Prediction of slab deflections and validation against Cardington data

This paper presents a novel incremental procedure for the prediction of slab deflection due to a time-varying load. The procedure extends the moment curvature method given in CEB-FIP Model Code for Concrete Structures 1990 (MC90). The procedure has been incorporated into a finite-element program which has been used to predict long-term slab deflections in the Cardington in-situ concrete building. It is shown that long-term deflections in the Cardington slabs are underestimated significantly if the effect of construction loading is neglected. A simplified method is proposed for calculating deflection which takes construction loading into account.