Civil Engineering Department Notes on RC-

Chapter 1: Introduction
 General review
 Behavior of plain concrete/reinforced concrete under loads
 Behavior of steel under tension
 Design philosophies

General review
Plain concrete, a heterogeneous construction material, is weak in resisting tension in any form, but
strong in resisting compressive load. The expected or required strength of concrete can easily be
achieved by altering the proportions of the ingredients and/or by changing the ingredients with
different properties. The strength properties of concrete can be improved by adding chemical
admixtures or any other additives.
To produce a concrete member which has to resist tensile loads by developing bending tensile
stresses, reinforcing steel rods (rebars) are used. Such a material is called as reinforced concrete.
A reinforced concrete is a composite material where concrete and steel act together to bear the
loads acting on it. Apart from tensile stresses, steel can be wisely used to resist other stresses like
shear, torsion and also a part of compressive stresses where necessary by forming a pattern of
skeleton. Thus the skeleton of reinforcement confines the brittle concrete and imparts to some
extent ductility. The earthquake resistant design of reinforced concrete structures is focused to
avoid brittle failure of concrete by making the reinforced concrete sufficiently ductile. If the
reinforcement and concrete has to resist stresses to their full efficiency, a technique called pre-
stressing can be done.
The art of proportioning the concrete is called concrete mix design. The art of deciding the size,
shape and quantity of steel to be provided in reinforced concrete structural component and the
fashion how to detail the rebars to bring out a skeleton of reinforcements is called the reinforced
concrete structural design. The major aim of structural design is to produce design for a safe,
serviceable and durable structure. The process of structural design requires conceptual thinking,
sound knowledge of engineering, imagination, knowledge of relevant design codes and bye-laws
backed up by experience and judgment. The process of structural design involves the following
stages:
1. Structural planning and configuration
2. Action of loads, their classification and combinations
3. Analysis for the stress resultants
4. Design of components
5. Drawing, detailing and preparation of schedules
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Civil Engineering Department Notes on RC-
Behavior of plain concrete/reinforced concrete under loads
Behavior under compressive load: The compressive stress behavior of plain concrete is studied
by testing cube specimens of 150 mm sides or cylinder specimens of 150 mm diameter and 300
mm depth in compression testing machine. The compressive strength of concrete is defined as the
load, at which the standard specimen fails when subjected to uni-axial compression under a
specified rate of loading, divided by the area of load application. Experiments have shown that the
stress-strain relationship of concrete under direct compression is non-linear. Mainly, it is a
function of grade of concrete. Figure below shows typical stress-strain curve obtained from cubes
of different strengths loaded in uni-axial compression.

25

Stress 20
N/mm2
10

0.002

Strain

Stress strain relationship of concrete under compression

From the stress-strain curves the following important points should be noted.
1. The maximum compressive stress occurs approximately at a strain of 0.002.
2. The value of failure strain of low grade concrete is more than that of high grade concrete.
3. Ultimate or failure strain varies between 0.003 and 0.005.
4. The variation is almost linear up to half of the maximum strength.
5. There is no fixed ratio of stress/strain to define modulus of elasticity E of concrete and this
is usually taken as secant modulus.

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Civil Engineering Department Notes on RC-

Tensile strength of concrete: The tensile strength of plain concrete can be determined indirectly
by split tensile test. The test method consists of applying a diametrical compressive force along
the length of the cylindrical concrete specimen of 150 mm diameter and 300 mm length at a
prescribed rate of loading till failure occurs. This load induces tensile stresses on the plane
containing the applied load relatively high compressive stresses in the area immediately around the
applied load. Tensile failure occurs rather than compressive failure because the areas of load
application are in the state of triaxial compression, thereby allowing them to withstand much
compressive stresses than would be indicated by uniaxial compressive strength test results. Thin
plywood bearing strips are used so that the load is applied uniformly along the length of the
cylinder. The maximum load sustained by the specimen is divided by appropriate geometrical
factors to obtain the splitting tensile strength of concrete. Generally, the tensile strength of
concrete is between 1/8th and 1/12th of cube compressive stress.

The splitting tensile strength of concrete is calculated as T = 2P/πLd.

Where, T = Split tensile strength in MPa or kN/sq.m
P = Maximum applied load indicated by the testing machine in N or kN
L = Length of the specimen in mm or m.
d = Diameter of the specimen in mm or m.
Tensile strength of concrete can also be determined by flexural test. Flexural test specimens can
be prepared to specified sizes, tested by supporting simply at the ends by applying load either at
the mid span or at third points as per the specification. The modulus of rupture (maximum tensile
stress) fcr can be determined by the flexure formula, fcr = M/Z,
where M = the maximum bending moment and Z = the section modulus.

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Modulus of elasticity and Poisson’s ratio: Since concrete is an inelastic material the modulus of
elasticity which is the ratio of stress to strain with in the elastic limit, cannot be determined
uniquely. If the tangent to the curve is drawn at the origin, the slope of this line is known as initial
tangent modulus and corresponds to elastic deformation. As the stress-strain relationship of
concrete is not a straight line, this modulus is of not much importance. The slope of the tangent at
any point (say A) is called tangent modulus, which gives the rate of change of stress with strain at
that point. In practice it is of interest to know the stress corresponding to strain at a point or the
ratio of stress upon strain at a point. To obtain this ratio for the use in design, a straight line is
drawn from the origin to the desired point (say B) on the stress-strain curve. The slope of this line
which is the ratio of stress to strain at the point under consideration is called the secant modulus.
The short term static modulus of elasticity of concrete refers to secant modulus.

Stress-strain curve for concrete showing tangent modulus and secant modulus

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Civil Engineering Department Notes on RC-
Creep of concrete: Creep is defined as plastic deformation under constant load or stress. Concrete
under the action of constant load or stress continues to deform with time. This plastic deformation
grows rapidly and reaches highest intensity in the first three to four months after application of
load and then continues to increase gradually approaching the limiting value in a period of five
years. Since the creep increases at a faster rate in early stages the erection of walls on newly
formed concrete should be prolonged otherwise cracks develop in walls after a period of 6 to 12
months. The variation of creep deformation with time is schematically shown in figure below. It
can be seen from the figure that at any time when the load is removed the elastic recovery takes
place immediately while part of creep deformation recovers at a slower rate leaving permanent
deformation locked inside the concrete material.

Factors influencing creep:

(a) Magnitude of stress: Creep grows with the increase of stress level in concrete specimen.
(b) Age at loading: Loading at an earlier age causes high creep strain.
(c) Rate of loading: Creep increases with increase in the rate of loading.
(d) Humidity: Creep is reduced with increase in humidity or moisture content of the
surrounding air.
(e) Composition of concrete: An increase in water-cement ratio and the amount of cement per
unit volume of concrete increases creep.

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Civil Engineering Department Notes on RC-
Shrinkage of concrete: The property of diminishing in volume of concrete during the process of
hardening is termed shrinkage. The factors affecting shrinkage are:
(a) Environmental condition (humidity and temperature)
(b) Water-cement ratio
(c) Duration of exposure (not duration of loading)
(d) Percentage of steel
Greater the percentage of steel lesser is the shrinkage, because the reinforcement restrains the
shrinkage. The shrinkage is also a time dependent process. For computational purpose it may be
assumed that 50% of ultimate shrinkage occurs in the first one month and the remaining 75% in six
months from the commencement of drying. Creep and shrinkage occur simultaneously, and jointly
influence the behavior or reinforced concrete member. In limit state method, it is necessary to
assess deformations due to creep and shrinkage from serviceability considerations.

Behavior of reinforced concrete member under flexure: A beam is a structural member carrying
transverse load and/or moment contained in the centroidal plane, cause bending moment and shear
force along the span. If a transverse vertical load is applied to a simply supported beam it would
bend in such a way that the layers or fibers above the neutral plane are subjected to compressive
stresses and that below the neutral plane, to tensile stresses as shown in the figure below. In the
design theories, it is assumed that the entire tensile stress developed in the tensile zone is resisted
by the reinforcements alone as the concrete is weak in tension.

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Civil Engineering Department Notes on RC-
The internal forces set up within the beam comprises of total compressive force C and the total
tensile stress T acting at the centers of gravity of the stress block with a lever arm z. Two
equilibrium conditions must be satisfied at a section subjected to bending. (1) Internal
compressive force C = Internal tensile force
Since the internal compressive and tensile forces are equal and acting in opposite direction they
constitute a couple and the moment of the couple, called as moment of resistance, is the resistance
set up by the beam to counteract the external unbalanced moment (i.e., bending moment). Hence
the required second equilibrium condition to be satisfied is given by, (2) Moment of internal
couple = External bending moment.
Let σc = Maximum compressive stress; σs = Maximum tensile stress

x = Depth of neutral axis from the top fiber.

Total compressive force C = Average stress x Area of cross section on which it acts
1
C  c b x
2
Similarly, total tensile force T   s  As , where As = Total area of cross section of steel rebars
Moment of resistance can be expressed as M = Cz = Tz

(Some background information on concrete ingredients, properties, workability of concrete,

durability, compressive strength, etc. shall be recollected)

Behavior of steel under tension

The steel used in reinforced concrete structures are of different types such as plain round bars of
circular cross section, deformed bars or ribbed steel bars having spiral ribs in the surface of
circular cross section, thermo mechanically treated bars (TMT bars), and steel wire fabrics. The
round bars generally called as mild steel have lesser strength than the deformed bars and TMT
bars. The stress strain relationship for all the types of reinforcements are shown in the figure
below. It can be noted that the mild steel exhibits a definite yield point where as the other higher
strength steels show a smooth transition from elastic to plastic stages of stresses. In high strength
steels, the stress corresponding to a strain value of 0.002 is said to be the proof stress, which is
equivalent to the yield stress in case of mild steel. Apart from single reinforcing bars, welded wire
reinforcement also called as welded wire fabric is often used for reinforcing slabs and other
surfaces such as shells and for shear reinforcements in thin beam webs particularly in prestressed

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Civil Engineering Department Notes on RC-
beams. Welded wire reinforcement consists of sets of longitudinal and transverse cold drawn steel
wires at right angles to each other and welded together at all points of intersection. The size and
spacing of wires may be the same in both directions or may be different, depending on the
requirements of the design. The size of wires used in the welded wire fabric may vary from 2 mm
diameter to 6 to 7 mm diameter. For prestressing the steel is used in three forms: round wires,
stranded cable and alloy steel. Prestressing steels have high yield strength more than 1000 N/mm2.
Based on the strength requirements, the steel may be selected for use.

Design philosophies
Working stress method
This method was evolved during the middle of 19th century. In this method, it is assumed that the
concrete and steel behave elastically. The R.C. member is designed using classical elastic theory
such that the stresses in the material resulting from the worst combinations of working loads do not

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Civil Engineering Department Notes on RC-
exceed the allowable stresses. The allowable stresses or permissible stresses are obtained by
dividing the limiting stress of material by a factor of safety.
Some drawbacks in using working stress method are as follows.
1. The stress-strain curve for concrete is a continuous curve and not a straight line. High
strength steel bars which are predominantly used in practice do not behave elastically
but exhibit an almost continuous curvature (may show a shallow curve at earlier stress
values).
2. The factor of safety does not give true margin of safety against failure of the structure.
For example, a stress factor of safety of 3 for concrete does not mean that the member
or the structure will fail at a load three times the working load.
3. Creep and shrinkage, which are major time dependent effects on the structure, are not
accounted by elastic theory.
4. The additional load carrying capacity of the structure due to redistribution of moment is
not accounted for.
Limit state method
A structure should be designed to sustain safely the loads, with limited deformation, when it is
being used, and should have adequate durability during its anticipated service life. In other words,
according to this method of design, a structure must be fit to perform its function satisfactorily
during its service life span. The condition or the state at which the structure or part of the structure
becomes unfit for its use is called limit state. In EBCS 2, the limit states are placed in two
categories.
(a) The Ultimate Limit States are those associated with collapse, or with other forms of structural
failure which may endanger the safety of people. States prior to structural collapse which, for
simplicity, are considered in place of the collapse itself are also treated as ultimate limit states.
(b) The Serviceability Limit States correspond to states beyond which specified service
requirements are no longer met.
Ultimate Limit States
The ultimate limit states which may require considerations include:
(a) Loss of equilibrium of a part or the whole of the structure considered as a rigid body.
(b) Failure by excessive deformations, rupture or loass of stability of the structure or any part
of it, including supports and foundations.

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Civil Engineering Department Notes on RC-
Serviceability Limit States
The serviceability limit states which may require considerations include:
(a) Deformations or deflections which affect the appearance or effective use of the structure
(including the malfunctioning of machines or services) or cause damage to finishes of non-
structural elements.
(b) Vibration which causes discomfort to people, damage to the building or its contents, or
which limits its functional effectiveness.
(c) Cracking of the concrete which is likely to affect appearance, durability or water tightness
adversely.
All relevant limit states shall be considered in the design so as to ensure an adequate degree of
safety and serviceability. The usual approach will be to design on the basis of the most critical
limit state and then to check that the remaining limit states will not be reached.
The limit state philosophy acknowledges that there can be variations in both loads and material
strength. Thus, the safety of the structure depends on each of the two principal design factors (viz.
load and material strength) which are not the functions of each other. Hence, two different safety
factors one for the load and the other for material strength are used. Because each of the two
safety factors contributes partially to safety, they are termed as partial safety factors. (Both safety
factors are more than unity)
Partial safety factor for loads is a load factor which when multiplied with characteristic load gives
the design load (Thus increasing the load to be used for design). The partial safety factor for loads
takes in to account the variations in loads due to unforeseen increase in loads, constructional
inaccuracies, different loading combinations, secondary effects and type of limit state.
Partial safety factor for material strength has been introduced to account for constructional faults,
workmanship and supervision. The design strength is obtained by dividing the characteristic
strength by the partial safety factor for material strength (Thus reducing the strength of materials to
be used for design).
Basically, limit state design philosophy uses concept of probability, and is applied to determine the
variation in loads acting one the structure and the strength of materials (viz. concrete and steel).
Idealistic stress block parameters are considered so that the resulting design may be comparatively
fair having the optimum usages of materials and strengths.

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