Concrete Protection Slab

Concrete protection slabs are a very common method of protecting a pipe or service from damage or overloading from imposed loads. Concrete protection slabs are often installed to drainage pipes, gas and oil pipelines, electrical service ducts and any other type of underground utilities or services.

Concrete protection slabs are most commonly required when a pipeline is installed at a shallow depth, though utility and pipe protection slabs are also sometimes installed over deeper pipes where large or unusual imposed loadings are expected on the surface. Typically concrete protection slabs are deemed to be more effective and more versatile solution than concrete surrounds or other forms of pipeline protection.

The design of utility and pipe protection slabs is often neglected as standard designs or precast units are specified rather than undertaking an optimized design. In many cases this leads to concrete protection slabs which are under designed. Under designed utility and pipe protection slabs will crack and fail under loading leading to damage to the pipeline. Check our post on pipe protection slab details for more details on standard protection slab details and drawings.

CivilWeb Concrete Protection Slab Design Spreadsheet

The CivilWeb Concrete Protection Slab Design Spreadsheet is a unique powerful design spreadsheet for the design of utility and pipe protection slabs. The spreadsheet calculates the imposed loadings acting on the protection slab at any depth, determines the moments and shear forces produced in the slab and then assists the designer to design a reinforced concrete protection slab to resist the required forces. The design procedure used by the spreadsheet is explained in detail in our pipeline protection slab design post.

The Concrete Protection Slab design spreadsheet includes unique features to aid the designer in designing a fully compliant and optimized concrete protection slab. These include;

  • Moment and shear force diagrams which the designer can use to see at a glance exactly how the protection slab is being loaded by the imposed loads on the surface.
  • A unique reinforcement required graph which shows the designer precisely how much tension reinforcement the slab will require at any slab thickness. This allows the designer to optimize the depth of the slab at a glance, particularly where a standard size reinforcement mesh is desired.
  • Our unique reinforcement picker graphs show the designer all the bar sizes and spacings which would be compliant, allowing the designer to see at a glance the most cost effective arrangement. This can save a great deal of time compared to an iterative approach where reinforcement details need to be optimized.
  • Our unique shear reinforcement design graphs show the designer exactly how much shear reinforcement is required and where in the slab any required designed links can be limited to.
  • The spreadsheet then draws a slab reinforcement detail diagram showing the chosen reinforcement details allowing the designer to spot any problems instantly.
  • Finally a designers summary page highlights any remaining problems with the design before the designer can complete the concrete protection slab design.

Get the full license version now for only £20. This includes;

  • Concrete Protection Slab Design Spreadsheet.
  • Comprehensive 20 page Ultimate User Guide.  This includes detailed information and typical values for all the required inputs and an explanation of the design standards and principles used in the spreadsheet for the design of pipe protection slabs.
  • Boussinesq Loads on Buried Structures - Our unique analysis tool uses the Boussinesq theory to calculate the vertical soil pressures acting on buried structures such as pipeline protection slabs from concentrated and universally distributed surcharge loads acting on the surface.
  • Minimum Trench Widths Calculator - This tool can be used to check the minimum trench widths required for pipes of any diameter installed at any This can be used to check that the trench width assumed for the pipeline protection slab design is adequate and realistic.

All purchases are covered by our full money back guarantee.

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Or why not bundle with the CivilWeb Buried Pipe Design spreadsheet for only £5 extra?

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