CREEP EFFECTS ON LOAD DISTRIBUTION OF REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES DURING CONSTRUCTION

Reinforced concrete structures during construction consist of concrete elements with changing material properties and the temporary supporting system. During slab curing stage, load re-distribution has been observed. However, theoretical explanation of this redistribution has not been reported. Creep effects on load distribution are analyzed in this paper, based on the structural characteristic parameter method and the creep theory. It is testified that creep is one of the reasons leading to load re-distribution between slabs during the slab curing stage. Creep effects on maximum slab load and the range of maximum slab load are discussed for commonly used construction schemes. It is found that creep can reduce the maximum slab load in reinforced concrete structures during construction. To assure safe and economical construction of reinforced concrete structures, results in this paper may be used to consider the beneficial effects of creep.