The invention relates to a reinforced concrete ceiling as well as to a process for the manufacture thereof.
In the building trade, concrete is undisputably the best suited material for making planar supporting frameworks of any desired shape. In addition, the design of reinforced concrete ceilings is extremely simple and economical.
Architects particularly like to use flat ceilings, since they permit easy installment of lines because of the flat ceiling sublayer. Massive cores are required merely for reinforcement. Said flat ceilings may be designed as a ceiling with a solid cross-section (GB 1 284 402 A), as a hollow ceiling (DE 4 113 028 A1) or as a ceiling with reinforcements over the supports. The ceiling with a solid cross-section is made of in-situ concrete or a partially prefabricated ceiling (element ceiling). Since the dead weight accounts for nearly 50% of the ceiling load, one has begun to produce hollow ceilings. The hollow bodies can be produced during the manufacturing process (hollow board ceiling) or by displacers during concreting (e.g. EP 1 350 898 A1). Ranges can be increased by minimizing the weight. On the assumption of a ceiling of a thickness of 25 cm, savings of dead weight of 35-45% (Cobiax hollow board ceiling) can be achieved in comparison to a ceiling with a solid cross-section.
Ceiling systems are expected to provide large ranges with a small overall height, fast and easy manufacture, very good properties in the fields of fire protection, protection against moisture and noise control, a pleasing visual appearance, low maintenance and repair costs, a high degree of flexibility and much more. Thereby, however, not only the flexibility during manufacture is kept in mind, but the ceiling is also expected not to lose any flexibility during the entire useful life. In buildings, new devices are integrated again and again, which have to find room also in the ceiling systems. This begins with energy, data and communication lines via heat exchangers and air conditioners whose component parts and lines must find room in the ceiling structure. In addition, easy retrofitting should be possible also for future fixtures. In order to ensure these possibilities, it is known to install double bottom systems or suspended ceilings, since, with those elements, also a later change of use is easily possible. However, such double bottom systems or suspended ceilings require relatively large thicknesses of the ceiling.
The invention aims at combining the supporting structure with the advantages of the double bottom. It is a specific object of the invention to permit easy accommodation of supply lines, thus reducing the total thickness of the ceiling, so that a larger number of floors can be provided at a predetermined height of construction. Furthermore, the structure according to the invention is supposed to enable a significant saving of dead weight in comparison to known structures, with the load-bearing capacity being the same. This is to be accompanied by material savings and also by reductions in the work to be performed.
According to the invention, said object is achieved by a combination of the following features:
According to the invention, only a thin concrete slab is provided. Intersecting ribs are provided thereon which absorb compressive forces and optionally tensile forces in a concentrated fashion. Due to this loosened structure, the dead weight can be minimized considerably (>55%) and, in addition, a large space in the supporting structure becomes free. The free space can be used for installations of any kind: from electric lines to supply lines and to ventilation and air-conditioning lines. Since the ribs have recesses, being designed, for example, in a framework style, lines and pipes can run without problems from one ceiling field to the next. Instead of, as is usual, accommodating the installations in the floor area or attaching them to the ceiling with dowels, the lines can be inserted in the supporting structure. If large cross-sections are to be accommodated, the supporting structure becomes higher, whereby the range of the structure can be increased as well. Instead of creating a separate line level, the height of the supporting structure can be utilized. The result is a reduction in the total ceiling height. However, apart from the combination of the supporting structure level with the installation level, the most important advantage is the flexibility of the system. Since primarily only the narrow ribs are used for the load-bearing capacity, covers can be applied in between, which are detachable anytime since they are not used for the structural conditions of, e.g., a ceiling. Said covers may be conventional double bottom elements with which a lot of experience has already been gained. With this system, the flexibility of use will thus remain for the entire lifetime. If installations are relocated or re-laid, the covers are removed by hand and reapplied, and after the laying work no change is visible anymore.
Preferred variants are defined in the dependent claims.
Furthermore, it is the object of the invention to develop further a reinforced concrete ceiling of this kind such that it is particularly easy to manufacture, namely by using semifinished parts. As a result, it should be possible to omit complex connecting and shuttering operations on site.
According to the invention, said object is achieved in that the concrete slab comprises at least two semifinished plates arranged directly next to each other which are covered by a reinforced topping layer of concrete and are interconnected in a frictional manner.
It is known to connect semifinished plates by welding, screwing, reinforcement splices in casting pockets or pretensioning. However, said joining techniques involve a large effort on site, whereby it is also necessary to work with sufficient precision for the force transmission from one semifinished plate to the next.
What is special about the invention is that a simple connection between semifinished plates can be achieved by the reinforced topping layer of concrete, which joining technique has to be regarded as the standard for concrete construction, wherein, however, said connection method is used only for establishing the connection between semifinished plates and not, as is otherwise customary, for the production of the entire concrete slab.
According to a preferred embodiment, the ribs rest with base parts on the semifinished plates, with the base parts being circumferentially enclosed by the topping layer of concrete.
Suitably, the reinforcement of the topping layer of concrete penetrates the apertures of the ribs.
A further preferred embodiment is characterized in that the base parts of the ribs are anchored in the topping layer of concrete via a reinforcement, wherein, advantageously, the base parts of the ribs are anchored in the semifinished plates via a reinforcement and wherein, furthermore, the ribs and the semifinished plates suitably have a common reinforcement.
Preferably, the ribs along with a semifinished plate are designed as a semifinished product, whereby the ribs no longer have to be shuttered on site.
Depending on the demand on the apertures, i.e., the lines to be laid in the ceiling, or, respectively, depending on the demand on the load-bearing capacity, the apertures can diverge or converge from above to below.
If the reinforced concrete ceiling is carried on supports, it is characterized in that a slab element resting on a support is advantageously provided above the support, wherein ribs extending radially outwards in a star-shaped manner from a centre, which ends up lying above the support, are provided, which ribs are attached to ribs of adjacent elements on the edge side of the slab element, wherein the ribs extending in a star-shaped manner are suitably provided with a reinforcement which is attached to a reinforcement of adjacent elements or changes into the reinforcement of adjacent elements.
In order to increase the stiffness of the slab element resting on a support, ribs extending in a star-shaped manner are connected to ribs extending in the peripheral direction of the slab element.
An essential aspect of the invention is that the topping layer of concrete is statically contributive, with its reinforcement extending beyond a semifinished plate to at least a second adjacent semifinished plate.
The thickness of the semifinished plate preferably ranges between 2 and 20 cm, in particular between 4 and 16 cm, and the thickness of the topping layer of concrete ranges between 2 and 20 cm, preferably between 4 and 8 cm.
A preferred process for the manufacture of a reinforced concrete ceiling according to the invention is characterized in that formwork elements for forming the ribs are placed on the concrete slab and the reinforced concrete ceiling is manufactured by installing a reinforcement in the cavity provided for the ribs between the walls of the formwork elements and by grouting said cavity with concrete.
A further suitable approach for producing a reinforced concrete ceiling according to the invention is characterized in that thin-walled plate-shaped elements are placed vertically on a reinforcement applied to a semifinished plate, a layer covering the semifinished plate is concreted and, subsequently, the space between the thin-walled plate-shaped elements is filled with concrete, with the ribs being formed.
A particularly efficient process for the manufacture of a reinforced concrete ceiling is characterized in that the semifinished plates are produced in a factory for prefabricated parts along with rib bodies provided on them, wherein the rib bodies have channels located at the top or are designed so as to be hollow, that said semifinished plates are transported to the construction site and are placed there in correct position according to the building to be constructed, that subsequently a reinforcement extending across at least two adjacent semifinished plates is applied to the semifinished plates and a reinforcement extending into cavities of rib bodies of adjacent semifinished plates is provided in the cavities of the rib bodies, whereupon the topping layer of concrete is applied and the rib bodies are grouted with concrete.
Below, the invention is explained in more detail on the basis of several exemplary embodiments, wherein
The reinforced concrete ceiling according to the invention is basically formed from a concrete slab 1 from which ribs 2 project upwards. Said ribs 2 are each connected with one of their end regions 3—in the following also referred to as base parts—to the concrete slab 1 in a force-transmitting manner and project freely upwards with their top end regions 4, i.e., they are not integrated in a further supporting surface structure, as is customary, e.g., in case of hollow ceilings. Said ribs 2 absorb compressive and/or tensile forces with their top end regions 4 and, in this regard, may be designed so as to be reinforced at those top end regions, comprising, for example, top chords 5. The ribs 2 are provided with apertures 6 between the top end regions 4 and the bottom end regions 3 which are anchored in the concrete slab 1 in a force-transmitting manner. This provides the possibility to connect the fields 7 delimited by the ribs 2 with regard to lines, i.e., to lay lines from field 7 to field 7.
The ribs 2 are preferably all of the same height and, in case of biaxially prestressed reinforced concrete ceilings, they are preferably arranged at right angles to each other. Of course, a different arrangement of the ribs 2 is also possible according to the ground plan shape of the reinforced concrete ceiling to be formed.
The ribs 2 are interconnected in a force-transmitting, e.g., frictional, manner at their intersection points 9 and also on supporting strips 10 delimiting a ceiling, which supporting strips are provided optionally. Such a supporting strip can be designed along the lines of the ribs 2.
Among other things, it is essential for the invention that the concrete slab 1 has a thickness D which falls significantly short of the total thickness of the reinforced concrete ceiling, preferably the thickness D of the concrete slab is at most approx. ⅓ of the thickness of the reinforced concrete ceiling. In case of a reinforced concrete ceiling according to the invention, about 50 to 85% of the ceiling cross-section is available for installations; for example, the total thickness of the structure may be 40 cm and the thickness D of the concrete slab 1 may be about 6 cm.
The ribs 2 or at least their top chord 5 may be formed from a high-strength or ultrahigh-strength concrete, respectively. Thereby, high-strength concrete is a concrete with a compressive strength of from 60 to 120 N/mm2, ultrahigh-strength concrete is a concrete with a compressive strength of between 120 and 250 N/mm2.
It may be advantageous to provide the concrete slab 1 and, respectively, optionally also the top chords 5 of the ribs 2 with a steel reinforcement 15, a textile reinforcement or a fibre reinforcement.
As can be seen in particular in
After arranging the semifinished products 21 forming the outlines of the reinforced concrete ceiling, e.g., on the supports 8—as shown in FIG. 27—and after installing the reinforcement 23 or 27, respectively, on the semifinished plates 21 to be connected and in the channel-like cavities of the rib bodies 26, concrete is poured into the rib bodies 26, and all semifinished plates 21 are covered with a topping layer of concrete 22 so that the final result is a reinforced concrete ceiling, which is illustrated in
According to the variant illustrated in
As can be seen in
The thickness of the semifinished plates 21 suitably ranges between 2 and 20 cm, preferably between 4 and 6 cm; the thickness of the topping layer of concrete ranges between 2 and 20 cm, preferably between 4 and 8 cm. The connection between the individual semifinished plates 21 may thereby be effected in an easy manner by the reinforcement 23 installed in the topping layer of concrete 22.
Different variants are possible for the manufacture of a reinforced concrete ceiling according to the invention, for example, the concrete slab 1 may be formed from in-situ concrete and the diagonals 12 and top chords 5 of the ribs 2 may be formed as prefabricated elements with or without jointing concrete in the diagonals 12 and top chords 5. The diagonals 12 and top chords 5 may thereby serve as shell moulds in which reinforcements 15 are inserted, whereupon the diagonals 12 and top chords 5 are grouted with concrete. If the diagonals 12 are formed from reinforced concrete or steel, only the top chords 5 might serve as shell moulds in which a reinforcement 15 is inserted and grouted. If the diagonals 12 are formed from reinforced concrete or steel and the top chords 5 are formed only from steel, the top chords 5 are connected with the diagonals 12 using connection methods employed in structural steel engineering.
Furthermore, it is possible to form the reinforced concrete ceiling according to the invention entirely from finished elements which are interconnected by in-situ concrete, optionally with a reinforcement being provided beforehand, so that a frictional connection between the component parts is provided. As has already been described above, also the concrete slab 1 may be designed as a semifinished element 1′, 1″ onto which a reinforcement 13 is placed, whereupon grouting with in-situ concrete 16 takes place, with the bottom end regions 3 of the ribs 2 being integrated simultaneously. In that case, the concrete slab 1 is thus finished by the in-situ concrete 16 applied to the semifinished elements 1′, 1″ (cf.
The known methods of prestressing reinforced concrete ceilings may be used advantageously for the reinforced concrete ceiling according to the invention (bonded post-tensioning, unbonded post-tensioning, pretensioning of finished parts, external prestress beside the ribs).
According to the variant illustrated in
The concrete slabs 1 are each formed integrally with the ribs 2, namely in a maximum size, so that transport of the finished parts F′, F″ by truck is possible. In order to produce a reinforced concrete ceiling with a large range, the finished parts F′, F″ are arranged side by side and interconnected, the connection between the finished parts F′, F″ being established, on the one hand, by a grouting joint 20 and, on the other hand, by prestressed reinforcements 15, in the following referred to as prestressing elements 15. After the arrangement of the finished parts F′, F″, the prestressing elements 15 are threaded through channels provided in those finished parts during manufacture for the prestressing elements, preferably as illustrated in
The advantages of the reinforced concrete ceiling according to the invention are as follows:
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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A 933/2006 | May 2006 | AT | national |
A 84/2007 | Jan 2007 | AT | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/AT07/00260 | 5/30/2007 | WO | 00 | 8/14/2009 |