Innovative lightweight floor systems for steel framed buildings

Abstract

For decades engineers have been concerned with finding ways to reduce the dead load of a buildings structural system. This thesis investigates the potential of reducing the dead load of a structure by creating new lighter-weight floor systems using various configurations of mixed materials. Floor systems have a/ways been one of the heaviest components of a buildings structural system, and therefore comprise a significant portion of the structures dead load. As a result, by developing a substantially lighter-weight floor system it should be possible to reduce the entire weight of a buildings structural system, from the framing members down to the foundations. This paper presents some alternatives that might be considered in designing these lightweight floors.