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Flowchart) Concrete Beam with Tension Reinforcement Only
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STRUCTURAL
since ENGINEER
1984! Its basically a quick way to check your numbers for concrete exure
HQ I will show you later in the post).
(which
Apparently thats how engineers used to do quick checks theres no reasons why we
cant still use the same technique today.
In this post, you will learn how to design a reinforced concrete beam step-by-step,
with my simple-to-follow owchart. By creating and using the owchart, I was able
to recall the info needed without having to memorize anything which I hope I can
help you do the same.
The Goals
There a few things that I want to help you achieve by the end of the post:
Note that the owchart mainly addresses the design of a rectangular beam (not
T-beams) with tension reinforcing only. T-beam design will come in a later post.
Assumptions
I want to point out that since you are taking the SE exam, you most likely have some
idea about all of the concrete properties (brittle) and the design theories
(compression zoneetc.) so I am not going to elaborate too much about them.
If you do need more info though, please let me know I am more than happy to help.
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Another thing I want to mention is that there are many many ways to do the same
Free Flowcharts That Can Help You Pass the SE
designand
Exam
this is just the one that I am most familiar with.
STRUCTURAL
OK lets get to this! ENGINEER
HQ
Flowchart
The owchart itself is pretty self-explanatory (maybe because I created it?) but I
am going to give you a quick rundown anyway. Please do not hesitate to let me
know if you got any questions.
What's Given?
Usually, you should already have something to get started with on your design:
Mu: Factored design moment based on the worst case from your load
combinations.
f'c: Speci ed compressive strength. This is typically 3000, 4000, or 5000 psi.
fy: Speci ed yield strength of reinforcement. Usually 60,000 psi for new
buildings and 40,000 psi for older buildings.
b: Width of the beam.
d: Usually the total beam depth cover 1/2 of the rebar diameter. I am going
to assume you know what this is.
Quick Check
Before you do anything, its a good idea to do this rst. Like I mentioned in the
beginning, its a very quick way to get a rough number for the reinforcement you
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need.
Free Flowcharts That Can Help You Pass the SE
Exam
I know the units dont make sense but just go with it and test it out. You want to make
STRUCTURAL
sure ENGINEER
the unit for your Muis [kip-ft] and d is [in]. The result will be in [in2].
HQ
Ill show you an example at the end.
Step-by-Step Explanations
equation
so
that you don't have to plug
needed.
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requirements.PS: I wrote it
in this format because I am
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Corresponding factor as
13 Calculate
mentioned earlier.
Revised (increased)
reinforcement
14 Calculate requiredsince the section
is compression controlled
which has lower .
Given
Quick Check
This is the quick and dirty way to check the required reinforcement. We'll come back
to verify when we have an actual solution.
Flowchart
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# Flowcharts
Free EQUATION
That Can Help You Pass theRESULTS
SE NOTES/EXPLANATION
Exam
1 0.1875
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
HQ Use the table, the number
Use Appendix A
listed that is closest to
2 Table(of theSE 0.243
0.1875 is 0.1874 which
Reference Manual)
corresponds to .
3 0.0122
4 0.0033
5 0.85
6 0.0155
7 0.0122
8 0.0136
errors.Based on this, we
will need 4-No.8 bars (0.79
in2 x 4 = 3.16in2).Note that
if the As you use is
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12 6.729 in
tension governs.
Free Flowcharts That Can Help You Pass the SE
Exam
STRUCTURAL
And done! ENGINEER
HQ
Now if you change Mu to 300 kip-ft, you can see how it works if compression governs
(I won't demonstrate here).
Final Thoughts
Of course, as I mentioned earlier, just like any other engineering topics, this is not the
only way to design a rectangular concrete beam but it's a fairly straightforward way
to do it.
Note that I didn't cover shear design as it will come in a later post.
Is this helpful? Let me know what you think in the comments below!
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