Two-Way Slab-Beam Design

Dissatisfaction with results of previously required procedures of analysis and design for two-way slab-beam systems was the original reason for the massive research upon two-way slab systems begun about 1955. All available load test results indicated that the flat plate or flat slab was a most efficient design with an adequate safety factor. The two-way slab on beams, analyzed as separate elements, appeared overdesigned with unnecessarily high safety factors. Since 1971, all two-way reinforced systems, with or without beams, have been subject to the same integrated analysis and design procedures (Chapter 13). The requirements have been adjusted to provide nearly uniform strength design capacity for all two-way designs (Chapter 13).