Building floors in steel and composite construction

Floors form a rigid horizontal plane capable of :

• support vertical loads (dead weight of various components and operating loads) and transmit these loads to the columns without damaging the finishing work;

• transmit horizontal forces (such as wind or seismic forces) to vertical elements: stability bearings, portal columns, stairwells and/or rigid gables.

Other functions are of greater or lesser importance, depending on the building's purpose. These include the flexibility of vertical and horizontal passageways (ducts and various networks, and technical equipment), acoustic and thermal insulation, stability and fire resistance.

This article presents the different floor systems for buildings, showing how they work and their advantages and disadvantages.

The first part of this text deals with the design aspects, giving practical recommendations and orders of magnitude to enable the rapid and efficient definition of a preliminary floor design based on objective comparisons: mixed or unmixed floor, under-slab or integrated joists, honeycomb or lattice joists, etc. The second part deals with the design aspects, giving practical recommendations and orders of magnitude to enable the rapid and efficient definition of a preliminary floor design based on objective comparisons: mixed or unmixed floor, under-slab or integrated joists, honeycomb or lattice joists, etc.

In the second part of the text, the calculation of the fundamental frequency and acceleration vibration of composite floors will be developed. A simple method of application will be explained in order to arrive at a viable estimate of the vibration response of floors.