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The following figures show the flexural behavior of

a reinforced concrete beam, before cracking, after
cracking and at failure.
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Stage 1: No external loads self weight.
Stage 2: the external load P cause the bottom fibers to equal to
modulus of rupture of the concrete. Entire concrete section was
effective, steel bar at tension side has same strain as surrounding
concrete.

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Stage 3: The tensile strength of the concrete exceeds the rupture fr

and cracks develop. The neutral axis shifts upward and cracks
extend to neutral axis. Concrete loses tensile strength and steel
starts working effectively and resists the entire tensile load.

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Stage 4: The reinforcement yields.
Stage 5: Failure of the beam.

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 Flexure Theory
Basic Assumptions in Flexure Theory
Three basic assumptions are used
1- Plane sections perpendicular to the axis of
bending remain plane after bending
2- The strain in the reinforcement is equal to
the strain in the concrete at the same level
3- The stresses in concrete and reinforcement
are computed from the strains using stress-
strain curves for concrete and steel

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Stress Block

ACI code 10.2.7 allow to

use equivalent
rectangular concrete
stress distribution

The compressive coefficients of the stress

block at given for the following shapes.
k3 is ratio of maximum stress at fc in the
compressive zone of a beam to the
cylinder strength, fc’ (0.85 is a typical
value for common concrete) (ACI 10.2.7)
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 Flexural Stress
The compressive force is modeled as Cc = k1k3f’c b*c
at the location x = k2*c

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Whitney’s Rectangular Stress

Distribution

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Flexural Stress
The compressive zone is modeled with a equivalent
stress block.

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- Value ACI 318

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ACI Code Assumptions in Flexure Theory
for Design (ACI 10.2.6, 10.2.7)
Three assumptions are considered
4- Tensile strength is neglected in flexure analysis
5- Concrete fails when maximum compressive strain
is reached εCU = 0.003
6- The shape of compressive
stress in concrete is
approximated to rectangle,
trapezoidal, parabolic ..etc.

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Stress Block

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Analysis of the flexural capacity of

a general cross section of concrete
To determine the nominal capacity of an arbitrary
cross section, four steps are to be followed:
These are:
1- Assume that the tension steel yields before
concrete crushes. fs = fy and so T = As fy
2- C = T and the distance between them is jd
where j ranges from 0.8 to 0.98
3- Mn = T x jd and Mn = C x jd
4- Check the assumption No. 1 if still fs =fy

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Flexural Stress

Definitions of failure modes:

1- Balanced failure: concrete crushes and steel
yields simultaneously. Such a beam has
balanced reinforcement.
2- Tension failure: reinforcement yields before
concrete crushes. Such a beam is said to be
under- reinforcement.
3- Compression failure: concrete crushes before
steel yields. Such a beam is said to be
over-reinforced.
The following figures show the three failure modes:
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Failure Modes

 Tension-Controlled Failure: t  0.005

 Compression-Controlled Failure: t  y (y=Fy/Es)

 Transition Failure: y  t  0.005. For beams and
slabs (no axial loads), the ACI code requires that t
must be always  0.004 ( 0.004  t  0.005)

 Balanced Failure: t = y

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Strength Reduction Factor

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Example 1

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Analysis of rectangular beams
with tension reinforcement only
Equations for Mn - tension steel yielding:
Consider the beam shown in the following fig. The
compressive force in concrete is given by: where α1 =
0.85 according to ACI

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Design Moment Strength
Design flexural strength is given by fMn
For singly reinforced rectangular beams,

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Design Moment Strength

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 Balanced Reinforcement
Ratio, rbal
The equation can be rewritten to find cb

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Steel Ratio rbal, r0.005, rmax

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