‫بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم‬

CE 370
Reinforced Concrete Design-I

Lecture #5
Flexural Behavior of RC Beams: Uncracked Stage

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I 1 September 3, 2019

 Contents
2

 Objectives of the present lecture

 Analysis versus design
 Idealized stress-strain Curves
 Moment-curvature diagram
 Assumptions in flexure theory for reinforced concrete
members
 Flexural behavior stages in an RC beam
 Uncracked concrete stage

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019

 Objectives of the Present lecture
3

 To briefly discuss various stages of moment-

curvature diagram for reinforced concrete (RC)
beams.
 To discuss behavior of RC beams in an uncracked
stage.

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019

 Analysis versus Design
4
Analysis
Given • Cross section dimensions
• Concrete strength
• Steel quantity and location
• Steel yield strength
Required Resistance or strength
Answer one unique answer
CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I
Design
Force or moment (e.g. Factored
design moment, 𝑀𝑢 )
• Cross section dimensions
• Concrete strength
• Steel quantity and location
many possible solutions
September 3, 2019
 Idealized Stress-Strain Curves
5

Concrete Steel

Es  2 105 MPa for all grades

Compression: for a stress less or equal to 50% of fc’ ,
the curve is almost linear. Es s when  s   y
fs  
  f y when  s   y
Tension: strength very small and curve assumed linear.

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019

 Moment-Curvature Diagram
6
c

c  x
N .A. d 𝜙 = Curvature (Angle change of the beam
section)
𝜀 = strain in a beam fiber at distance 𝑥 from 𝑁𝐴
𝜀 𝜀𝑐
For very small angles: tanϕ ≈ ϕ = =
s 𝜀𝑐 𝜀𝑠 𝑑 − 𝑐 𝜀𝑠 𝑑
𝑥
𝜀𝑠
𝑐
⇒ = ⇒ = = −1=
• Bending moments cause 𝑐 𝑑−𝑐
𝜀𝑐
𝑐 𝜀𝑐 𝑐 𝜀𝑐
curvatures (rotations). ⇒𝑐= 𝑑
𝜀𝑐 + 𝜀𝑠
• Curvature is better ∴𝜙= =
𝜀𝑐 𝜀𝑐 + 𝜀𝑠
representative of bending 𝑐 𝑑
deformation than
deflection.

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019

 Moment-Curvature Diagram (Contd.)
7 c

𝜀𝑐 𝜀𝑐 + 𝜀𝑠 c  x
𝜙 = = N .A. d
𝑐 𝑑

Moment s
• From the measured compressive
Failure
strain in concrete and tensile Rebars yield
M yield
strain in steel, the relationship
between the bending moment Service or working
M service
and the curvature can be tracked load range
M cr
up to the failure. Concrete cracks
in tension

Curvature, 
CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019
 Moment-Curvature Diagram (Contd.)
8

 First stage is for moments less than the cracking

moment Mcr . The entire beam cross section is
available to resist bending. The relationship is Moment
quasi-linear.
 When the moment is increased beyond Mcr, the Failure
Rebars yield
slope of the curve decreases as the cracked
beam is not as stiff as in the initial stage. The M yield
diagram will still follow a straight line from Mcr
M service Service or working
to the point where steel is stressed to its yield
load range
point.
M cr
 After steel yields, the beam has very little Concrete cracks
additional moment capacity, and only a small in tension
additional load is required to substantially
Curvature, 
increase rotations and deflections. The slope of
the diagram is now almost flat.

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019

 Basic Assumptions in Flexural Theory for
Reinforced Concrete members
9

Basic Assumptions in
Flexure Theory

The stresses in the

Sections The strain in the concrete and
perpendicular to the reinforcement is equal reinforcement can be
axis of bending that to the strain in the computed from the
are plane before concrete at the same strains by using
bending remain plane level stress-strain curve for
after bending concrete and steel

The second assumption implies that the concrete and steel must act together
to carry load. That is, there is a perfect bond between the concrete and steel.

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019

 Flexural Behavior stages in an RC beam
10

 If a small transverse load is placed

on a reinforced concrete beam and
this load is gradually increased in
magnitude until the beam fails.
Beam will go through three distinct
stages before collapse occurs.
These are:
Note: General moment-curvature
 The Uncracked Concrete Stage relationships is used to describe
 The Concrete Cracked– Elastic the flexural behavior of RC beam
Stresses Stage sections.

 Beam Failure– The Ultimate

strength stage

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019

 Uncracked Concrete Stage
11
c fc
• At small loads when the tensile stresses c
x
 
are less than the modulus of rupture, fr , N.A. x
the entire cross section of the beam h fs / n
As
s yt
resists bending.

• The contribution of the reinforcement b
f

can be ignored in this range of behavior. Beam section

Strain Stress
variation variation
• An approximate calculation of the 𝑓𝑐 𝑓𝑠
𝜀𝑐 = 𝜀𝑠 ⇒ =
bending stress in such a beam can be 𝐸𝑐 𝐸𝑠
obtained based on the gross properties 𝐸𝑐 𝑓𝑠 𝐸𝑠
⇒ 𝑓𝑐 = 𝑓𝑠 ⇒ 𝑓𝑐 = ∵𝑛=
of the beam’s cross section. Moment
𝐸𝑠 𝑛 𝐸𝑐

• Moment-Curvature: Up to this point the Rebars yield

Failure

moment-curvature relationship is linear M yield

and is referred to as the uncracked- M service Service or working

load range
elastic range. M cr
Concrete cracks
in tension

Curvature, 

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019

 Bending stress in an Uncracked Beam
12
c fc
If the distance from the section centroid to the c
estreme tension fiber is 𝑦𝑡 ,then the stress at the
x
 
x
extreme tension fiber is: N.A.
𝑀𝑦𝑡 h fs / n
𝑓= ; when 𝑓 = 𝑓𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑀 = 𝑀𝑐𝑟
As
s yt
𝐼𝑔
𝑀𝑐𝑟 𝑦𝑡 𝑓𝑟 𝐼𝑔  f
𝑓𝑟 = ⇒ 𝑀𝑐𝑟 = b
𝐼𝑔 𝑦𝑡 Strain Stress
Beam section variation variation

𝑓𝑟 = Modulus of rupture Moment

= 0.62𝜆 𝑓𝑐′ (Section 19.2.3.1, SBC 304 − 18)
(Note: 𝜆 = 1 for normal weight concrete) Rebars yield
Failure

M yield
The section curvature at cracking, Φ𝑐𝑟 can be calculated
for this point using elastic bending theory: M service Service or working
𝐸 𝑀 𝑀𝑐𝑟 𝑀𝑐𝑟 load range
= 𝐸ϕ = ⇒ 𝐸𝑐 Φ𝑐𝑟 = ⇒ Φ𝑐𝑟 =
𝜌 𝐼 𝐼𝑔 𝐸𝑐 𝐼𝑔 M cr
Concrete cracks
where, 𝜌 = radius of curvature; in tension
𝐸𝑐 = 4700 𝑓𝑐′ for normal concrete.
Curvature, 

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019

 Problem-1
13

(a) Assuming the concrete is uncracked, compute the bending stresses in

the extreme fibers of the beam of figure given below for a bending
moment of 34 kN.m. The normal weight concrete has an fc’ of 30 MPa.
(b) Determine the cracking moment of the section.

375 450

3 − ϕ28

All dimensions in mm
300

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019

 Solution
14
(a) Bending Stresses: An uncracked beam is
1 1 assumed to be
𝐼𝑔 = 𝑏ℎ3 = × 300 × 4503 = 2.28 × 109 mm4 homogeneous with
12 12
neutral axis passing
𝑀𝑦 (34 × 106 ) × 225 through the centroid
𝑓= = = 3.35 MPa
𝐼𝑔 2.28 × 109 of the beam section.
Modulus of rupture 𝑓𝑟 = 0.62𝜆 𝑓𝑐′ = 0.62 × 1.0 × 30
= 3.4 MPa
(Note: 𝜆 = 1 for normal weight concrete)
∵ 𝑓 < 𝑓𝑟 ⇒ The section is not to have cracked.
375 450
(b) Cracking Moment (𝑀𝑐𝑟 ):
𝑓𝑟 𝐼𝑔 3.4 × 2.28 × 109 3 − ϕ28
𝑀𝑐𝑟 = =
𝑦𝑡 225
6
= 34.4 × 10 N.mm
⇒ 𝑀𝑐𝑟 = 34.4 kN.m 300

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019

 Further Reading
15
Read more about this lecture from:

• Reinforced concrete, Mechanics and Design by James K.

Wight, Seventh Edition, Pearson Prentice Hall, USA.
• Design of Reinforced Concrete, 10th Edition by J.C.
McCormac and R. H. Brown, Wiley, USA.

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019

 Thank You
16

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019