CV4120 Advanced Reinforced

Concrete Design
Lecture 3 – Serviceability Limit
State: Crack width
Assistant Professor Zhao Ou
Email: ou.zhao@ntu.edu.sg
Office: N1-01b-49
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Nanyang Technological University

1
Outline
• General
• Uncracked and cracked RC section properties
• Mechanism of cracking
• EC2 crack width calculation
• Crack width control
• Worked example

2
 General
• Crack widths are routinely calculated in bridges, basements and water
retaining structures under quasi-permanent loading at serviceability
limit state.
• Cracks could pass through the complete member depths or
thicknesses, and lead to ‘leakage’ issue.
• Flexural and shear cracks in beams and slabs generally do not pass
through the complete member depths, but may still lead to corrosion of
reinforcement bars.

3
 General
• Reasons for limiting cracks:
 Appearance
 Functioning
 For example: large cracks in water retaining structures may lead to leakage.
 Durability
 For example: large flexural and shear cracks in beams generally lead to a
direct exposure of reinforcement bars to water and air, i.e. resulting in
corrosion.

4
 General
• EC2 crack width limits:
 For general reinforced concrete members in buildings:
wk  0.3 mm

 For architectural concrete members, where cracks would be unsightly:

wk  0.1 0.3 mm

 For water retaining structures, more tight crack width limits are
generally used:
wk  0.05  0.3 mm

5
 Uncracked and cracked RC section
properties
• At the serviceability limit state, the stress–strain response of concrete
can be assumed to be linear.
• A reinforced concrete (RC) section can be transformed into an
equivalent plain concrete section. Then, the geometric properties of the
equivalent plain concrete section is calculated.
 Uncracked RC section:

(m-1)As‘
ε σc=Ecmε

σs’=Esεs’

σs=Esεs

(m-1)As

The equivalent plain concrete area (Aeq,s), transformed from the reinforcement area (As), is derived
based on force equilibrium: AsEsεs=Aeq,sEcmεs

6 Therefore, Aeq,s=As(Es/Ecm); m=Es/Ecm is modular ratio

 Uncracked and cracked RC section
properties
• Uncracked RC section properties
 Neutral axis position:
 The distance from the neutral axis to the upper most compressive fibre (xu)
is derived by taking moments about the upper fibre of the cross-section.
bh  0.5h  (m 1) As  d  (m 1) As ' d '  [bh  (m 1)( As  As ')]xu
0.5bh 2  (m 1)( As d  As ' d ')
xu 
bh  (m 1)( As  As ')
0.5h 2 / d  (m 1)(  d   ' d ')   As  '  As '
xu 
h / d  (m 1)(    ') bd bd
(m-1)As‘
ε σc=Ecmε

σs’=Esεs’

σs=Esεs

(m-1)As
7
 Uncracked and cracked RC section
properties
• Uncracked RC section properties
 Neutral axis position:
 The distance from the neutral axis to the upper most compressive fibre (xu)
is derived by taking moments about the upper fibre of the cross-section.
0.5h 2 / d  (m 1)(  d   ' d ')   As  '  As '
xu 
h / d  (m 1)(    ') bd bd

 Second moment of area Iu:

bh3
Iu   bh(0.5h  xu )2  (m 1) As (d  xu )2  (m 1) As '(d ' xu )2
12
(m-1)As‘
ε σc=Ecmε

σs’=Esεs’

σs=Esεs

(m-1)As
8
 Uncracked and cracked RC section
properties
• At the serviceability limit state, the stress–strain response of concrete
can be assumed to be linear.
• A reinforced concrete (RC) section can be transformed into an
equivalent plain concrete section. Then, the geometric properties of the
equivalent plain concrete section is calculated.
 Cracked RC section:

(m-1)As‘
ε σc=Ecmε

σs’=Esεs’

σs=Esεs

mAs

Note that concrete is cracked up to the neutral axis and cannot carry
9 any tensile stress.
 Uncracked and cracked RC section
properties
• Cracked RC section properties
 Neutral axis position:
 The distance from the neutral axis to the upper most compressive fibre (xc)
is derived from force equilibrium.
0.5bxc c  (m 1) As ' s '  mAs s  s '   c ( xc  d ')/ xc  s   c (d  xc )/ xc
0.5bxc  (m 1) As '( xc  d ')/ xc  mAs (d  xc )/ xc
0.5bxc2  [(m 1) As ' mAs ]xc [(m 1) As ' d ' mAs d ]  0

xc / d  m  (m 1)  ' [m  (m 1)  ']2  2[m  (m1)  ' d '/ d ]
(m-1)As‘
ε σc=Ecmε

σs’=Esεs’

σs=Esεs

mAs
10
 Uncracked and cracked RC section
properties
• Cracked RC section properties
 Neutral axis position:
 The distance from the neutral axis to the upper most compressive fibre (xc)
is derived from force equilibrium.
xc / d  m  (m 1)  ' [m  (m 1)  ']  2[m  (m1)  ' d '/ d ]
2   As  '  As '
bd bd
 Second moment of area Ic:
bxc 3
Ic   mAs (d  xc )2  (m 1) As '(d ' xc )2
3
(m-1)As‘
ε σc=Ecmε

σs’=Esεs’

σs=Esεs

mAs

11
 Mechanism of cracking
• Considering a RC member in tension with the first crack just formed:

σs

mfctm
fctm

Note that:
 The first crack is formed when concrete tensile stress reaches the mean tensile
stress fctm at the weakest section.
 At the position of crack, the concrete tensile stress reduces to zero, and the
tensile force, previously carried by concrete before cracking, is then transferred
to the reinforcement bars.
 Redistribution of stress at the crack position is accompanied by a localised
increase in tensile strain in the reinforcement and a reduction in tensile strain in
12 the concrete, i.e. leading to crack width.
 Mechanism of cracking
• Considering a RC member in tension with the first crack just formed:

σs

mfctm
fctm

Note that:
 Beside the first crack, concrete tensile stress may then gradually increase to fctm,
with the level of increment depending on the bonding stress between concrete
and reinforcement. The second crack will then be formed.
 The distance required for the development of concrete tensile stress from 0 to
fctm is defined as 0.5Sr,max, i.e. no further cracks can be formed within Sr,max.

13
 Mechanism of cracking
• Considering a fully cracked RC member in tension:

S1 S2 S3 S4 S5

σs
mfctm
fctm

Note that:
 The crack spacing varies from 0.5Sr,max to Sr,max

0.5Sr,max<S1, S2, S3, S4, S5<Sr,max

14
 Mechanism of cracking
• Considering a RC member between two cracks:

0.5Sr,max

Reinforcement N N  As s
Ns,min
Nc,max  Ac,eff f ctm
Nc,max

Concrete 0
N s,min  N  Nc,max

Length change within Sr,max:

0.5Nc,max (0.5Sr,max )
Concrete: c  2[ ]
Ecm Ac,eff

0.5( N s,min  N )(0.5Sr,max )

Reinforcement:  s  2[ ]
15 Es As
 Mechanism of cracking
• Considering a RC member between two cracks:
wk   s c
0.5( N s,min  N ) 0.5Nc,max
 Sr ,max[  ]
Es As Ecm Ac,eff
0.5 (2 As s  Ac,eff f ctm ) 0.5 Ac,eff f ctm
0.5Sr,max  Sr ,max[  ]
Es As Ecm Ac,eff
Reinforcement N
0.5 Ac,eff f ctm 0.5Es f ctm
Ns,min [ s   ]
As Ecm
Nc,max  Sr ,max
Es
Concrete 0 0.5 f ctm
[ s  0.5mf ctm ]
 p,eff
 Sr ,max
Es
0.5 f ctm
[ s  (1 m p,eff )]
 p,eff
 p,eff  As / Ac,eff  Sr ,max
Es

16
 EC2 crack width calculation
• The EC2 crack width is calculated as
f ctm
[ s  kt (1 m p,eff )]
 p,eff s
wk   s c  Sr ,max  0.6Sr ,max
Es Es

Where:
 σs is the tensile stress in the reinforcement at the crack.
 fctm is concrete mean tensile stress.
 m=Es/Ecm is the modular ratio. Note that me=Es/Ec,eff is used for the
calculation of crack width under long-term loading.
 kt is equal to 0.6 for short-term loading, but equal to 0.4 for long-term
loading.
 ρp,eff is the effective tensile reinforcement ratio, defined as As/Ac,eff.
 Ac,eff is the effective tension area of concrete.
 Sr,max is the crack spacing.

17
 EC2 crack width calculation
• The effective tension area of concrete Ac,eff

Ac,eff  bhc,ef

hc,ef  min[2.5(h  d );(h  x)/3; h / 2]

Note that:
x is the distance from the most compressive fibre to the neutral axis of the cracked
section (i.e. x is equal to xc, defined in Slide 11).
18
 EC2 crack width calculation
• Crack spacing Sr,max
 For RC members with widely spaced reinforcement bars, with spacing
greater than 5(c+0.5ϕ):
Sr ,max 1.3(h  xc )

 For RC members with reinforcement bar spacing less than 5(c+0.5ϕ):

Sr ,max  3.4c  0.425k1k2 /  p,eff

Where:
 xc is the distance from the most compressive fibre to the neutral axis of the
cracked section.
 c is the concrete cover to the tensile reinforcement bars.
 k1 is equal to 0.8 for high bond bars, but 1.6 for plain bars.
 k2 is equal to 1.0 for pure tension, but 0.5 for bending.
 ρp,eff is the effective tensile reinforcement ratio, defined as As/Ac,eff.

19
 ϕ is the diameter of the tensile reinforcement bars.
 EC2 crack width calculation
• EC2 minimum required area of tensile reinforcement bars As,min
 For RC members under pure tension:
As,min s  f ctm Act

 For RC members under bending:

As,min s  0.4 f ctm Act

Where:
 As,min is the minimum required area of tensile reinforcement.
 Act is the area of concrete within the tensile zone, just before the formation of
crack. For bending case, Act=bhcr=b(h-xu), where xu is the distance from the
most compressive fibre to the neutral axis of the uncracked section, as
defined in Slide 8.

20
 Worked example – Crack width
calculation
A 1 m RC tie is under pure tension NEd=70 kN
RC section: h=100 mm, b=100 mm
As=201 mm2 (1H16)
C30/37 Concrete: fck=30 N/mm2, fctm=2.9 N/mm2, Ecm=33 kN/mm2
Reinforcement: fyk=500 N/mm2, Es=200 kN/mm2

Calculate the short-term crack width of

the 1 m RC tie under tension.

21
 Worked example – Crack width
calculation
• Tensile stress in reinforcement at cracks:
 s  N Ed / As  70103 / 201  350 N / mm2

• The effective tension area of concrete:

Ac,eff  bhc,ef 100100 10000 mm2

• Effective tensile reinforcement ratio:

 p,eff  As / Ac,eff  201/10000  0.02

22
 Worked example – Crack width
calculation
• Spacing between tensile reinforcement bars:
0 mm  5[(100 16)/ 2 16/ 2]  250 mm

• The crack spacing:

Sr ,max  3.4c  0.425k1k2 /  p,eff
 3.4 (100 16)/ 2  0.425 0.81.016/0.02
 415 mm

23
 Worked example – Crack width
calculation
• Crack width:
f ctm
[ s  kt (1 m p,eff )]
 p,eff Es 200
wk  Sr ,max m  6
Es Ecm 33
2.9
[3500.6 (160.02)]
 415 0.02
200000
 0.52 mm

wk ,lim  0.6Sr ,max

s
Es
350
 0.6 415
200000
 0.44 mm

wk  0.52 mm  0.3 mm Not Ok!

24
 Worked example – Crack width
calculation
A 8 m RC beam under UDL with the design bending moment at mid-span (at
serviceability limit state) equal to MEd=100 kNm
RC section: h=600 mm, b=300 mm, d=540 mm, d’=60 mm,
As=1608 mm2, ρ=As/bd=0.009926 (2H32)
As’=981.3 mm2, ρ'=As’/bd=0.006057 (2H25)
C30/37 Concrete: fck=30 N/mm2, fctm=2.9 N/mm2, Ecm=33 kN/mm2
Reinforcement: fyk=500 N/mm2, Es=200 kN/mm2
Loading was firstly applied at 28 days (i.e. t0=28) and RH= 80%: φ(∞, 28)=2.0

Calculate the long-term crack width of

the 8 m beam under UDL.

25
 Worked example – Crack width
calculation
• Long-term cracked section properties:

 Neutral axis position:

Ecm 33 Es 200
Ec,eff   11 kN / mm2 me    18
1 (,28) 1 2 Ec,eff 11

xc / d  m  (m 1)  ' [m  (m 1)  ']2  2[m (m 1)  ' d '/ d ]
 18 0.009926 17  0.006057 
[180.009926170.006057]2  2[180.009926170.00605760 / 540]
 0.397
xc  0.397  540  215 mm

• Second moment of area:

bxc 3
Ic   mAs (d  xc )2  (m 1) As '(d ' xc )2
3
3002153
 181608 (540  215)2 17  981.3 (60  215)2
3
26  4.48109 mm4
 Worked example – Crack width
calculation
• Tensile stress in reinforcement at cracks:
 s  me M Ed (d  xc )/ Ic 18100106  (540  215)/(4.48109 ) 130.6 N / mm2

• The effective tension area of concrete:

hc,ef  min(2.5(h  d ); (h  x)/3; h / 2)
 min(2.5 (600  540); (600  215)/3; 600/ 2)
128.3 mm
Ac,eff  bhc,ef  300128.3  38500 mm2

• Effective tensile reinforcement ratio:

 p,eff  As / Ac,eff 1608/38500  0.042

27
 Worked example – Crack width
calculation
• Spacing between tensile reinforcement bars:
300  60  60 180 mm  5(60 16  32/ 2)  300 mm
• The crack spacing:
Sr ,max  3.4c  0.425k1k2 /  p,eff
 3.4 (60 16)  0.425 0.8 0.5 32/0.042
 279 mm

28
 Worked example – Crack width
calculation
• Crack width:
f ctm
[ s  kt (1 me  p,eff )] s
 p,eff wk ,lim  0.6Sr ,max
wk  Sr ,max Es
Es
130.6
2.9  0.6 279
[130.60.4 (1180.042)] 200000
 279 0.042  0.109 mm
200000
 0.115 mm

wk  0.115 mm  0.3 mm Ok!

29
 Crack width control
• Crack width control without calculation:
 For slabs in buildings subjected to bending without significant axial tension,
specific measures to control cracking are generally not necessary, if the
overall depth of the slab does not exceed 200 mm.
 In general, crack width control can be conducted through limiting the
diameters and spacings of the reinforcement bars:
s '

Note that:
 The values in the above table are calculated, based on c=25 mm, fctm=2.9
N/mm2, hcr=0.5h, d/h=0.9, k1=0.8, k2=0.5 and kt=0.4. For other cases, the
maximum limited bar diameters should be modified as follows:
Bending: s  s '( f ctm / 2.9)hcr /[5(h  d )]
30
Tension: s  s '( f ctm / 2.9)hcr /[8(h  d )]
 Crack width control
• Crack width control without calculation:
 For slabs in buildings subjected to bending without significant axial tension,
specific measures to control cracking are generally not necessary, if the
overall depth of the slab does not exceed 200 mm.
 In general, crack width control can be conducted through limiting the
diameters and spacings of the reinforcement bars:

Note that:
 The values in the above table are calculated based on c=25 mm, fctm=2.9
N/mm2, hcr=0.5h, d/h=0.9, k1=0.8, k2=0.5 and kt=0.4.

31
 Worked example – Crack width control
A 8 m RC beam under UDL with the design bending moment at mid-span (at
serviceability limit state) equal to MEd=100 kNm
RC section: h=600 mm, b=300 mm, d=540 mm, d’=60 mm,
As=1608 mm2, ρ=As/bd=0.009926 (2H32)
As’=981.3 mm2, ρ'=As’/bd=0.006057 (2H25)
C30/37 Concrete: fck=30 N/mm2, fctm=2.9 N/mm2, Ecm=33 kN/mm2
Reinforcement: fyk=500 N/mm2, Es=200 kN/mm2
Loading was firstly applied at 28 days (i.e. t0=28) and RH= 80%: φ(∞, 28)=2.0

Check the long-term crack width of the

8 m beam under UDL without explicit
calculation.

32
 Worked example – Crack width control
• Long-term uncracked section properties:

 Neutral axis position:

0.5h 2 / d  (m 1)(  d   ' d ') Ecm
Ec,eff  
33
11 kN / mm2
xu 
h / d  (m 1)(    ') 1 (,28) 1 2
0.56002 / 540(181)(0.0099265400.00605760) Es 200
 m e
   18
600 / 540(181)(0.0099260.006057) Ec,eff 11
 311 mm
• Second moment of area:
bh3
Iu   bh(0.5h  xu )2  (m 1) As (d  xu )2  (m 1) As '(d ' xu )2
12
3006003
  300 600 (300  311)2 17 1608 (540  311)2 17  981.3 (60  311)2
12
 7.93109 mm4

33
 Worked example – Crack width control
• Depth of tensile zone just before the formation of crack hcr
hcr  h  xu  600  311  289 mm

• The maximum bar diameter:

 s 130.6 N / mm2 wk  0.3 mm

s '  32 mm
s  s '( f ctm / 2.9)hcr /[5(h  d )]
 32 (2.9/ 2.9)  289/[5(600  540)]
 31 mm    32 mm

34
Not Ok!
 Worked example – Crack width control
• The maximum bar spacing:

The actual reinforcement bar spacing of 180 mm is less than the

maximum limited bar spacing of 300 mm. Ok!

35
CV4120 Advanced Reinforced
Concrete Design
Lecture 3 – Serviceability Limit
State: Crack width
Assistant Professor Zhao Ou
Email: ou.zhao@ntu.edu.sg
Office: N1-01b-49
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Nanyang Technological University

36