UNIT NO: 4

OBJECTIVE: To understand the behaviour of under reinforced and over

reinforced R.C beams in flexure.
REFERENCE: IS 456:2000: Code of practice for plain and Reinforced concrete.
THEORY: Under Reinforced Beam- Reinforced concrete beam sections in which
the steel reaches yield strain at loads lower than the load at which the
concrete reaches failure strain are called under-reinforced sections. In under
reinforced beam, rate of gain of stress in steel is more than rate of concrete. So
steel reaches its maximum permissible value earlier than concrete and fails
first hence it is ductile in failure.

The various features of under reinforced section are as follows :

 Steel is fully stressed while concrete not.

 The actual neutral axis lies above the critical neutral axis (n < nc).
 The percentage of steel is less than the balanced section. Hence the
section is economical and ductile failure.
 The moment of resistance is less than balanced section.

Over Reinforced Beam- Reinforced concrete beam sections in which the failure
strain in concrete is reached earlier than the yield strain of steel is reached, are
called over-reinforced beam sections. In case of over- reinforced section stress
in concrete reaches its maximum permissible value first so concrete fails first
and it is brittle failure since concrete is brittle.

The various features of over reinforced section are:

 Concrete is fully stressed while steel is not .

 The actual neutral axis is below the critical neutral axis i.e., n > nc.
 The percentage of steel is more than the balanced section, so the section
is uneconomical and sudden failure.