The importance of industrial concrete floor slabs

Simply put, an industrial concrete floor slab is the working platform of an industrial building. It is the most important part of a building because all operations are supported by it. It is an exposed surface that needs to be robust, flat and crack-free.

The most common use of an industrial floor slab is warehousing, and to take advantage of the full warehouse space, racking is often installed to heights of up to fifteen metres. Specialist forklift trucks are used to collect items from the racking to be packed and shipped. Without a specialist floor slab, there is nothing to support the racking, and the racking is the reason the building exists. With the right specialist design and installation, a good floor slab can last up to 50 years, providing it is well maintained. Investing in your concrete floor slab is the smart way forward to avoid problems later.

What is an industrial concrete floor slab?

It is a cast-in-situ poured concrete ground floor. They vary in thickness from 150mm up to 400mm depending on the applied load and are commonly found in industrial settings such as warehouses and factories, but also superstores and leisure centres. Industrial concrete floors boast durability and resilience against abrasion, whilst supporting heavy traffic and substantial loads. To aid this they need to be reinforced to make them incredibly durable.

What is reinforced concrete?

The concrete for industrial floors must be reinforced. This is done by reinforcing fabric, steel fibres or mesh within the concrete before it sets. This technique fortifies the flooring, reducing the risk of cracks and structural failures. Particularly crucial in high traffic industrial settings, this method enhances the concrete’s ability to withstand heavy loads and prolonged wear. The process involves laying the reinforcement and pouring concrete directly over it, creating a robust composite structure that stands the test of time.

The importance of joints in the floor

Control joints are used for several reasons. The floor is often installed in ‘panels,’ usually around 40m x 40m, so daywork joints or contraction joints are needed so the contractors can return and continue the following day. Within those large panels on a reinforced floor slab, saw cut joints are added which are stress relief joints. As concrete cures it loses water and the slab contracts, and this happens over the first few weeks. If we did not have these saw cuts it would cause cracking which looks unsightly and causes maintenance risk. The saw cuts are spaced out at around six metres down to 25% of the thickness so you get predictable controlled cracks. Isolation joints are also required around slab features such as perimeter walls and columns to ensure that the concrete does not adhere. We suggest loading is delayed to 28 days after the concrete installation.

Why is a structural engineer needed for industrial floor slab projects?

The floor is designed with our help as the applied loads need careful consideration and planning to avoid excess defamation, punching shear failure mode or flexural failure. We ensure the slab has adequate structural capacity to carry the applied loads. As specialist designers, AWA’s derived design method adheres to TR34 technical report issued by the Concrete Society.

This allows us to design the most efficient design slab possible, which sometimes means careful use of the amount of material used. Some of the clients we work with have industrial spaces that are up to fifteen football pitches in size – they are massive spaces. If you consider how much concrete can be saved by just saving 10mm – 20mm of concrete, then it’s vast. That not only has a cost benefit but an environmental one too to reduce carbon footprint. We try to get them as efficient as possible for our clients and not over designed because this is costly and wasteful.

Industrial floor slab design at Coca-Cola

As reputable experts in structural design, we have earned the trust of major global brands, such as Coca-Cola, who sought our assistance for a ￡30 million project. The design entailed a reinforced concrete rafted slab with a thickness of 600/450mm, intended to support a towering 34-metre-high automatic racking system.

If you require an industrial floor slab design, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.