By the end of this week the student

should be able to:

 Describe design philosophies in
accordance to Eurocode 2
 Define the what SLS
 Explain the design criteria in address the
SLS
 Calculate the deflection for checking
 What is design?
 Is “designing” important?
 Why design is important?
 Why designing building structural elements
are important?
 What is code of practice?
 What is the design philosophy?
 What is Reinforced Concrete?
 The development of the Eurocodes (EC)
started in 1975
 It is said to be the most technically
advanced structural design codes in the
world.
 Eurocodes (EC) are known as
performance code compared to British
Standard (BS), which is a descriptive
code
 EC claimed to has more advantages
over BS
The Eurocode Family
EN 1990 Eurocode Basis of structural design
EN 1991 Eurocode 1 Actions on structures
EN 1992 Eurocode 2 Design of concrete structures
EN 1993 Eurocode 3 Design of steel structures
Design of composite steel and concrete
EN 1994 Eurocode 4
structures
EN 1995 Eurocode 5 Design of timber structures
EN 1996 Eurocode 6 Design of masonry structures
EN 1997 Eurocode 7 Geotechnical design
EN 1998 Eurocode 8 Design of structures for earthquake resistance
EN 1999 Eurocode 9 Design of aluminium alloy structures
 Eurocode underpins all structural design irrespective of the
material of construction. It establishes principles and
requirements for safety, serviceability and durability of structures
EUROCODE 2 : DESIGN OF CONCRETE STRUCTURES

EN 1992-1-1 General rules and rules for buildings

EN 1992-1-2 General rules – Structural fire design

EN 1992-2 Concrete bridges – design and detailing rules

EN 1992-3 Liquid retaining and containment structures

 EC2 advices on the basis of phenomena

(e.g. bending, shear etc) rather than by
member type as in BS 8110 (e.g. beams,
slabs, columns etc).
 EC2 Design is based on characteristic
cylinder strength not cube strength.
 The benefits of using EC2 can be
summarized as followings;
 Technically advanced codes in the world

 Economical compared to BS8110

 Logical and avoids repetitions

 More Extensive

 Standardizes design regulations across Europe

 It is a composite material combining best
features of concrete and steel
Concrete Steel
Tensile strength Poor Good
Compressive strength Good Good depending on slenderness
Shear strength Fair Good
Durability Good Corrodes
Fire resistance Good Poor – suffers rapid loss of strength at high
temperatures

 Invented by Joseph Monier, a French

gardener in 1849 and was patented in 1867
 Why Reinforced Concrete?
 Strong
 Durable
 Formable
 What is concrete?
Cement + Coarse Aggregate + Fine Aggregate + water
 The quality of concrete depends on the mix-
proportions, types of cement, cement/water ratio
 The concrete strength is measured by crushing
strength (compressive test) of cubes or cylinder
 Concrete of a given strength is identified by its
‘class’ – i.e. Class 25/30; where cylinder crushing
strength is 25N/mm2 and cube compressive
strength is 30N/mm2
 Table below shows the class of concrete strength
used in EC2
Concrete strength classes and modulus of elasticity
Concrete Characteristic Characteristic Modulus of
strength class cylinder strength cube strength elasticity E cm
f ck (N/mm2) f ck,cube (N/mm2) (kN/mm2)
C20/25 20 25 30
C25/30 25 30 31
C30/37 30 37 33
C35/45 35 45 34
C40/50 40 50 35
C45/55 45 55 36
C50/55 50 60 37
C55/67 55 67 38
C60/75 60 75 39
 Steel strength is assessed by measuring
the tensile strength of steel.
 A characteristic yield strength (fyk) of 500
N/mm2 which normally denotes as
Grade 500 has been adopted by the UK
 The nominal size of a bar is the diameter
of an equivalent circular area.
 High-yield bars are manufactured with
ribbed surface or in the form of a twisted
square to have a mechanical bond with
the concrete
 Reinforced concrete
(Concrete + steel
reinforcement) structure
may distorts with resulting
stress and strain when
loaded
 Stress-strain relation of
concrete linear at first
(elastic) and eventually
becomes non-linear
(plastic)
 The ultimate strain for most
structural concretes tends
to be constant of 0.0035
Stress-strain Relations
 Compared to concrete,
steel is a high strength
material with a yield
strength between 400 to
600 MPa
 Steel behaves as an
elastic material up to the
yield stress, after which
behaves as a plastic
material
 Steel have a elastic
modulus (Es) of 200
kN/mm2
Design Philosophy
Design Philosophy
 An over limit state is formally defined by
the description of a condition for which a
particular structural member or an entire
structure fails to perform the function that
is expected of it.
 Limit states quote the beyond (level)
which the structure no longer fulfills the
relevant design criteria
Limit state design of a structure are expected to ensure
that under the worst loadings the structure is safe and
during normal working conditions the deformation of the
member does not detract from the appearance, durability
or performance of the structure. In other words, Limit states
quote the beyond (level) which the structure no longer
fulfills the relevant design criteria.

Eurocode 2 underpins two limit states to design RC structural

elements:
 serviceability limit state (SLS):
SLS, states that correspond to condition beyond which
specified services requirements for structure or structural
member are no longer met. SLS concerned with ‘function’: like
deflection, cracks, vibration or fire resistance.
 ultimate limit state (ULS):
ULS is associated with collapse or with other similar forms of
structural failure. ULS, concerned with ‘collapse’, a situation
(state) when structural failure occurs without or insignificant
warning
 SLS conventionally represents failure states for
normal operations due to deterioration of routine
functionality.
 SLS considerations in design may address:
› local damage which reduces the durability of the
structure or affects the efficiency of structural elements;
› deformations and deflections which may spoil the
aesthetic appearance of the structure
› unacceptable deformations which affect the efficient use
of structural elements or the functioning of equipment
relying on them;
› excessive vibration or noise which can cause discomfort
to people or affect the proper functioning of equipment;
and
 Excessive deflection lead to sagging of floor,
crushing of partitions, buckling of glass
enclosures, ill lifting doors and windows, poor
drainage, misalignment of machinery and
excessive vibration

 For control of deflection, two alternative

methods are described in EC2 clause 7.4:
1. Limiting span to depth ratios (Clause 7.4.2)
2. Calculation of actual deflection (Clause 7.4.3)
 Deflection limit:
1. final deflection of a beam, slab or cantilever should not exceed
span/250
2. for the deflection of a beam, slab or cantilever with finishes or fixing of
partition should not exceed span/500 to avoid damage to fixtures and
fittings.

The basic span-effective depth ratios, to control deflection to a maximum

of span/250 are given in EC2 as;

l  o  o  
3/ 2

 K 11  1.5 f ck  3.2 f ck   1  if ρ ≤ ρo

d     

l  o 1 ' 
 K 11  1.5 f ck  f ck  if ρ > ρo .
d     ' 12  
where:

l/d is the limiting span/depth

K is the factor to take into account the different in structural system

ρo is the reference reinforcement ratio = (fck) 0.5 x 10-3

ρ is the required tension reinforcement ratio = 100As,req / bd

ρ’ is the required compression reinforcement ratio = 100As’,req / bd

 Table: Basic span/effective depth ratio (fyk = 500 N/mm2, C30/35 Concrete)
Basic span-effective depth ratio

Structural System K Concrete highly Concrete lightly

stressed, ρ = stressed, ρ =
1.5% 0.5%
1. Simply supported beam, one/two way
1.0 14 20
simply supported slab
2. End span of continuous beam or one-way
continuous slab or two way spanning slab 1.3 18 26
continuous over one long side

3. Interior span of beam or one way or two

1.5 20 30
way spanning slab
4. Slab supported on columns without beam
1.2 17 24
(flat slab) based on longer span
5. Cantilever
0.4 6 8
The basic ratios are modified in particular cases as
follows:
 For flange section where the ratio of the flange width
to the web width exceeds 3, the values should be
multiplied by 0.8.

 For beam and slabs, other than flat slab, with spans
exceeding 7 m, which support partitions liable to be
damaged by excessive deflection, the values should
be multiplied by 7/span.

 Where more tension reinforcement is provided

(As,prov) than that calculated (As, req), multiply the
values by As,prov/As,req. (upper limit = 1.5)
Example
Think about these!
 What if the deflection check failed?
 How to rectify this problem?
 What are the factors affecting deflection
behavior of a RC beam?
 Serviceability: Cracking
Cracks are induced in reinforced concrete
elements as a result of:

 flexural tensile stress due to bending under applied

loads;

 diagonal tension stress due to shear under applied

load;

 volume changes due to shrinkage, creep, thermal

and chemical effects; and

 splitting along reinforcement due to bond and

anchorage failure.
 Serviceability: Cracking
 The primary objective of crack control is to limit the
width of individual cracks.
 This is required not only for aesthetic reasons, but
more importantly, for durability and particularly for
corrosion protection of reinforcement.

For control of crack, two alternative methods are

described in EC2 clause 7.3.
1. Control of cracking without direct calculation,
(Clause 7.3.3)
2. Calculation of crack widths (Clause 7.3.4)
 Serviceability: Cracking
Limiting crack width :
 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.

Control of cracking without direct calculation

 Minimum reinforcement area

As, min = kc k fct, eff Act / fyk

 Maximum spacing of reinforcement

 Maximum bar size

 Serviceability: Cracking
Table: Maximum bar spacing for crack control

Steel stress Maximum bar spacing (mm)

(N/mm2) wk = 0.4 mm wk = 0.3 mm
160 300 300
200 300 250
240 250 200
280 200 150
320 150 100
360 100 50
f yk Gk  0.3Qk 1
fs  x
1.15 (1.35Gk  1.5Qk ) 
Serviceability: Cracking
Table: Maximum bar diameters for crack control
Steel stress Maximum bar size (mm)
(N/mm2) wk = 0.4 mm wk = 0.3 mm
160 40 32
200 32 25
240 20 16
280 16 12
320 12 10
360 10 8
400 8 6
450 6 5

Gk  0.3Qk
f yk 1
fs  x
1.15 (1.35Gk  1.5Qk ) 
 What have we seen today:
› Eurocodes – development
› Materials – Concrete and Reinforcing Steel
› Stress-strain Relations
› Design Philosophy
› Serviceability
 Deflection
 Cracking