BAR BENDING SCHEDULE

REGNIER A. REBALDO
COMPILER

BAR BENDING SCHEDULE:

Bar bending schedule (or schedule of bars) is a list of reinforcement bars,

vis-à-vis, a given RCC work item, and is presented in a tabular form for
easy visual reference. This table summarizes all the needed particulars of
bars – diameter, shape of bending, length of each bent and straight
portions, angles of bending, total length of each bar, and number of each
type of bar. This information is a great help in preparing an estimate of
quantities.

Figure 1 depicts the shape and proportions of hooks and bends in the
reinforcement bars – these are standard proportions that are adhered
to:
(a) Length of one hook = (4d ) + [(4d+ d )] – where, (4d+ d ) refers to
the curved portion = 9d.

(b) The additional length (la) that is introduced in the simple, straight
end-to-end length of a reinforcement bar due to being bent up at say
30o to 60o, but it is generally 45o) = l1 – l2 = la
Where,

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 Fig 1: Hooks and bends in Reinforcement
Giving different values to respectively), we get
different values of la, as tabulated below:

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Figure 2 presents the procedure to arrive at the length of hooks and the
total length of a given steel reinforcement.

Fig 2: Typical Bar Bending Schedule

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Advantages of bar bending schedule in concrete construction are:

1. Bar bending schedule provides details of reinforcement cutting and

bending length. Advantages of bar bending schedule when used along
with reinforcement detailed drawing improves the quality of construction,
cost and time saving for concrete construction works.

2. When Bar bending schedule is available, cutting and bending of

reinforcement can be done at factory and transported to site. This
increases faster execution at site and reduces construction time and cost
due to less requirement of workers for bar bending. Bar bending also
avoids the wastage of steel reinforcement (5 to 10%) and thus saves
project cost.

3. It improves the quality control at site as reinforcement is provided as

per bar bending schedule which is prepared using the provisions of
respective detailing standard codes.

4. It provides the better estimation of reinforcement steel requirement for

each and every structural member which can be used to compute overall
reinforcement requirement for entire project.

5. It provides better stock management for reinforcement. Steel

requirement for next phase of construction can be estimated with
accuracy and procurement can be done. This prevents stocking of extra
steel reinforcement at site for longer time, preventing corrosion of
reinforcement in case of coastal areas. It also prevents shortage of
reinforcement for ongoing work by accurate estimation and thus concrete
construction works can proceed smoothly.
6. Bar bending schedule is very much useful during auditing of
reinforcement and provides checks on theft and pilferage.

7. Bar bending schedule can be used for reinforcement cutting, bending

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and making skeleton of structural member before it can be placed at the

required position. Other activities such as excavation, PCC etc can
proceed parallel with this activity. So, overall project activity
management becomes easy and reduces time of construction. It becomes
helpful in preventing any damages due to construction time overrun.

8. It provides benchmarks for quantity and quality requirements for

reinforcement and concrete works.

9. Bar bending schedule provides the steel quantity requirement much

accurately and thus provides an option to optimize the design in case of
cost overrun.

10. It becomes easy for site engineers to verify and approve the bar
bending and cutting length during inspection before placement of
concrete with the use of bar bending schedule and helps in better quality
control.

11. It enables easy and fast preparation of bills of construction works for
clients and contractors.

12. The quantity of reinforcement to be used is calculated using

engineering formulas and standard codes, so there is no option for
approximate estimation of steel reinforcement.

13. With the use of bar bending schedule, mechanization of cutting and
bending of reinforcement can be done, again reducing the cost and time
of project and dependency on skilled labor requirement. It also improves
the reliability on accuracy of bar cutting and bending.

14. When mechanized bar cutting and bending is used, the cost
of reinforced concretework per unit reduces and helps in cost optimization
of construction project.
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