Open Access

ARTICLE

Research on the Mechanical Properties of Lightweight Unbraced Prefabricated Reinforced Truss Composite Base Slabs

Yiyan Chen^1,2, Yihu Chen^1,2,*, Min Zhang³, Xiaogang Ye⁴, Jindan Zhang^1,2

1 College of Architecture and Electrical Engineering, Hezhou University, Hezhou, 542899, China
2 Guangxi University Engineering Research Center for Green and Low-Carbon Urban Regeneration Construction,  Hezhou University, Hezhou, 542899, China
3 College of Civil Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, 541004, China
4 Ningbo Urban Construction Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd., Ningbo, 315012, China

* Corresponding Author: Yihu Chen. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Durability Assessment of Engineering Structures and Advanced Construction Technologies)

Structural Durability & Health Monitoring 2026, 20(2), 21 https://doi.org/10.32604/sdhm.2025.073581

Received 21 September 2025; Accepted 27 November 2025; Issue published 31 March 2026

Abstract

The large thickness of the common composite precast base slab leads to difficulties in construction through reinforcement installation and pipeline laying. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a lightweight ribbed base slab, reducing the base slab thickness to 30 mm compared to the ordinary precast base slab, adding concrete ribs to improve the mechanical properties of the base slab, and analyzing its damage pattern, stiffness change, and deflection deformation through static loading experiments. Based on the experimental conditions, the effect of concrete rib height, rib width, and top chord reinforcement diameter on the short-term stiffness of the base slab was analyzed in depth using finite element modeling. The research results show that setting concrete ribs in precast base slabs can improve the base slabs’ flexural stiffness, cracking load, and ductility. Compared with ordinary precast base slabs, the short-term stiffness of ribbed base slabs is increased by 3.19 times, and the cracking load is increased by 2.56 times, which is much larger than the construction load, meeting the requirement of no cracking during the construction stage. The construction can be completed without support over a certain span, thus speeding up the project’s progress and saving project costs. Increasing the rib height and width of the concrete and increasing the diameter of the top chord reinforcement can improve the short-term stiffness of the ribbed base slab, and in engineering applications, the choice of increasing the rib width to improve the short-term stiffness will have better mechanical properties and cost-effectiveness.

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