Assignment

The basics needed to solve the problems must have been introduced to you in your previous courses on
structural analysis and design. The idea is to expose you to the type of design related forensic issues that
you might be confronted with in actual practice. In order to analyze such cases, you might have to do
some back-of-the-envelope calculations at site itself to arrive at an initial judgment, and this assignment
is intended to help you do that.
1. You are reviewing the failure of a simply supported reinforced concrete beam having a span of
2m which was subjected to a center-point loading. The beam has a depth of 40cm and a width
of 20cm, and is reinforced with two 20mm diameter bars at a depth of 30cm from the top. The
yield strength of the reinforcing steel (fy) used was 350 MPa, and the concrete used had a
design strength (f’c) of 35 MPa. What should have been the minimum load placed on this beam
to cause its failure?

2. For the same beam in the previous problem, calculate the deflection at mid-point just before
failure.

3. Two reinforced concrete columns each of 0.05 m2 cross sectional area support a beam loaded as
shown in the figure. If the elastic modulus of the concrete in columns is 40 GPa, calculate the
centerline deflection of the beam under the load point. (Neglect the self-weight of the beam).