Lectures on Reinforced Concrete Design: Lecture 1

INTRODUCTION

Reinforced Concrete
Reinforced concrete (RC) is a strong durable building material that can
be formed into many varied shapes and sizes (flexible in shaping).
Its utility and versatility are achieved by combining the best features of
concrete and steel.
Comparing the properties of these two materials:
Property

Concrete

Steel

Tensile Strength

poor

good

Compressive Strength

good

good, but slender bars will buckle

Shear Strength

fair

good

Durability

good

corrodes if unprotected

Fire resistance

good

poor - suffers rapid loss of strength at

high temperatures

It can be seen that the materials are complementary. When they are
combined, the steel provides the tensile strength and probably some of
the shear strength, while the concrete, strong in compression, protects
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the steel to give durability and fire resistance.

Composite Action
Concrete is week in tension (its tensile strength is about 10 % of its
compressive strength).
For this reason, RC structures are designed assuming concrete does
not resist any tensile forces.
Reinforcing steel bars are designed to carry all tensile forces, which
are transferred by bond between the two materials (composite
action).
Inadequate bond causes reinforcing bars to slip (no composite
action).
Bond improves by compacting concrete around the reinforcement, and
some bars are ribbed or twisted so that there is an extra mechanical
grip.

Composite Action
In the analysis and design of RC sections, it is assumed that there is a
perfect bond, so that the strain in the reinforcement (s) is identical
the strain in the adjacent concrete (c).

When tension occurs, cracking of concrete will take place.

Reinforcement will restrain the cracking of concrete.
When compressive or shearing forces exceed the strength of the
concrete, steel reinforcement must also be provided to supplement
the load-carrying capacity concrete.
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Construction Steps of RC Members

The construction of a RC member involves:
Building of forms or molds
The forms must be strong enough to support the weight and
pressure of the wet concrete, plus any forces applied to it by
workers, concrete buggies, wind, etc,
Reinforcement is prepared and placed in the forms
Placement of concrete
Removal of the forms after the concrete gains sufficient
strength

Stress-Strain Relations
Stress

0.67 f cu

0.002

Strain

Stress-strain relation of Concrete

Stress-strain relation of Steel

Idealized Stress-strain Curve for Concrete

For design purposes, the typical stress-strain curve for concrete
is given below:

f cu = Compressiv e strength
EC = Young' s mod ulus

m = Material safety factor = 1.5

cu = Ultimate strain = 0.0035
Ec
o =

Stress-strain relation for Steel

Steel has equal properties in tension and compression
Youngs modulus, Es = 200 kN/mm2
Because of its good ductility, it is assumed for design purposes to
have no limiting strain.
Grades of steel are: 460 N/mm2 (High strength steel) and
250 N/mm2 (Mild steel)

Es

f y = Yield strength
ES = Young ' s mod ulus

m = Material safety factor =1.05

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Materials Specification for Design: Concrete

The selection of the type of concrete is governed by the strength required.

The concrete strength is assessed by measuring the crushing strength of cubes or
cylinders of concrete made from the mix. These are usually cured, and tested
after twenty-eight days according to standard procedures .
Concrete of a given strength is identified by its 'grade' . A grade C25 concrete has
a characteristic cube crushing strength of 25 N/mm2
The Table below shows a list of commonly used grades and also the lowest grade
appropriate for various types of construction.
Grade

Lowest grade for use as specified

C7.5, C10

Plain concrete

C15, C20

Reinforced concrete with lightweight aggregate

C25, C30

Reinforced concrete with dense aggregate

C35

Concrete with post-tensioned tendons

C40, C50, C60

Concrete with pre-tensioned tendons

Exposure conditions and durability can also affect the choice of the mix design and
the grade of concrete, e.g a structure subject to corrosive conditions in a chemical
plant would require a denser and higher grade of concrete than the interior
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members of a school or office block.

Materials Specification for Design: Steel

1. Reinforcing steel is supplied in form of bars. These can be classified
according to their manufacturing process into:
a) Mild steel bars (Hot-rolled) with yield strength fy = 250 N/mm2
b) High yield bars (Hot rolled & cold worked) with yield strength fy =
460 N/mm2
2. The nominal size of a bar is the diameter of an equivalent circular area.
3. Hot-rolled mild-steel bars usually have a smooth surface.
4. High-yield bars are manufactured either with a ribbed surface (Type 2 - T)
or in the form of a twisted square (Type 1 - Y). Square twisted bars have
inferior bond characteristics and are not used now.
5. Floor slabs, walls, shells and roads may be reinforced with a welded
fabric of reinforcement, supplied in rolls and having a square or
rectangular mesh.
6. The bar types are commonly identified in designs by the following codes:
R = mild steel; Y =high yield deformed steel, type I;
T = high yield deformed steel, type 2 (ribbed surface)
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Objectives of the Design of RC Structures

Every structure has its form, function and aesthetics.
Normally the architects will take care of them.
The structural engineers will be solely responsible for
the strength and safety of the structure.
However, the roles of architects and structural engineers
are very much interactive to produce a good design.
The objectives of the design are as follows:

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Objectives of the Design of RC Structures

1. The structures so designed should have an acceptable probability
of performing satisfactorily during their intended life.
2. The designed structure should sustain all loads and deform within
limits for construction and use. Adequate strengths and limited
deformations are the two requirements of the designed
structure. The structures should give sufficient warning to the
occupants and must not fail suddenly.
3. The designed structures should be durable. The materials of
reinforced concrete structures get affected by the environmental
conditions.
4. The designed structures should adequately resist the effects of
misuse and fire. Properly designed structures should allow
sufficient time and safe route for the persons inside to vacate the
structures before they actually collapse.
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Objectives of the Design of RC Structures

Design objectives can be fulfilled by understanding the strength
and deformation characteristics of the materials used in the
design as also their deterioration under hostile exposure.
The necessary information regarding properties and strength of
these materials are available in the standard codes of practices.
It is necessary to follow these clearly defined standards for
materials, production, workmanship and maintenance, and the
performance of structures in service.
The code of practice used in this course is BS8110 (The structural
use of concrete).

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Methods of Design
The known methods of design of reinforced concrete structures
are:
1. The permissible stress method in which ultimate strengths of
the materials are divided by a factor of safety to provide
design stresses which are usually within the elastic range.
2. The load factor method in which the working loads are
multiplied by a factor of safety.
3. The limit state method which multiplies the working loads by
partial factors of safety and also divides the materials'
ultimate strengths by further partial factors of safety
BS8110 is based on the

Limit state method.

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Design Steps
In any method of design, the following are the common steps to
be followed:
1. To assess the dead loads and other external loads and
forces likely to be applied on the structure,
2. To determine the design loads from different
combinations of loads. Initial member sizing is needed
for this step,
3. To estimate structural responses (bending moment, shear
force, axial thrust etc.) due to the design loads (Analysis),
4. To determine the cross-sectional areas of concrete
sections and amounts of reinforcement needed.
5. Preparation of drawings showing the details of the
designed structure
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Loads and Forces

The following are the different types of loads and forces acting on the structure. Their
values can be assessed based on earlier data and experiences (provided by Codes
of Practice):
1. Dead loads: These are the self weight of the structure to be designed. The
dimensions of the cross section are to be assumed initially which enable to
estimate the dead loads from the known unit weights of the materials of the
structure. The unit weights of the materials are provided by the Code of Practice.
2. Imposed loads: They are also known as live loads and consist of all loads
other than the dead loads of the structure. The values of the imposed loads
depend on the functional requirement of the structure. Residential buildings will
have comparatively lower values of the imposed loads than those of school or
office buildings.
3. Wind loads: These loads depend on the velocity of the wind at the location of the
structure, permeability of the structure, height of the structure etc.
4. Snow loads: These are important loads for structures located in areas having
snow fall, which gets accumulated in different parts of the structure depending on
projections, height, slope etc. of the structure.
5. Earthquake forces: Earthquake generates waves which move from the origin of
its location (epicenter). The impact of earthquake on structures depends on the
stiffness of the structure, stiffness of the soil, height and location of the structure
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etc.

Analysis of Structures
Structures when subjected to external loads (actions) have
internal reactions in the form of bending moment, shear
force, axial thrust and torsion in individual members.
The structure develops internal stresses and undergo
deformations.
Essentially, we analyse the structure elastically replacing each
member by a line (with El values) and then design the section
using concepts of limit state of collapse.
The external loads to be applied on the structures are the
design loads and the analyses of structures are based on
linear elastic theory.
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Limit State Method of Design

What are limit states?
Limit states are the acceptable limits for the safety
and serviceability requirements of the structure
before failure occurs.
The design of structures by this method will thus
ensure that they will not reach limit states and will
not become unfit for the use for which they are
intended.
It is worth mentioning that structures will not just fail
or collapse by violating (exceeding) the limit states.
Failure, therefore, implies that clearly defined limit
states of structural usefulness has been exceeded.
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There are two main limit states:

(i) limit state of collapse (Ultimate limit state) and
(ii) limit state of serviceability.

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Main Limit States

1.

Limit state of collapse deals with the strength and

stability of structures subjected to the maximum design
loads out of the possible combinations of several types of
loads. Therefore, this limit state ensures that neither any part
nor the whole structure should collapse or become unstable
under any combination of expected overloads.

2.

Limit state of serviceability deals with deflection and

cracking of structures under service loads, durability under
working environment during their anticipated exposure
conditions during service and stability of the structure as a
whole.
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Other Limit States

1. Excessive vibrations which may cause discomfort or
alarm or damage
2. Fatigue:- must be considered if cyclic loading is likely
3. Fire resistance- this may be considered in terms of
resistance to collapse, flame penetration and heat
transfer
4. Special circumstances like earthquake resistance
The usual procedure is to decide which is the crucial
limit state and base the design on it, then check to
ensure that other limit states are satisfied.
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Characteristic Material Strength

The strengths of materials upon which design is based are
called characteristic strengths. A characteristic strength is one
below which results are unlikely to fall.
Assuming normal distribution, the characteristic strength for
concrete is taken as that value below which it is unlikely that
more than 5% of the results will fall, and that is given by:-

f k = f m 1.64 s
where :
fk = the characteristic strength,
fm = the mean strength and
s = the standard deviation.
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Characteristic Loads
What is meant by characteristic load?
Characteristic load is that load which has a 95% probability of not being
exceeded during the life of the structure.
The loads are predicted based on statistical approach, where it is
assumed that the variation of the loads acting on structures follows the
normal distribution Characteristic load should be more than the
average/mean load

Characteristic load = Average load + 1.64 (standard deviation for load)

The characteristic dead, imposed and wind loads have the notation Gk, Qk, Wk
respectively.

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Design Strengths of Materials

We obtain the design strengths of the materials by dividing the
characteristic strengths by the material safety factor m , i.e.

Design Strength = f k / m

takes account of possible differences between the material in

the actual structure and the strength derived from test specimens.

In concrete, this would cover such items as insufficient compaction,

differences in curing, etc.
For reinforcement it would cover such items as the difference
between assumed and actual cross-sectional areas caused by
rolling tolerances, corrosion, etc.

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Design Strengths of Materials

The values of m for each material will be different for the different
limit states by virtue of the different probabilities that can be
accepted.
The recommended values for m are as follows : (Table 2.2)

Limit state
Ultimate
Serviceability

Flexure
Shear
Bond

m
Concrete
1.5
1.25
1.4
1.0

m
Steel
1.05
1.0

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Design Loads
We obtain the design load by multiplying the
characteristic load by the load safety factor f , i.e.

Design Load = Characteristic Load f

is introduced to take account of:

1. possible unusual increases in the load
2. inaccurate assessment of effects of loading
3. variations in dimensional accuracy in construction
4. the importance of the limit state being considered.

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Design Loads
f

varies for different limit states and also for different combinations of
loading.

Values of f for ultimate and service limit state are given in the following Table:
Serviceability

Ultimate limit state

Load Combination

Earth &
Water
Pressure

Wind

1.4
(or 1.0)

1.6
(or 0.0)

1.4

1.4
(or 1.0)

1.4

1.4

1.0

1.2

1.2

1.2

1.2

1.0

Dead

Imposed

g
1- Dead & Imposed
(+Earth & water pressure)
2- Dead & Wind
(+Earth & water pressure)
3- Dead & Imposed &
Wind (+Earth & water
pressure

ALL
( g , q, w )
1.0

The arrangement of loads should be such as to cause the most severe

effects, i.e. the most severe stresses.

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Basic Requirement of Designed Structures

1. The structure must fulfil its intended function throughout
its intended (design) life and it shall do so without
abnormal maintenance costs.
2. The structure must be safe. The consequences of
collapse can be extremely serious and the possibility of
collapse must be negligible.
3. The structure must be designed so that if loads very much
greater than the normal design loads are applied then
adequate warning of the danger of collapse shall be
given (e.g. visible signs of cracks and large deflections) to
permit appropriate action to be taken.
4. The structure must be of least cost (economical).
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