DESIGN FOR LIMIT STATE OF

SERVICEABILITY- DEFLECTION
DEFLECTION – CAUSES FOR CONCERN
• In the structures, deflection may occur in
– horizontal (Lateral) direction
– Vertical (Gravity) direction
• Major causes of deflection in horizontal direction
– Earthquake loads
– Wind loads
– Temperature loads
• Unlike steel structures, concrete structures are much heavier
and stiffer and are hence much less susceptible to large
horizontal deflections.
• Horizontal deflection in RCC structures are generally
assumed to be under control and not checked.
• Hence, IS 456-2000 details only procedures to determine and
control only vertical deflections.
 DEFLECTION – CAUSES FOR CONCERN (contd.)
• Major causes of deflection in Vertical plane
– Dead load due to due to self-wt. concrete structure
– Dead loads due to partition walls and floor & wall finishes
– Live load on floors
– Point/concentrated loads due to presence of machines etc on
floors
• It can be seen that except for point loads, all other loads causing
deflection may be idealised as uniformly distributed on beams
as line load and in slabs as UDL
 DEFLECTION – CAUSES FOR CONCERN (contd.)
• Deflection is an important parameter in design of RCC
structure as excessive deflection in structure/ structural
element causes:
– Cracking of concrete sections leading to lesser section
being effective against flexure.
– Excessive forces and deflections on brittle cladding
elements such as brick masonry, glass, cladding, etc. and
causes damage in them
– Due to cracking, behaviour becomes Non-linear
– Aesthetics
– Psychological discomfort to user.
– Ponding on floor and roof slabs
Design of Flexural Members for Deflection
Code recommends that
• Final deflection for beam and slab under all loads not
greater than Span/250 ( to not to be noticed by naked
eyes)
• Additional Deflection in beam and slab after the partition
wall and finish under all loads not greater than Span/350
or 20mm which ever less (to not to damage the finish and
partitions)
• Deflection may be calculated theoretically and may be
checked with allowable limits
• Deflection may be controlled by limiting the (span/depth)
ratio as it depends on (span/depth) ratio.
Relation between Deflection and (Span/depth) Ratio
For a simply supported beam of span ‘L’ and subjected to UDL ‘w’, the
‘Short-Term’ deflection may be calculated as
5 w L4
δ
384 E c I
Assuming that ‘Long-term’ deflection (which includes effect of
shrinkage and creep), is  (>1) times the short deflection, hence, long-
term deflection may be calculated as
5 w L4 5α  w L2  1   L2  5α  M   L2  5α  f   L2 
δα                
384 E c I 48  8  I   E c  48  I   E c  48  y   E c 
If maximum permissible (working stress) in concrete is  and depth of
beam section is ‘d’, then
5α  σ   L2  5α  σ   L2  5α  σ   L 
               
48  (d/2)   E c  24  E c   d  L 24  Ec   d 

  L  L d 
• In the limit state of serviceability, deflections are checked at service
stage and at service the section is assumed to behave elastically and
therefore ‘Working stress method of design is used
• In working method, permissible stress in concrete in compression
and bending is taken as cbc
5α  σ cbc   L 

Hence,     
L 24  Ec   d 
Also, in working stress method, modulus of elasticity Ec is related to
modulus of elasticity of concrete via ‘modular ratio’ as
Es 280
Ec  Where, m is modular ratio given as m 
m 3 cbc
Es Es 3 cbc  cbc 280 
Hence, Ec    Es   
m 280 3 cbc  280 Ec 3Es Ec
 5  280   L  L 24     3Es  24  1   3  2  105  41.14
              
L 24  3Es   d  d 5  L   280  5  250   280  
L 41.14
For 5 years or more sustain loading,  = 2.0, hence,   20.57
d 2
• In IS:456, the (L/d) ratio for simply supported beam is taken as 20
• Also, code gives (L/d) ratio for different support conditions as
• For Cantilever beam : (L/d) = 7
• For Simply supported Beam : (L/d) = 20
• For Continuous beam : (L/d) = 26
• Above mentioned (L/d) ratios given in IS Code are applicable for
following conditions
• For beams having Span up to 10m
• Section has steel amount of tension steel exactly same as
calculated for flexural design beam
• Beam is singly reinforced i.e. there is no compression steel
• Section shape is Rectangular
• (L/d) ratios given for above conditions are known as basic (L/d) ratio
• For a beam if the above mentioned parameters differs, Modification
factors are applied to ‘Basic (L/d) ratio’
Thus, In general, (L/d) ratio for a beam is calculated as
(L/d) for a beam =Basic (L/d) F0 F1 F2 F3
Where, F0 , F1 , F2 and F3 are the modification factors for Span,
tension steel, compression steel and shape respectively
Determination of Modification Factor F0 (For Span > 10m)
• If Span, L <10 m  F0 =1.0
• For Simply supported and Continuous beam, having span > 10m,
F0 is calculated as  F0 =10/L
• For cantilever beams: calculations are to be made to calculate F0
Determination of Modification Factor F1 ( Ast, Provided > Ast, Calculated)
F1 Depends on percentage of Tension steel, pt as shown in Fig
• Calculate the percentage of tension of steel (pt) in rectangular and T-
sections as
For Rectangular Section : pt = 100Ast/bd
For T-Section : pt = 100Ast/bw d
• In the Figure, fs is stress in tension steel at service load
• At ultimate load, stress in tension steel = 0.87 fy
• Since, the service loads are (1/1.5) times the ultimate loads, stress
in tension steel st service load, = 0.87 fy/1.5 = 0.58 fy
• Further, if tension steel provided is more than the exactly required
for flexural design, stress in tension steel will reduce proportionally.
• Stress in steel at service load
Ast ( required)
f s  0.58 f y
Ast ( provided)
• To determine F1, calculate fs
using above equation and read
the value of F1 corresponding to
stress curve corresponding to fs.
Determination of Modification Factor F2
Calculate the percentage of compression of steel (pc) in rectangular
and T-sections as
For Rectangular Section : pc = 100Asc/bd
For T-Section : pc = 100Asc/bw d
• Read the value of F2 from the following Figure corresponding to
value to pc calculated above.
Determination of Modification Factor F3
• Calculate (bw/bf) ratio and read the value of F3 from graph.
• For Rectangular section (bw/bf) equals unity, and Modification factor
(reduction factor) becomes unity.
Example on Deflection Control of Beams
Given Data-
• Interior beam (continuous on both sides)
• Distance between zero moment points on beam = 6.2 m
• Beam c/c in plan = 4.5m
• Slab = 125mm thick
• Beam size (web)= 250 (width) X 300 (depth) mm
• M25 concrete / Fe 500 reinforcing steel
• Longitudinal bars
• 2 No. of #16 at top and bottom through-out.
• 2 No. of #12 at bottom for central portion,
• 2 No. of #16 at top for end (near support) portions
• Clear cover to reinforcement may be assumed 25 mm
• Assume steel provided is just equal to required steel
• Check for safety in Limit State of Serviceability.
• Mentioned that its an interior beam.
• So slab can be presumed to be present on both sides of the
beam i.e. T-beam.
• Eff. width of beam flange
= (lo/6) + bw + 6Df = (6200/6) + 250 + 6x125 = 2033 mm
• Max. eff. width of beam
= bw + clear spacing between beams = 4500mm.
• Hence, effective flange width of beam = 2033 mm.
• For the 25mm cover, and 16 mm reinforcement bar effective
depth d = (300 – 25 – 16/2) = 267mm
• Basic ratio for continuous beams, basic (L/d) = 26.
• Since, depth of slab > 0.42d, NA will lie in flange and width of
beam will be 2033
• Since, for the given continuous beam, distance between points
of zero moment is 6.2m (<10m), Modification Factor, F0 = 1.0
• % of tension steel = 100 Ast/bd = 100628/(2033267) = 0.116
• Since area of steel provided = Area of steel required,
• Service stress in steel = 0.585001 = 290 MPa
• Modification factor for tension steel, F1 = 1.6
% compression steel
= 100 Asc/bd = 100402.123/(2033267) = 0.107
Modification factor for compression steel, F2 = 1.03
Ratio of web width to effective flange width = 250/1408 = 0.178
Modification factor for flanges, F3 = 0.8
Limiting span-depth ration = 261.61.030.8 = 34.28
Actual span – depth ratio provided = 6200 / 267 = 23.22
The beam is deemed to be safe in Serviceability condition
from Deflection criterion.