Ling, C.; Yazdani, N.; Beneberu, E., and Koliou, M., 2025. Experimental evaluation of elevated home slabs for flood mitigation. Journal of Coastal Research, 41(2), 223–234. Charlotte (North Carolina), ISSN 0749-0208.
Elevating concrete slab-on-grade (SOG) homes above the base flood elevation is one of the well-known methods of mitigating damage caused by repeated flooding events along the Gulf of Mexico and other coastal areas. This is typically accomplished by placing new pier supports with additional beams, if necessary, under a raised slab home. As a result, the slab support conditions are changed from uniform soil to column and beam supports, leading to unanticipated stress changes, concrete cracks, and slab failure. Past studies attempted to study the effects of changing the support conditions on the SOG. However, those specimens did not represent the slabs used in real-world scenarios. Thus, the current study experimentally evaluated the structural performance of elevated home slabs built per the construction practice along the Texas Gulf Coast under uniform floor live load. In addition, the application of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) retrofitting that would apply to capacity-compromised SOG homes was investigated. The first specimen had four panels with monolithically poured grade beams around each panel, while the second specimen had two panels with monolithically poured grade beams supported by additional steel beams. The second specimen also included CFRP laminate retrofitting under one of the panels. The slabs were supported by concrete block masonry piers with various contact conditions. It was found that the typical contractor-determined elevation layout can withstand the building code–mandated floor live load. Increased column spacing decreased slab load capacity as expected. The CFRP layer did not contribute to the moment capacity as the concrete slab itself was able to carry the applied loads, and the CFRP layer was not engaged. The experimental results were then used to calibrate numerical software models for further study into the behavior of existing slabs.
