agreement,
INNER EDGE
x especially in the initial range of the load-deflection curve
where the material behavior is essentially elastic. However,
Z4 12ZO
148J
since the present finite-element analysis is based on a linearly
elastic material behavior, some difference is observed in the
Plan
postyielding loading range. It is to be noted that in construc-
z tion the stair slab for testing, concrete with a crushing strength
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of 17 MPa (2,500 psi) had been used. The present day tend-

r 15Z4
1601 Dimtnsions art In Mm linch J ency of using higher strength concrete 21 to 35 MPa (3,000
to 5,000 psi) is likely to produce a linear behavior up to a
load level higher than that observed in the experiment. Ar-
guably, this ensures that the predicted behavior correctly sim-
FIG. 2. Finite-Element Mesh for Stair of Fig. 1 ulates the actual response for the range of loads producing
elastic stresses.
Inch Since stresses were not measured during the experiment,
14 the analytical stresses could not be compared. However, the
experimental model sustained the design ultimate load with
12
a comfortable margin of safety. This ensures the reliability
10
of the analytical stress values.
E
.,a- S FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS
.....
Z
... 6 Assumptions
..,
Cl
0 4 The study was carried out with the following assumptions.
--I
1. Double flight stairs having intermediate landing of the
dog-legged and open-well types are analyzed. Typical di-
mensions considered for the dog-legged stair and the open-
well stair are as shown in Fig. 1. For the purpose of analysis,
Central Deflection IlIIm) three consecutive flights have been considered. Symmetry
FIG. 3. Comparison of Load-Deflection Responses
conditions were applied at both the terminal landings (see
Fig. 4). The results of the intermediate flight (i.e., flight 6-
5-3-4 of Fig. 4) is considered for discussion in the subsequent
sections, since it was contemplated that this particular flight
would be free from any undue effect (if at all) of the boundary
conditions imposed at the terminating landings.
2. Waist slab and landing slab were assumed to have the
same thickness.
3. The material was assumed to be linearly elastic, ho-
mogeneous, and isotropic. A modulus of elasticity of 210 kN/
mm 2 and Poisson's ratio of 0.18 were assumed.
IQ I big I
4. Both live and dead loads were applied as gravity loads.
(a) A live load of 4.8 kN/m 2 , a dead load for IOU mm thick slab
(for a material unit weight of 23.5 kN/m') and a tloor finish
of I kN/m 2 were considered. Additional weight due to the
v Z
steps was also considered in the inclined waist portion of the
\Lx I'?777}l
I:'LLLLLJ
R~Tlxl'O
uIV) • 0 slab.
_ U\ZI'O 5. A bending moment, producing compression at the top
is considered positive. Bending in the longitudinal direction,
U(X)·O
which produces stresses in x-direction (Fig. 2) is termed as
M,. Similarly, moment-producing stresses in y-direction (Fig.
2) is designated as M,.

Finite-Element Mesh
Finite-element analyses of both dog-legged and open-well
type stairs have been carried out using the thin shell linear
element of reference (Desalvo and Swanson 1985). The ele-
FIG. 4. Illustration of: (a) Flights under Study 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8; (b) ment mesh of Fig, 2 was used. The mesh comprised of 161
Boundary Conditions for a Three-Flight Analysis nodes in 128 elements was chosen as an optimum choice to
give the upper bound displacement (Ahmed 1989).
of freedom per node. Shear deformation is neglected in this
Bending Moment Distribution
thin shell element. The nodes along the walls (Fig. 1) at both
landings were restrained against vertical displacement. The The bending moment (M,) diagrams along the length of
midspan deflection along the inner edge of the stair slab shown the flight for stair slabs of typical dimensions as shown in Fig.
1052 I JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING I JULY 1995

J. Struct. Eng. 1995.121:1051-1057.

 Inch 1, are presented in Fig. 5. Bending moments along the inner
00 ZOO
8 and the outer edges (see Fig. 2) of a flight of dog-legged stair
Open-well stair
. Imeredge and open-well stair (a well opening of 1.22 m was considered)
0

Dog-legged slalr OuIeredge 1500 are shown.

6 Bending moment M, is negligibly small in the inclined por-
tion of the stair slab. But at landing, this moment is of con-
~ 4
1000 siderable magnitude, especially in a strip close to the kink,
which is the line where the inclined waist slab and the landing
Z
.><
slab meet. The variation of M, at different locations of landing
E c
Q>
E
500 ~ are shown in Fig. 6 for dog~legged and in Fig. 7 for open-
E
0 ~ well stair. Since in the present analysis the landings are con-
cOJ
sidered to be supported by side walls, a portion of the load
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U
C
0 0 is carried in the direction perpendicular to the length of the
Q>
ro fight at landing level. From Figs. 6 and 7, it can be seen that
the region closest to the kink is subjected to considerably high
-500 moment in the lateral direction (y), although this high mo-
ment is very localized.
-4 L-_-----l_ _-'-_--;----L.._-,.-:'-=_-=-==-_::-:!
o 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 Parametric Study
Distance in mm
The effects of varying the geometrical parameters on the
FIG. 5. Bending Moment M. for Dog-Legged and Open-Well Stair overall behavior of stair have also been studied. The param-
eters considered are (Fig. 4): (1) Length of the landing slab,
Inch a; (2) Horizontal projection of the waist slab (going), b; (3)

}
E 20 40 60 80 100
...... 1'2 2700 Height of the flight, h; (4) Width of the flight, w; and (5)
Z
E
~',
... X2 Opening c of an open-well stair [Fig. I(b)].
..>c:
8 - X3
( S•• 1800 In addition to the variation of the aforementioned geo-
E
Ql -0- X4
Fiq.21 C metrical parameters, three different distributions of live load
E
0 4 900 j were also considered. In the first case, full live load was
E I
~ applied on the waist slab and on the lower landing (of the
01
c
0 second flight), and the upper landing was loaded with dead
'i5
c:
Ql
load only; while the other two flights were loaded with full
CD
-4 -900 live load. Loading case 2 was composed of full live load on
0 127!5 2550 all panels. The third loading case was considered with full
Distance in mm live load on the waist slab portion of the second flight, while
the two landing slabs of the second flight were loaded with
FIG. 6. Bending Moment My at Different Locations of Landing Slab
for Dog-Legged Stair dead load only. As in the previous case, the first and third
flights were completely loaded with full live load. The bending
moments for these loading cases have been compared in Fig.
·E
E 8. Fig. 8 shows that the. influence of the position of live load
12 -o-XI 2700
Z
.><
considered is not very significant for the positive moments.
_X2
C /I ....lCS
[SI!E Fill. 2 1800~ For all the three load cases presented, the live load has been
Q>
E ~ present in the middle portion (waist slab), the location where
0
E
. ..... X4
900 Q the maximum positive moment occurs. The presence of live
OJ
c 0
load on the landing has no effect on the maximum positive
uc: 0
moment. The landing slab with or without live load has some
Q>
ro -4 -900 influence on the moments near the kink, although this effect
0 1000 2000 3000 4000
Distance in mm
is not significant (Fig. 8). For a dog-legged stair, parameter
c was taken as zero. Each of the parameters described before
FIG. 7. Bending Moment My at Different Locations of Landing Slab was varied independently keeping the remaining parameters
for Open-Well Stair constant. Results of these variations are shown in Tables I-
S. Effective span values shown in these tables were computed
on the basis that qb~/8 should be equal to the maximum
Inch
100 200 positive moment at midspan; where be is the effective span
6 ,--------:L-o-ad7c-a-se-1,..--:To"-a--:d-cas-e-:'"2-----:L-o-ad7ca-s--'eT'-------, (i.e. distance between the points of contraflexure), and q is
E ··,0--- ······A·.. ·
the total load per unit area on the waist slab duly magnified
E ~
z
.><
4
DL-
r ~ Load case 1
~Loadcase2
- 1000
on a horizontal projection.
The important results of a much wider study (Ahmed 1989)
~ 2
~ Load case 3 _. 500
E ~
a c: TABLE 1. Variation of Length of Landing a
; a b""'i;---++-------+.---...,.-:;;:~.---___l a ~
c: Maximum
U
~
c
-2 t a b 1= (2a + b) h w
positive Effective
moment span, be
~ x 100
- -500
(mm) (m) (m) (m) (m) (m) alb (kN'm/m) (m) (%)
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)
-4 a 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000
100 1.22 2.52 4.95 1.52 1.22 0.49 4.34 I.H2 72.50
Distance in mm 100 1.37 2.52 5.26 1.52 1.22 0.55 4.11 1.77 70.50
100 1.52 2.52 5.56 1.52 1.22 0.61 4.06 1.76 70.20
FIG. 8. Inner-Edge Bending Moments for Different Load Cases

JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING I JULY 1995 I 1053

J. Struct. Eng. 1995.121:1051-1057.

 TABLE 2. Variation of Height of Flight h b/l
0.5 0.51 0.52 0.53 0.54 0.55
Maximum 1,400

t a b 1= (2a + b) h w
positive Effective
moment span, be
~ x 100
6 Max +w moment
Max -va moment
(mm) (m) (m) (m) (m) (m) hlb (kN'm/m) (m) (%) 1,200
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) ~ 5
ilK) 1.22 2.52 4.95 1.45 1.20 0.58 4.19 1.79 71.22 ~ Ii ,.;:·::···:·:·
.......
·.········· ·0···· .., ,,".- 1,000
ilK) 1.22 2.52 4.95 1.52 1.20 0.61 4.34 1.82 72.50 E
~
ilK) 1.22 2.52 4.95 1.60 !.20 0.64 4.44 U4 73.35 ~ 4 c
fj
E - - w/b
OJ 800
c
'5 b/l
TABLE 3. Variation of Going b ~ 3
600
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Maximum

t
positive Effective
~ x 100 400
a b 1= (2a + b) h w moment span, be b
0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
(mm) (m) (m) (m) (m) (m) bll (kN'm/m) (m) (%)
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)
wlb

ilK) 1.22 2.52 4.95 1.52 1.22 O.5! 4.34 1.82 72.50 FIG. 10. Results of Variation of Flight Width wand Going Width
ilK) 1.22 2.67 5.11 1.52 1.22 0.52 4.49 1.86 69.60 b
ilK) 1.22 2.82 5.26 1.52 1.22 0.54 4.86 1.93 68.40
Inch
8 r- ----"25 5,,0'----_""]
r
TABLE 4. Variation of Width of Flight w in Dog-Legged Stair
Maximum ...... - 1,500
6.--
positive Effective
~ x 100
t a b 1= (2a + b) h w moment span, be b
(mm) (m) (m) (m) (m) (m) wlb (kN'm/m) (m) (%) c=305mm - 1,000
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) " c=610 mm
ilK)
o
1.22 2.52 4.95 1.52 1.91 0.36 4.51 1.86 73.80
ilK) 1.22 252 4.95 1.52 1.22 0.48 5.06 1.97 78.17
ilK) 1.22 2.52 4.95 1.52 1.37 0.55 5.38 2.03 80.55
100 1.22 2.52 4.95 1.52 1.52 0.61 5.73 2.10 83.33

TABLE 5. Variation of Parameter w in Open-Well Stair

Maximum
-2- - -500
positive
t a b I = (2a + b) h c w moment
(mm) (m) (m) (m) (m) (m) (m) (kN'm/m)
-4L..-_---'----_----J._ _-'-----_-J-_---"_ _--C-_--'
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) a 200 400 600 800 1,000 1.200 1,400
IlK) 1.22 2.52 4.95 1.52 1.22 0.91 5.28
100 1.22 2.52 4.95 1.22
Distance in mm
1.52 1.22 6.56
ilK) 1.22 2.52 4.95 1.52 1.22 1.52 8.15
FIG. 11. Variation of Moment M. along Lines Z1, Z2, and Z3

....
C
E
2 . 9 Q - f ' - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - T 0.114
18.0 4000
u
CI 0.112 ~
!-
E
, 13.:5 o()o C. 30Smrn 3000
'0_ z .. C· 610mm
_E .e ~ .e
0.110 9.0 .... Ce 915mm 2000 ......
~~ " i
...> 2.75 0.108
.5
~
E 4.:5
-0- C- 1220mm

1000
.E
J
"'"
o '0
~
0
2.70 -h.......-r-r-..,-,.....,....,.-,---r-~r___T_._.,.._ll,__r'_1c_T_; 0.106 i.J
0.45 0.50 0.55 0.80 0.65 - 4.5
alb 0

FIG. 9. Effect of Variation of Length of Landing a

involving the preceding parameters are presented in Figs. 9-
13. Fig. 9 shows the variation of the vertical displacement
with the variation of the landing length a. The restraining
effect on the stair slab due to the increasing length of landing
slab is clearly manifested. The moments at the waist slab is
quite insensitive to the variation in the inclination of the stair
slab as appears in Table 2. Fig. 10 shows that the controlling
values of the moments in the stair slab are directly related to
the length of the going, b' (Fig. 4). Table 3 indicates that the
effective span for the stair slab is about 70% of the going, a
fact also revealed in Tables 1 and 2.
10541 JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING 1 JULY 1995
FIG. 12. Variation of Moment My at Line Z4
The variation of the critical moment values in the longi-
tudinal direction (x), with a variation of the width of the flight
(w) shows that the stair slab does not entirely behave like a
one-way slab (Fig. 10). The complex interaction of the stair
slab with the supporting landing slab as well as the adjoining
flights influence the behavior of the stair slab (Ahmed 1989).
Fig. 11 shows the effect of varying the well opening c on the
longitudinal bending moment (M x ) along the lines ZI, Z2,
and Z3. The locations of these lines are shown in Fig. 2. In
general, Fig. 11 shows that increasing the well opening results

J. Struct. Eng. 1995.121:1051-1057.

 Inch arrangements. Although this restraining effect is more pro-
0 nounced at the outer edge, where the physical supporting
--Z
E
E
13.:50 3000
wall or beam is present, considerable influence is also present

-
..lII::
cQ)
E
0
9.0

4~0
..... w/ba 0.36
... ';/baO.48
... w/bao.8'
2000

1000
e
<:::
.~
1
along the inner edge of the flight.
The effective span b('. as seen from Fig. 5, can conserva-
tively be estimated to be equal to 70% and 80% of the going
(the horizontal projection ofthe inclined portion) respectively
E ~
for dog-legged (c = 0) and open-well stair (c = 1.22 m).
Cl
C 0 0 Parameters c and w appear to be the most important pa-
=ac rameters influencing the behavior of the open-well stair under
Q)
aJ -4.~0 -1000 consideration. It is interesting to note that the flexural be-
0 300 1200
havior at outer edge is insensitive of these parameters. In
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Distance in mm fact, the outer edge behaves somewhat like a restrained beam.
The effect of a restrained outer edge travels towards the inner
FIG. 13. Variation of Moment My at Line Z4 for Varying Parameter edge. Some relaxation of this restraining effect (at the inner
w for Open-Well Stair (C 1,220 mm) = edge) takes place for higher values of dimension c and w.
For c = w, the effective span at inner edge is of the order of
Inch 80% of the going (Fig. 5).
200 8,000

30
Inner and outer edges
E ~
E 20
Z
-'"
c: Q)
10
E '"
a
E 0
~
Ol
c
'0
cQ) -10
m " Fixed Ended
-20 Inner end outer edges
1,000 3,000 4,000
0 2,000
Distance in mm
FIG. 14. Flexural Behavior of Stair Slab for Different Arrange-
ments of Support
in an increased longitudinal moment in the stair slab. The
reason for such behavior can be attributed to the fact that
the restraint provided by the landing slab becomes less ef-
fective as the well opening widens.
For an open-well stair, the lateral moment My at landing
does vary to a great extent depending on the weH opening c
as shown in Fig. 12. It is interesting to note that at the free
edge of the landing (i.e. near kink line) the moment My
increases as the distance (c) between the forward and the
backward flights decreases. The effect of variation of the
width of the flight (w) in an open-well type of stair on the
moment M, at landing level is shown in Fig. 13. Increasing
the flight width increases the lateral moment My at landing
only moderately near the kink line. However the variation
in M, is insignificant, away from the kink line.
The discussion in the present paper so far was restricted
to one particular supporting arrangement for the stair slab
(see Fig. 1). Behavior of the stair slab with two more sup-
porting arrangements were also studied: (1) a stair slab simply
supported on walls at the end of both landings; and (2) a stair
slab completely fixed at wall at the end of both the landings.
Results of these analyses are presented in Fig. 14. As men-
tioned earlier, the results presented in this figure also cor-
respond to the second flight of a three-flight stair. The inner
edge and outer edge values match closely, despite the pres-
ence of adjoining flights. The behaviors of these two cases
very closely resembles that of simple and fixed-ended beams,
respectively. This implies that the stair slab does not require
any special treatment because of is folded nature.
The preceding findings reveal that stair slabs being sup-
ported on landings, running at right angle to the direction of
the flight. derive significant restraints from such supporting
PROPOSAL FOR DESIGN GUIDELINE
6.000
Based on the preceding characterization of the behavior of
4.000 stair slab, the critical locations for moment, are identified as:
2,000 c:
• Midspan of the flight, for a positive moment in the lon-
0 ~ gitudinal (x) direction.
• Kink location, for a negative moment in the longitudinal
-2.000 direction.
• Landing slab, (a strip adjacent to the kink line of half
-4,000
the width of the landing, a for moment in lateral direction
(y).
6,0004;,000
The guidelines for estimating the design moments for the
two different types of stair considered in this paper are pre-
sented in the next section.
Dog-Legged Stair
Midspan Positive Moment
Because of the sensitivity of the various geometrical pa-
rameters, it is difficult to specify a general rule to quantify
the maximum positive moment. However, it will be suffi-
ciently conservative (and still economical, compared to the
conventional practice as will be shown later) to assume an
effective span equal to 90% of the going of the stair slab. In
other words, a moment formula can be assigned
(1)
where M" = ultimate moment; q = total load per unit area
on the waist slab, duly magnified on a horizontal plane; and
b = horizontal projection of the going of the stair.
The preceding recommendation will be adequate for de-
termining midspan positive moment for a dog-legged stair
with the landing slab supported on the outer edge walls.
Negative Moment at Kink
The negative moment at kink can be taken to be equal to
the maximum positive moment specified earlier; i.e., a mo-
ment value of qb 2110 is proposed for kink location.
Moment in Lateral Direction at Landing Level
At the landing level of a dog-legged stair, positive moment
of considerable magnitude occurs. This moment is dominant
only over a small region of the landing. Since the existence
of this moment is concentrated over a small region, consid-
erable redistribution of stresses will result before failure takes
place. Hence, an approximate specification in ascertaining
JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING / JULY 1995/1055

J. Struct. Eng. 1995.121:1051-1057.

 this moment will adequately serve the purpose of design. The Design of Dog-Legged Stair
moment at landing may be approximately found by consid-
ering a simply supported span in the direction perpendicular Design of Span A I-A2
to the direction of the flight. Thus, the moment M v for a dog-
legged stair is computed as - Given the following span, the horizontal projection of the
waist slab (going):
M v == q,/f/8 (2)
b == 2.52 m (5)
where ql == intensity of the total dead and live load on landing and the following live load (LL) and dead load (OL) on the
and II == span of the landing in the direction perpendicular waist slab:
to the direction of the flight.
LL == 4.8 kN/m 2 (6)
Open-Well Stair
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OL == WIOO + WI + W, (7a)
where WHKl == self weight of 100 mm slab; WI == weight of
Midspan Positive Moment floor finish; and W, == self weight of steps, given here as
The midspan positive moment, for an open-well staIr IS DL == 2.35 + 1.0 + 1.8 kN/m 2 == 5.15 kN/m 2 (7h)
sensitive to the parameters c (the opening between the con-
secutive flights) and w (the width of the flight). However, an The total factored load on the horizontal projection is
effective span equal to the going of the stair would produce q == (1.7'4.8 + 1.4,5.15)'1.17 == 18.0 kN/m 2 (8)
a positive moment, which may be deemed satisfactory for the
common range of these parameters. Therefore, as in (1) Using (1), the ultimate moment is computed as follows:

(3) M" == qb 21I0 == 18(2.52)2/10 == 11.43 kN· m/m (9)

where M" == maximum positive moment, q is the total load For a 20.7 MPa concrete and grade 300 steel, a slab thickness
on the waist slab duly magnified over a horizontal projection of 100 mm with a steel area of 660 mm2 /m is required. The
and b is the going of the stair. negative section is also controlled by the same requirement.

Design of Span A2-A3

Negative Moment at Kink
Omitting the weight of the steps, the factored load in this
For the open-well stair, the critical location for negative case is
moment is at the outer edge kink point. The magnitude of
inner edge bending moment is influenced by the parameter, ql == 1.7·4.8 + 1.4·3.35 == 12.85 kN/m 2 (10)
c. However, the maximum value of this negative moment can span is
again be conservatively estimated to be equal to the maximum
positive moment proposed in the preceding paragraph for II == 1.22·2 == 2.44 m (II)
common range of c. In the inner strip of half the width of
Using (2), the ultimate moment is
the flight, 50% of the specified maximum negative moment
may be assumed. M" == q,1T18 == 9.5 kN· m/m (12)
2
which requires a steel area of 532 mm /m.
Moment in Lateral Direction at Landing Level
The presence of moment in the lateral direction is very Design of Open-Well Stair
localized, the peak value being observed close to kink line.
The magnitude of this moment significantly depends on the Design of Span AI-A2
well opening c. Because of this dependence, it is difficult to Given a slab thickness of 114 mm and the following load:
propose a uniform formula that will, in general, cover all
possible geometrical dimensions. Considering this fact, a rather LL == 4.8 kN/m 2 (13)
conservative value of the following moment can be recom-
mended for a wlc ratio equal to unity. DL == W I '4 + WI + W,

== 2.69 + 1.0 + 1.8 kN/m 2 == 5.49 kN/m 2 (14)

(4)
where ql == total load per unit area on the landing slab; and
II == (2w + c), is the span of the landing slab in the direction
perpendicular to the direction of the flight in which w ==
width of the flight and c == opening between the flights.
In general, for cases where wlc is not unity, the preceding
quantity should be multiplied by the factor, k == VWTc ~ 1.
DESIGN EXAMPLES
For the purpose of delineating the proposed method, a
dog-legged and an open-well stair of dimension shown in Fig.
I(a) and (b), respectively, are designed here. The designs
presented here are based on an ACI strength design principle.
This will also manifest the cost-effectiveness of the proposals
presented in this paper.
where W I14 == self weight of a 114 mm slab. The total factored
load on the horizontal projection is
q == (1.7'4.8 + 1.4,5.49)·1.17 == 18.54 kN/m 2 (15)
Again using (3), the ultimate moment is computed as follows:
M" == qb 218 == 18.54(2.52)218 == 14.72 kN· m/m (16)
For a 20.7 MPa concrete and grade 300 steel, a slab thickness
of 114 mm with a steel area of 711 mm 2 /m is required. The
negative section is also controlled by the same requirement.
Design of Span A2-A3
The factored load in this case is
ql == 1.7,4.8 + 1.4·3.69 == 13.33 kN/m 2 (17)

1056 I JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING I JULY 1995

J. Struct. Eng. 1995.121:1051-1057.

 TABLE 6. Comparison of Different Design Approaches
DOG-LEGGED STAIR OPEN-WELL STAIR
Span A1-A2 Span A2-A3 Span A1-A2 Span A2-A3
Slab Positive Negative Positive Negative Slab Positive Negative Positive Negative
Method of thickness steel steel steel steel thickness steel steel steel steel
analysis (mm) (mm 2 /m) (mm 2 /m) (mm 2 /m) (mm 2 /m) (mm) (mm 2 /m) (mm 2 /m) (mm 2 /m) (mm 2 /m)
(1 ) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11 )
ACI 190 1,600 - a - a - 190 1,600 - a
759 -
British 138 1,054 - a - a
- 152 1,050 - a
825 -
Present 100 660 660 532 - 114 711 711 791 -

"Marked quantities cannot be determined by the corresponding method.

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for this open-well stair, span is a tendency to follow the design rules specified for a more
general type of stair. This results in a gross overestimation
II = 2· w + c = 1.22·2 + 1.22 = 3.66 m (18) of the design forces. On the basis of a finite-element inves-
Using (4) the ultimate moment is computed as tigation, supported by experimental evidence, guidelines have
been developed for simple and straightforward design of stair
M" = Q,/i/l1 = 16.23 kN· mlm (19) slabs. Economic advantages resulting from this new devel-
which requires a steel area of 791 mm /m. 2 opment have also been indicated.

Comparison of Proposed Method with
Conventional Methods
The results of the design examples presented in the pre-
ceding section are compared with the results based on anal-
yses by the conventional practices in Table 6. From the Table
6, the cost-effectiveness of the proposed method is very clearly
demonstrated.
CONCLUSIONS
Behavioral studies on the two different types of stair slab
commonly used in the residential and office buildings have
been made in this paper. The codes of practice of reference
(Winter and Nilson 1991) and (CP 110,1972) do not give
proper appreciation to the distinctive feature of the stair slabs
where the landings are supported by walls in three sides. In
absence of specific guidelines, the practicing engineers have
APPENDIX. REFERENCES
Ahmed, I. U. (1983). "Development of improved design procedure for
stair slabs," Master's thesis, Bangladesh Univ. of Engrg. and Techno!.,
Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Ahmed, I. (1989). "A design rationale for stair slabs: based on finite
element analysis," Master's thesis, Bangladesh Univ. of Engrg. and
Techno!., Dhaka, Bangladesh.
"Code of practice for the structural use of concrete, CP 110: Part 1,
1972." (1972). The Council for Codes of Practice, British Standard
Institution, London, U.K.
Desalvo, G. J., and Swanson, J. A. (1985). "ANSYS-user manua!."
Swanson Analysis System Inc., Houston, Pa.
Saqib, M. N., and Ahmad, S. (1982). "A closer look into the design of
stairs." 27th Annu. Convention of the [nst. of Engrs. (Bangladesh),
Dhaka.
Winter, G., and Nilson, A. H. (1991). "Design of concrete structures."
11th Ed., McGraw-Hili Book Co .. New York, N.Y.
Zahedi, M. Z. (1985). "Improved design procedure for stair slabs."
Master's thesis, Bangladesh Univ. of Engrg. and Techno!., Dhaka,
Bangladesh.

JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING 1 JULY 1995/1057

J. Struct. Eng. 1995.121:1051-1057.