Jayson Picart

BSCE-4B
ASSIGNMENT NO.6

1.   What are primary and secondary moments?

The primary moment is the apparent bending moment at a section in a
statically indeterminate structure due to actual eccentricity of the tendons
from the centroidal axis and obtained by as a product of prestressing force
and eccentricity.
Secondary moments are additional moments induced at a section of a
statically indeterminate structure due to redundant reactions developed as a
consequence of prestressing the structure.
2.   List several design practices that may help make the construction of
reinforced concrete columns more economical.

 Strength of concrete employed for reinforced concrete column

A valuable recommendation provided regarding concrete strength is

the use of maximum concrete compressive strength needed to carry
factored loads and lowest permissible reinforcement ratio. This is
because the lowest price would be reached if such measure is
practiced as the cost of reinforcement reduces. It is claimed that, the
use of minimum reinforcement ratio for a given column would reduce
total column cost significantly (around 32% for concrete strength of
56MPa and 57% for concrete strength of 100MPa) compared with the
case where maximum reinforcement ratio is utilized. The smallest size
of columns in multi storey structures is specified based on the
maximum concrete compressive strength and a limit on the maximum
reinforcement ratio. If the size of column is smaller than the minimum
allowable size at the base of the structure, then reinforcement ratio
can be decreased. Finally, both reinforcement ratio and concrete
compressive strength can be decreased as the imposed factored loads
decline in the upper storeys.

 Formwork used for casting reinforced concrete column

It is recommended to use the same size and shape for reinforced

concrete column for the all floors and from footing to the roof. Not only
does this strategy would allow to construction large number of
columns (mass production) but also the formwork of columns can be
reused again. One may argue that, using the same size for all columns
would lead to utilize large quantity of additional concrete and hence it
would be uneconomical. However, it is proven that, savings achieved
from formwork cost and fast construction would be much greater than
 the cost of extra material used for smaller columns of storeys above.
Added to that, this strategy is claimed to be applicable for maximum
building height of 188.2m

 Steel reinforcements used in the reinforced concrete column

construction

It is advised to conduct cost comparison between various combination

of concrete compressive strength and steel yield strength to specify
combination that provides lowest cost. It is reported that, the use of
high strength concrete with 520MPa yield strength would need lowest
cost. Another measure to decrease cost of reinforcements is to utilize
minimum tie bars without the violation of code specifications. Minimum
tie requirement would be reached if a longitudinal steel bar is installed
at each corner of the column. If minimum tie requirement is realized,
then it would not be necessary to use interior ties. Consequently, not
only can low slump concrete be poured and properly compacted but
also the time and cost required to install column reinforcement would
be reduced.

 Details of reinforcement of concrete column

It is possible to make savings in splices subjected to compression only

(in another word, end bearing mechanical splices). Added to that, it is
advised to employ staggering in order to make the mechanical end
bearing to resist certain amount of bending.

Commonly, tensile splice of steel bar with 32mm size is required to be

employed if the column subjected to large bending force. In this case,
it is recommended to use mechanical splice because it is more
economical. However, if the size of the bar is smaller than 32mm, then
it is more economical to consider lap splice rather than mechanical
splice.

3.   Why does the spiral improve the behavior of a column?

As any column is loaded, and thus shortened, the concrete will expand
laterally. When this expansion occurs, transverse reinforcement is engaged
and will tend to react against any further expansion of the concrete within
the core. This results in a state of tri-axial compression within the core of
the column, which significantly improves both strength and ductility. The
circular spiral is much more effective than tied reinforcement at confining
this expansion for two reasons. First, spirals are often spaced more closely
together than tied stirrups, so the confinement is more uniformly applied to
the core. Second, the confinement stresses are transformed directly into
hoop stresses in the spiral, which is a much more efficient mechanism for
reacting to the core’s expansion than the straight legs of tied stirrups can
provide.

4.   Why are tension splices required in some columns?

Even when columns are subjected to axial loads, reinforcing bars can still
often be stressed in tension when moments are concurrently applied to the
section. When this is the case, tension splices (either Class A or Class B) are
required for those bars expected to be resisting tension. However, since it is
most practical from a construction standpoint to use the same length of lap
splices on all bars within a section, all splices should be specified as tension
splices when some of the bars are expected to be in tension.

5.   Write a program to solve for points on an interaction diagram for

rectangular columns with up to 10 layers of steel.

No solution is given, since any number of programs or spreadsheets could

work depending on the selected hardware/software platform.