Smorgon ARC is a Division of The Australian Steel Company (Operations) Pty Ltd ACN 069 426 955

Smorgon ARC National Office

518 Ballarat Road
Sunshine 3020 Australia
Copyright Smorgon ARC 1998
First published 1998.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of the Publishers. Every attempt has been made to trace and
acknowledge copyright but in some cases this has not been possible. The Publishers apologise for
any accidental infringements and would welcome any information to redress the situation.

Authors
Smorgon ARC
Trefil Arbed
Project Manager:
Cover design:
Typesetting:

Fabian Rizzotto
Words at Work Advertising
Acorn Marketing

Slabex is a trademark of Smorgon ARC.

ARC-Fibres is a trademark of Smorgon ARC.
The information and illustrations in this publication are provided as a general guide only. The
publication is not intended as a substitute for professional advice which should be sought before
applying any of the information to particular projects or circumstances. In the event of purchase of
goods to which this publication relates, the publication does not form part of the contractual
arrangements with Smorgon ARC. The purchase of any goods is subject to the Smorgon ARC terms
and conditions of sale.
Smorgon ARC reserves the right to alter the design or discontinue any of its goods or services without
notice. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information and illustrations in
this publication, a policy of continual research and development necessitates changes and refinements
which may not be reflected in this publication. If in doubt please contact the nearest Smorgon ARC
sales office.

Smorgon ARC gratefully acknowledge the assistance received by Connell Wagner Pty Ltd in the
preparation of this Technical Manual.

Preamble
This Technical Manual has been prepared by Smorgon ARC to facilitate the design of pavements and
floors covering a wide range of applications using Slabex Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete. It is
intended to be used as a design guide only, and it is recommended that any designs prepared using
this Technical Manual be examined and verified by a competent pavement engineer.
The manual contains comprehensive data on the properties and comparative performance of Slabex
Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete. It presents design procedures for light, medium and heavy duty
pavements subject to wheel, point or distributed loads. The procedures are based on established
design methods and material properties and performance data for Slabex Steel Fibres accumulated
over the last 15 years throughout Europe and Australia.

Contents
1. Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete .................................................................................................1
2.

Slabex Steel Fibres ...................................................................................................................2

3.

Properties of Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete ..........................................................................3

4.

Use of Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete in Pavements and Floors..........................................7

5.

Pavement Thickness Design Procedures...................................................................................8

6.

Pavement Thickness Design Examples....................................................................................25

7.

Overlay Design............................................................................................................................36

8.

Joint Design ................................................................................................................................40

9.

Construction Techniques...........................................................................................................45

10. Specification of Slabex Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete....................................................47

11. References ..................................................................................................................................49

Appendices
A. Stress Tables ..............................................................................................................................50
B.

Batching Guidelines ...................................................................................................................70

C.

Notations .....................................................................................................................................71

Further Information
For further technical information regarding Slabex Steel Fibre, contact our technical representatives
at Smorgon ARC. For contact details, refer to back cover.