Improvement of a Truss-Reinforced, Half-Concrete Slab Floor System for Construction Sustainability

The truss-reinforced half-concrete slab has been widely used in prefabricated construction all over the world. It has become the most widely used prefabricated component form in China. However, its construction cost is higher than using the conventional construction method. To improve the half slab floor system, it is essential to have a comprehensive understanding of the truss-reinforced half slab’s structural performance over its complete loading history. Six experimental tests on such slabs were carried out. Three of them were reinforced with a steel bar truss (SBT) and the other three with a steel tube/bar truss (STBT). The steel tube in an STBT was grouted. The results show that when the specimen is damaged, the grouted steel tube does not undergo out-of-plane or in-plane buckling, and its force performance is good when compared to the steel bar in SBT. Compared with the SBT-reinforced slab specimens, the load characteristic values of the STBT-reinforced slabs were significantly improved, and the slabs had greater initial stiffness and resistance to deformation. Due to the fact that good structural performance of the steel tube was observed, after having studied the half slab component design, a dry, prefabricated, STBT-reinforced half slab system that can reduce the volume of concrete and amount of steel used in the present slab system is proposed. The proposed system has the advantages of allowing easier construction, cost reduction, and reuse of the components afterward to make the prefabrication construction more sustainable.