Title: Simplified Frame Analysis for Flat Plate Construction

Author(s): D .J. Fraser,

Publication: Concrete International

Volume: 6

Issue: 9

Appears on pages(s): 32-41

Keywords: beams (supports); bending moments; col-umns (supports); finite element method; flat concrete plates; moment distribution; stiffness; structural analysis.

DOI:

Date: 9/1/1984

Abstract:
Usefulness of the equivalent frame method to predict the structural response of a flat plate structure depends on realistic values of the stiffness of the equivalent beam, of the initial joint moments, and of the fractions of the total frame moments for distribution across the panel. If criticisms of the rules in ACI 318-77, complex-ity and ambiguity, are to be allayed, then rules for those dominant steps in the procedure need to be improved and simplified. This paper presents a revised set of rules for flat plate construction that were derived from a series of finite element analyses in which the real flat plate behavior was simulated by beam-slab floors of uniform thickness. The new rules involve direct evaluation of