Inverted beams not a good choice

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120303/real.htm#4

Summary
Technical Aspect (Low Integrality) Drawbacks (Low Strength & Durability) No Shuttering (Inexact Load-Carrying Capacity) Odd Shape (Low Functionality) No Compaction (Low mix Density= Honeycombing) Lean Mix (Concrete Weakness) No Curing (Inadequate Water Content)

Advantages of Rectangular Beams

(Proper shuttering- Full Compaction- Mix Stiffness- Economical-Supportable)

RCC has become the universal material to cast the intermediate floor slabs or roof slabs of houses because of its excellent strength and durability. Generally, these slabs have many beams located in them. The beams are provided to transfer the load on the slab and of the slab to the walls or columns below the beams. The layout of the beams is to be decided carefully to create a complete supporting grid for the slab. The slab supporting grid of the beams has the walls or columns for transfer of load to the foundations. This way, the load is safely transmitted to the ground. The beams provided below the slabs are either simple rectangular beams or inverted beams. These days, the practice of providing inverted beams has caught momentum. Popularity Inverted beams are becoming popular these days. Every architect prefers to provide inverted beams in the slab. The reason for this is that the projected portion of the beam above the slab surface gets hidden in the floor sub-base laid over the slab and is never visible. On the other hand, if a rectangular beam is provided, it projects below the slab bottom and is visible in the rooms below. This projection is not liked by the architects and house owners. Technical Aspect Technically, an inverted beam is not better because in such a beam, the advantage of using slab portion as beam flange is lost. In a normal rectangular beam, cast monolithic with the slab, the beam acts as a T-beam and certain slab

portion contributes as a part of the beam. But in inverted beam, this advantage is lost.

Drawbacks Inverted beams suffer from many drawbacks. A layman doesnt realise these drawbacks and opts for inverted beams shown by the architect in the drawings. The onus, thus, is on the architects to convince a house builder to accept rectangular beams for better strength and durability of house instead of going for a superficially attractive but weak structure. Improper Construction Inverted beams are never constructed at site in a proper manner. The masons lay the concrete in the slab portion and leave the steel portion of inverted beams projecting above the slab surface without concrete. Cement slurry that has fallen on this steel during concreting of slab dries up which is undesirable. After the laying of slab concrete, the balance portion of the inverted beam is made up with concrete, creating a joint in the beam at slab level. This is totally an improper way of construction. No Shuttering It is not possible to provide any side shuttering for projected portion of inverted beams. The steel of the slab and the beams has to be laid first. No shuttering can now be erected over the laid steel. In the absence of shuttering, the designed width and depth of beams is not achieved at site thus putting a question mark over the load-carrying capacity of the beam. At the most, the masons erect wooden planks or bricks on the two sides of the beams, when the slab has hardened. But these planks or bricks dont provide necessary support. Odd Shape In the absence of shuttering, the masons round up the edges of inverted beams as it is not possible to lay sharp edges and corners of the beams when no shuttering support is there. Rounding off the edges of beams results in reducing the section of beams and the beams in actual dont carry the load these are designed for. No Compaction Again, in the absence of shuttering, it is not possible to apply vibrator to the concrete laid in the projected portion of inverted beams. The concrete laid in inverted beams is, therefore, not compacted well. Its density reduces and chances of honeycombing in it increase to a great extent. Often such honeycombing is visible when the masons remove the temporary wooden planks or bricks erected on beam sides. The masons hastily repair this by applying mortar on beams. This mortar application, however, doesnt help in restoring the strength of beams. Lean Mix

As it is not possible to apply vibrator to the concrete laid in inverted beams, the masons ask for a leaner concrete mix for the projected portion of beams. The mixer operator adds more than required quantity of water to concrete being produced, increasing its water cement ratio. This directly affects the quality and strength of the concrete, putting the whole structure under risk. No Curing Another disadvantage of inverted beams is that these are never cured well. After the laying of concrete in slab and beams, a water pond is created on the top of slab for its curing for 14 days. However, the projected portion of inverted beams remains uncured. At the most, water is sprinkled over this portion of beams once or twice in the day which is inadequate. Some vigilant house builders arrange jute bags to cover the projected portion of beams. These bags retain water for a longer period. However, vigil has to be kept that these bags remain wet all the time as the projected portion of beams is subjected to direct sun. (This column is published fortnightly) What are inverted beams? The thickness of a slab is generally 5 to 6 inch while the depth of a beam is 9 inch or more. The difference in the depth of beam and the thickness of slab either projects above the slab surface or below the slab bottom. Inverted beams are the beams that project above the top surface of slab. Rectangular beams, simply called beams, are the ones projecting below the bottom of the slab surface.

Suppose the thickness of slab is 5 inch while the depth of a beam is 12 inch. Therefore, the difference of 7 inches will either project above the slab surface or below its bottom. The beam with 7 inch projection above the slab surface is an inverted one.

Design remedy False ceilings are in these days. These can be provided in the portion where rectangular beams with larger depth have been provided. False ceiling can easily hide the beams and make the ceiling look attractive. In case the false ceiling is not to be done due to cost factor, it is better to accept the beams projecting below the slab than going for improper construction. Advantages of rectangular beams Proper shuttering has to be necessarily erected for laying the rectangular beams and masons cant escape erecting their shuttering, as is often done for inverted beams.

Full compaction of concrete can be done.

The concrete mix can be kept stiff and no extra water is required to be added to it.

Rectangular beams are economical than inverted beams.

Proper bed plates can also be provided below the rectangular beam ends for transfer of load. In short, rectangular beams have all the advantages. Their only disadvantage is their visibility in the rooms below.