VOIDED REINFORCED CONCRETE SLABS: A STEP TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The use of concrete as construction material has grown rapidly in the recent years. Apart from having many advantages over other construction materials, the major disadvantage of concrete lies in its production. Cement being the major constituent of concrete produces large amount of harmful and toxic gases during its manufacturing. A novel way to reduce the consumption of cement in concrete is by using the latest technology in slab construction, i.e. Voided slabs or Bubble Deck Slabs. The principle behind the use of voided slab is to eliminate the concrete which lies in the middle core of slab and place HDPE spheres in the slab. The stresses are zero along the neutral axis meaning the amount of stress in the concrete at the middle is negligible. The main advantage of adopting voided slabs is that it reduces the total dead weight of the structure drastically. As researches state that the weight of the slab reduces to about 35-40% as compared with the normal slab. Also the performance of the voided slabs can be further enhanced by using fibres along with HDPE spheres. This innovative slab system with considerable reduction in self-weight and savings in materials combines all advantages of the other floor systems, solving all problems caused by their disadvantages in the same time. This review discusses about the advancements of using voided slab system in construction practices.