Location
Cork Institute of Technology, Cork, Ireland
Event Website
https://event.ceri2020.exordo.com/
Start Date
27-8-2020 10:30 AM
End Date
27-8-2020 11:45 AM
Description
Window sills are common to most buildings. In Ireland, concrete is the most popular material used for external sills. A standard one-metre concrete window sill weighs about 70kg. While external window sills are required to have sufficient capacity to resist damage during transportation and loading, they are non-structural elements. Therefore, there is no need for their high selfweight. This project looks to redesign concrete window sills to make them lighter. Decreasing the amount of concrete used in each sill would significantly reduce their self-weight. This would make concrete window sills more manageable in terms of transportation and installation. Two design concepts were developed and tested. One concept sees the removal of concrete through the central plane of the sill. This effectively makes the sill hollow, reducing the self-weight by up to 30%. The other concept sees the removal of concrete from the under-side of the sill. This reduces the self-weight of the sill by up to 45%. Fibre reinforcement was introduced to both concepts to improve the flexural strength of the concrete elements. The concept sills were tested against solid reinforced concrete sills to compare their resistance to failure due to cracking.
Recommended Citation
Naughton, Daniel; Naughton, Michael; O'Sullivan, Michael; and Salawdeh, Suhaib, "Analysis and Design of a Novel Heavy-Duty Precast Element" (2020). Civil Engineering Research in Ireland 2020. 2.
https://sword.cit.ie/ceri/2020/5/2
Included in
Civil Engineering Commons, Construction Engineering and Management Commons, Environmental Engineering Commons, Geotechnical Engineering Commons, Hydraulic Engineering Commons, Structural Engineering Commons, Transportation Engineering Commons
Analysis and Design of a Novel Heavy-Duty Precast Element
Cork Institute of Technology, Cork, Ireland
Window sills are common to most buildings. In Ireland, concrete is the most popular material used for external sills. A standard one-metre concrete window sill weighs about 70kg. While external window sills are required to have sufficient capacity to resist damage during transportation and loading, they are non-structural elements. Therefore, there is no need for their high selfweight. This project looks to redesign concrete window sills to make them lighter. Decreasing the amount of concrete used in each sill would significantly reduce their self-weight. This would make concrete window sills more manageable in terms of transportation and installation. Two design concepts were developed and tested. One concept sees the removal of concrete through the central plane of the sill. This effectively makes the sill hollow, reducing the self-weight by up to 30%. The other concept sees the removal of concrete from the under-side of the sill. This reduces the self-weight of the sill by up to 45%. Fibre reinforcement was introduced to both concepts to improve the flexural strength of the concrete elements. The concept sills were tested against solid reinforced concrete sills to compare their resistance to failure due to cracking.
https://sword.cit.ie/ceri/2020/5/2
