DEVELOPING A GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF THE NATURE AND USABILITY OF CONCRETE IN INDUSTRIAL FLOOR APPLICATIONS

The increasing use of concrete for the construction of the primary floor slab and wearing surfaces of retail distribution warehouses and production facilities is putting the material under the spotlight. The steady development of methods has kept pace with ever shortening contract schedules and continues to deliver floor surfaces that cope with more and more sensitive high level picking machinery. This has opened the gap between construction practice and design methodology. Concrete is a complex material and needs a great deal of understanding. Contractors have pressed designers, engineers and the industry lead body, The Concrete Society, to upgrade the widely accepted Technical Report TR34 to reflect the changes that have occurred with the introduction of high output techniques and machinery into the United Kingdom. This advance brought fast track just-in-time construction techniques in some conflict with design criteria based on 1920s highway pavement practice. UK research investigations have since delved into the behaviour of slabs in their early life and into the impact of loading joints and corners of slabs. The former has shown conclusively, for instance, that temperature change during construction has a major effect on early concrete slab stresses. The research programmes have been an important part of the determination to bring design criteria up to present practice that is increasingly being honed by specialist flooring contractors.

• INTRODUCTION

• CONCRETE'S STRENGTHS

• THE DRIVE FOR CHANGE

• BACKING BY ESSENTIAL RESEARCH

• COMMERCIAL DEMANDS

• PRIMARY CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES

• MATCHING USERS REQUIREMENTS

• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

• REFERENCES