Topic 5:

Durability, Stability and Serviceability Requirements

- Creep and Shrinkage

- Fire
-Durability
-Concrete Cover
- cracks controls
(Max and Min area of reinforcements)
(Spacing of reinforcements)
- anchorage bond and laps in reinforcements
- Deflections based on span to depth ratio
 Shrinkage
Benefit - better bonding of steel and concrete
Disadv- cause cracks
Due to water evaporation and thermal expansion
on concrete by wetting and drying process i.e.
environment.
Thermal expansion controlled by thermal joint at
correct positions( ex: large concrete area)
Steel reinforcements help to control concrete
shrinkage and hence less or smaller cracks.
Free shrinkage strain
fyk = 500 N/mm2
and fck =30-35 N/mm2
fctm = 2.9-4.1 N/mm2
 Fully restrained
- No steel in compression, strain =0
- Concrete tensile strain = free shrinkage strain

fyk = 500 N/mm2

and fck =30-35 N/mm2
fctm = 2.9-4.1 N/mm2
 Cracked concrete cause local bond breakdown
Cause steel across the crack in tension and
Steel between crack in compression

Member must always in equilibrium, thus from figure above

Forces in tension = forces in compression

Asfst = Acfct-Asfsc

Further explain in page 160 of your textbook to use this as basis

of determining min area of steel required to control thermal
and shrinkage cracking.
 Questions to you
What is the different of creep and
shrinkage?
What factors influencing shrinkage?
How do we make use of shrinkage and
creep effect in design of RC structure?
 Topic 5:
Durability, Stability and Serviceability Requirements

- Shrinkage and creep

- Fire
-Durability
-Concrete Cover
- cracks controls
(Max and Min area of reinforcements)
(Spacing of reinforcements)
- anchorage bond and laps in reinforcements
- Deflections based on span to depth ratio
Fire resistance is specified in minutes
NOT hours
Indirect Method : Use Tables
EC 2-1-2 Section 5
Given in Axis Distance NOT Cover
 Cnom concrete cover for fire
The recommendation for structural fire design is mentioned in
Part 1-2, EC2
The method is based on nominal axis distance, a NOT a min. cover.
The distance is measured from center to center of the main
reinforcing bar to the surface of the member.

a cnom link bar /2

Figure 5.2
EC2-1-2
 Cmin concrete cover for fire -Column
(Table 5.2a and 5.2b EN 1992-1-2
for rectangular or circular columns)
The permissible combinations of member dimensions and
axis distance
= reduction factor based on ratio of design and resistance
axial loads =0.7 (conservatively)
Note: EC2-1-2 Table 5.3 and 5.4 for walls.
 Topic 5:
Durability, Stability and Serviceability Requirements

- Shrinkage and creep

- Fire
-Durability
-Concrete Cover
- cracks controls
(Max and Min area of reinforcements)
(Spacing of reinforcements)
- anchorage bond and laps in reinforcements
- Deflections based on span to depth ratio
 Durability

Poor durability
corrosion of steel

Durable structure satisfied ULS and

SLS under normal circumstances
throughout its design working life.
Or
Refer to
the code or
page 131
textbook.
Cnom, dur for durability based on BS8500****

Refer textbook
page 132: table 6.2
 Concrete Cover
The concrete cover is required
to ensure adequate resistance
to fire and corrosion.

It is defined as the distance

between the outmost surface of
steel reinforcement and the
nearest concrete surface as
shown in Fig. 1.
Concrete cover - Provides
bonding layer; Environment
protection; and fire protection
to steel reinforcement

Fig. 1
 Concrete Cover (EC2)
The purpose of the cover is
to provide:
1. The safe transmission
of bond forces
2. The protection of steel
against corrosion
(durability)
3. An adequate fire
cnom resistance
Clear spacing
cnom
spacing
 Concrete cover
Cover to reinforcement is specified and shown on drawings as a
nominal value. This can be obtained by

cnom cmin cdev

Cdev is an allowance for construction deviations (Cl 4.4.1.3)

Cdev =10 mm normally except where an approved quality

control system on cover is specified it can be reduced to 5mm

Cmin = should no be less than the bar diameter.

= to ensure adequate durability in the life of the structure.
 Table 6.2 in detail
0 is
10mm. The structure is expose to water
contact with high humidity. Determine the
cylinder strength of the concrete , if 300kg/m3
minimum cement content allowed with 0.55
maximum w/c ratio
Cylinder Concrete strength
Of 30-32MPa.
 Cmin,b for bond (Table 4.2 EC2)

Min. concrete cover should than cmin,b are given in Table 4.2 BS
EN 1992-1-1

Example bar 20mm =20mm;

Other recommendation
Service Life
Cmin,dur for durability (Table 4.1 EC2)
 Structural Class (Table 4.4 EC2)

Recommended Cmin, dur in mm.

The recommended structural class is S4.
The recommended modification to the structural class is given in Table4.3 EC2
S1 recommended min structural class.
S4 design for 50 years
Example
 Cmin,dur for durability (Table 4.3, EC2)

Table 4.3N Recommended structural classification

S6
Related to w/c
ratio and air
entrainment
 Cmin,dur for durability (Table 4.1, 4.3-4.5 EC2)
The recommendation for durability cover which consider the exposure and
the structural classes given in Table 4.4 BS EN 1992-1-1 (= Table 4.4N)

The recommended structural class is S4.

The recommended modification to the structural class is given in Table4.3 EC2
S1 recommended min structural class.
S4 design for 50 years
 Concrete cover
example
A continuous RC beam is to be designed with a C25/30 concrete . It is
estimated the beam have overall depth of 600mm and a width of
200mm. The main bar size is 20mm diameter. Check the cover
requirements for durability, bond and fire resistance if the beam is to
be used in public building as external beam. Also determine the
effective depth of the beam.

Solution:-
1. Exposure condition
2. Min cover- bond
3. Min cover - durability
4. Nominal cover
5. Fire resistance requirement
6. Effective depth of beam
 Concrete cover example
solution
1. Exposure condition
public building as external beam = XC4
2. Min cover bond
Cmin = bar dia = 20mm ; Cnom=20+ =3

3. Min cover durability XC4, S4 , Table 4.4 EC2;

Cmin = 30mm ;

4. Fire resistance requirement Table 5.6 EC2-1-2

public building, external beam.
we consider 2hours = 120min fire requirements and
it is a continuous beam, b = 200mm ; a = 45mm; a cnom link bar /2

5. Nominal cover Cnom = 40mm (take the highest cover) DURABILITY

6. Effective depth of beam d = h- a.

d= 600-60 = 540 mm
Cnom, dur for durability based on BS8500****

Nominal cover-
durability
Table 6.2 BS 8500,
C25/30 concrete ;
Cnom,dur = 45mm
conventional
 Topic 5:
Durability, Stability and Serviceability Requirements

- Shrinkage and creep

- Fire
-Durability
-Concrete Cover
- cracks controls
(Max and Min area of reinforcements)
(Spacing of reinforcements)
- anchorage bond and laps in reinforcements
- Deflections based on span to depth ratio
 Cracking

For control of crack, two alternative methods are described in

EC2: Cl. 7.3;

1. Control of cracking without direct calculation, (Clause 7.3.3)

2. Calculation of crack widths (Clause 7.3.4)

In the absence of specific requirements (e.g. water tightness)

the crack width may be limited to 0.3 mm in all exposure
classes under quasi-permanent combination of loads.
In the absence of requirements for appearance, this limit may
be relaxed to 0.4 mm for exposure classes X0 and XC1.

* Crack limit 0.3-0.4mm

 Maximum Spacing of Bars

Control of cracking <0.3mm without direction calculation;

Maximum tension bar clear spacing depending on the steel stress (50-
300mm)

for beam with concrete grade C30/37 and 25mm cover, maximum spacing is
refer to table 6.7 in textbook or Table 7.3N EC2.

For slab less than 200mm thickness,

main bar -maximum spacing is 3h or 400mm, which ever is lesser.
Secondary bar- 3.5h or 450mm, whichever lesser.

For slab with concentrated load max spacing reduced to 2h<250mm and
at max moment of the slab max spacing reduced to 3h<400mm.
h= height of slab.

Side face reinforcement important for torsion and beam with >1meter deep.
 Minimum Spacing of Bars

Control of cracking <0.3mm without direction calculation;

minimum distance between bars is to permit concrete flows around

reinforcement during construction and to ensure that concrete can be
compacted satisfactorily for the development of adequate bond.

The clear distance between bars should not be less than the maximum
of
(i) the maximum bar size,
(ii) the maximum aggregate size + 5 mm, or
(iii) 20 mm. (Specified in section 8.2 EC2).
> hagg+ 5 mm

>hagg+ 5 mm
 Minimum Area of Reinforcement

The minimum area of reinforcement for beam also specified in

Cl. 9.2.1 as follows:
As ,min 0.26( f ctm / fyk )bt d

but not less than 0.0013btd

bt=mean width of the tension zone

fctm=mean value of the axial tensile strength of concrete

Page 9 or EC2 extract or Table 6.8 Textbook

 Maximum Area of Reinforcement
page 9 of EC2 extract

As, max to ensure the structural member is not congested with

reinforcements and for ease during concrete compaction work.

The limit As,max is specified by EC2 in Section 9.2.1 as follows:-

For a slab or beam, tension or compression reinforcement

For a column,

For a wall, vertical reinforcement

 Steel Arrangement

Table 1 The different possibilities of steel arrangement

b b

h h

db/2 db
dtie dtie
cover cover

d bar
d h cov er d tie d h cov er d tie d bar
2
 Tabel 1 steel arrangement, cont.

b b

d centre of
steel bars
h

db db
s s
dtie
cover cover

s d bar
d h cov er d tie d bar d h cov er d tie d bar s
2 2
 Topic 5:
Durability, Stability and Serviceability Requirements

- Shrinkage and creep

- Fire
-Durability
-Concrete Cover
- cracks controls
- Max and Min area of reinforcements
- Spacing of reinforcements
- anchorage bond and laps in reinforcements
- Deflections based on span to depth ratio
 Summary
- Shrinkage and creep important for large concrete structure that
expose to high temperature differences.
-

- Fire if design for fire, specific design criteria is given

- For standard fire exposure- use indirect method- refer to tables to determine

- Durability how do durability aspect is explained in RC design?

- Concrete Cover why it is important? What factors influence the

thickness?

- cracks controls why it is important? What is the acceptable crack

width? What are the indirect checking made in design to ensure cracks
width is acceptable?