Simplified Slab Design Approach for Parking Garages with Equivalent Vehicle Load Factors

Abstract

This paper develops a simplified, but effective, algorithm in obtaining critical slab design moments for parking garages. Maintaining the uniformly distributed load concept generally adopted in the design of building structures, this paper also introduces the equivalent vehicle load factors, which can simulate the vehicle load effects without taking additional sophisticated numerical analyses. After choosing a standard design vehicle of 2.4 tons through the investigation of small to medium vehicles made in Korea, finite element analyses for concentrated wheel loads were conducted by referring to the influence surfaces. Based on the obtained member forces, we determined the equivalent vehicle load factors for slabs, which represent the ratios for forces under vehicle loads to these under uniformly distributed loads. In addition, the relationships between the equivalent vehicle load factors and sectional dimensions were also established by regression, and then used to obtain the proper design moments by vehicle loads. The member forces calculated by the proposed method are compared with the results of four different approaches mentioned in current design codes, with the objective to establish the relative efficiencies of the proposed method.