In 2020 Al Shaya Group, the Kuwaiti-owned leader in brand franchising, commissioned a new 60,000 m2 warehouse in Riyadh. A feature of the warehouse design was a multi-tier mezzanine racking system, the columns of which would impose significant ‘point loads’ of up to 48 tonnes on the flooring. Other parts of the floor needed much less weight-bearing capability.
With differing load requirements, design of an ‘efficient’ floor (in construction and material use) was challenging. The timescale was also tight. Twintec recommended a jointless steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) floor using Bekaert fibers to reduce slab thickness and the quantity of steel and other materials used. The owner and designer needed to be convinced, especially given the loadings envisaged.
Bekaert conducted full design calculations for each element of the floor, for review with the owner and designer. High loadings imposed on a ‘Slab on Grade’ make the design process more complex and critical, requiring a solid understanding of engineering, material behaviors and the relevant international codes. The resulting jointless Slab on Grade varied between 180 mm and 300 mm thick. It was designed to withstand the load from the mezzanine and eliminated the need to build a separate foundation for each column, speeding up the work and improving site productivity.
Bekaert successfully demonstrated that SFRC would not only significantly reduce casting time, but would also increase long-term durability and performance under high loads and heavy traffic.
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