Evaluation on flexural performance of void slabs with application of buoyancy protection equipment for void foamer

Reinforced concrete void slab is an economical structural system that has equivalent structural performance despite the loss of effective cross-section by substituting lightweight void foamer in the middle of solid slab section. However, there was the floating issue of void foamer such that it does not exhibit enough structural performance as comparing to the solid slab section. The goal of this study is to evaluate flexural capacity of reinforced concrete void slab with rectangular-shaped steel pipe for protecting the buoyancy of void foamer. A series of experiments were conducted and the critical variables of specimen were the directional arrangement and the continuity of the segmented steel pipe. According to these experimental results, it has shown that steel pipe contributed to the change of flexural strength of void slab. In addition, the specimen with steel pipe has a longitudinal placement and segmented arrangement is more beneficial than that of transverse directional placement. Calculated flexural capacity by existing formular was under-estimated than that of experimental measurement. Therefore, it has shown that a new equation to evaluate flexural strength of void slab is required depending on the critical variables such as the continuity and length of the steel pipe.