Content

Detailing requirements 
Singly Reinfored Beam 
Doubly Reinfored Beam 
Beams with Redistribution 
Serviciability 
1. Detailing requirements
 Serviceability limit states (SLS)
The verification of serviceability limit states should be base
d on criteria concerning the following aspects:
 deformations that affect the appearance, the comfort of u

sers, the functioning of the structure, or that cause dama

ge to finishes or non-structural members
 vibrations that cause discomfort to people, or that limit t

he functional effectiveness of the structure

 damage that is likely to adversely affect the appearance,

the durability, or the functioning of the structure.

 SLS is ofen satisfied by observing empirical rule
s, i.e. detailings
1.1 Concrete mix and minimum cover

 Concrete mix requirements: minimum cement conte

nt, maximum free water/cement ratio, lowest concrete str
ength class.
 Concrete strength class is to some degree equivalent to c
ement content and water/cement ratio.
 Adequate cover is required to ensure:
 transmission of bond stress;
 protection of steel bars;
 adequate fire resistance;
1.1 Concrete mix and minimum cover

 Definition of cover: the distance between the surface

of the reinforcement closest to the nearest concrete surfa
ce (including links and stirrups and surface reinforcemen
t where relevant) and the nearest concrete surface.

cnom  cmin  cdev

cmin  max  cmin,b , cmin,dur , cmin, fire , 10mm

1.1 Concrete mix and minimum cover
 Cover to transfer bond Cmin,b
 To safely transfer the bond stress between
concrete and steel bars, the minimum cover
should not be less than the diameter of the bar,
i.e. Cmin,b≥db.
 For bundled bars, equivalent diameter should be
adopted.
 If nominal aggregate size exceeds 32 mm, Cmin,b
should be increased by 5 mm.
 1.1 Concrete mix and minimum cover
 Cover to fulfill durability (protect steel) Cmin,dur

 Cmin,dur is related both to exposure class

(environment).
 Exposure conditions are chemical and physical
conditions to which the structure is exposed in
addition to the mechanical actions.
1.1 Concrete mix and minimum cover
Exposure conditions:
1.1 Concrete mix and minimum cover
Exposure conditions:
1.1 Concrete mix and minimum cover
Structures with
intended working life
of 50 years
 1.1 Concrete mix and minimum cover
Structures with
intended working life
of 50 years
 1.1 Concrete mix and minimum cover
Structures with
intended working life
of 50 years
 1.1 Concrete mix and minimum cover
Structures with intended working life of 100 years
1.1 Concrete mix and minimum cover
 To allow for likely deviations/errors during
construction, △Cdev can be taken as,
 10 mm generally;
 5-10 mm, if there is quality assurance and the
cover is measured;
 0-10 mm, if non-conforming members are
rejected based on accurate measurement of
cover (e.g. precast members)
1.1 Concrete mix and minimum cover
 For fire resistance, the axis distance, instead of
cover thickness should be checked.
 Definition of axis distance asd:
1.1 Concrete mix and minimum cover
 For columns, the minimum columd width and
axis distance should be checked based on
design fire resistance.
1.1 Concrete mix and minimum cover
 For shear walls, the minimum wall thickness and
axis distance should be checked based on
design fire resistance.
1.1 Concrete mix and minimum cover
 For beams, the minimum dimension bmin and axis
distance should be checked based on design fire
resistance.
1.2 Minimum spacing of reinforcement
 To permit concrete to flow around reinforcement
during construction, the clear distance between
bas should not be less than:
 the maximum bar size
 20 mm
 the maximum aggregate size plus 5 mm
 if bars are seperated into different layers, each
layer should be located vertically above each
other;
 for heavily reinforced memebers, bundles can be
used to up to 4 vertical bars.
 1.3 Minimum area of reinforcement
 For most cases, thermal and shrinkage cracking
can be controlled by using a minimum
reinforcement area.
 On crakcing of concrete, the sudden stress
transferred from concrete to steel should not
yield the steel.
2. SLS checks: deflection

 The deformation of a member or structure shall be small

enough that it does not adversely affects the functioning or
appearance.
 To prevent impairing the appearance and general utility of
structures, the deflection due to quasi-permanent loads
should be limited to span/250.
 To prevent the damage of adjacent parts of structures, the
deflection after construction (i.e. creep, shrinkage and live
load, except dead load) should be limited to span/500.
 The calculation of deflection is quite complicated due to
cracking of concrete, creep etc.
2. SLS checks: deflection

 The following factors need to be considered during the

calculation of deflection.
 Support restraint must be considered with some
simplifications;
 The quasi-permanent load is difficult to be preciously
estimated and may lead to errors;
 The cracking of reinforced concrete memeber will lead to
reduced stiffness and enlarged deflection, and should be
considered properly;
 The effect of floor, finishes and partitions are difficult to
assess and are neglected generally.
2. SLS checks: deflection

 Review: Elastic theroy of deflection calculation

d2y
From material mechanics: M ( x)  EI 2
dx

Integrate two times: y ( x )   M ( x)dxdx  C1 x  C2

The constants C1 and C2 can be obtained from support

conditions.
The delfection function can thus be obtained based on double
integration of moment function M(x), as well as the maximum
deflection.
2. SLS checks: deflection

 Elastic theroy: simply supported beam under constant

moment M
d2y dy
EI 2
M EI  Mx  C1
dx dx

dy ML dy ML
 0  C1   EI  Mx 
dx x  L /2 2 dx 2

Mx 2 MLx
EIy    C2
2 2
Max deflection is dependent
M  x2 Lx 
y ( x  0)  0  C2  0 y    on teh square of span and
EI  2 2 

2 2
curvature 1/r.
M L L 1
ymax   
EI 8 8 r
2. SLS checks: deflection

Elastic theroy: For general beams, the moment distribution is a

function instead of constant, but the form of the result is
1 1 M
similar, i.e. ymax  kL
2

r r EI
2. SLS checks: deflection

 For a concrete beam that is not made of elastic material, the

following issues need to be dealt with:
 Issue 1: creep of concrete
 Issue 2:cracking of concrete
 Issue 3: shrinkage of concrete
 All three issues above will lead to a larger deflection.
2. SLS checks: deflection

 Issue 1: creep of concrete

The effect of creep is accounted for by using an effective
E cm
modulus Ec,eff for concrete, E c , eff 
1   ( , t0 )
2. SLS checks: deflection

 Issue 2: Cracking of concrete

 For a concrete beam under SLS, there are generally a series
of flexural cracks caused by bending moment, i.e. some
cross-sections are cracked while others are not.
 EC2 assumes that the deflection is the 'average' results of
elastic analysis using cracked and uncracked sections
respectively.
 For uncracked cross section, the second moment of area Iuc
can be calculated using gross concrete area, ignecting the
contribution of steel reinforcement. I uc  bh 3 / 12
2. SLS checks: deflection

 Issue 2: Cracking of concrete

 For cracked cross section, the second moment of area Icr can
be calculated based on the following figure.

x
First moment of area：S  bx   E As (d  x)  0  solve x Es
2 e 
Ec , eff
Second moment of area： I cr  bx3 / 3  e As (d  x)2
2. SLS checks: deflection

 Issue 2: Cracking of concrete

 The way of 'average'
1 1 1
     (1   )  
r  r cr  r uc

1 M 1 M
     
 r cr Ec ,eff I cr  r uc Ec ,eff I uc

Coefficient ξ to consider tension stiffening

2
  M 
2
 bh 2 
  1    cr   1    cr  M cr  f ctm  
 s   M   6 

Factor β is load duration factor, 1 for single short term

load and 0.5 for sustained loads or cyclic loading.
2. SLS checks: deflection

 Issue 3: shrinkage of concrete

 The curvature due to shrinkage of a cracked and
uncracked section can both be calculated using the
following equation:
1 S S  As (d  x)
    
 r cs
cs e
I I  I uc or I cr

S is first moment of area of steel about the centroid of the section

I is the second moment of area of the section
 The curvature due to shrinkage can be calculated as
the 'average' of cracked and uncracked section by the
same method as for creep effect. 1 1 1
     (1   )  
r  r cr  r uc
2. SLS checks: deflection

 Issue 3: shrinkage of concrete

 The shrinkage strain consists of drying shrinkage and
autogenous shrinkage, and can be obtained from EC2.
 Drying shrinkage delvelops slowly as water losses
gradually;
 Autogenous shrinkage delelops due to hardening of
concrete and occurs at early age.
2. SLS checks: deflection

 Example: The cross section of a simply suported

beam with span length of 9.5m is shown below. The
quasi-permanent moment due to uniformly distributed
load is 200kN.m. The concrete strength class is
C25/30. The props for the beam are removed at the age
of 28 days.
2. SLS checks: deflection

 Solution:
(1) Consider creep effect
The average modulus of C25 concrete is:
Ecm  31kN / mm 2

The nominal thickness of the beam is:

2 Ac / u  2  300  700 / 2000  210mm

The creep coefficient is:   2.8

Ecm 31.8
Ec ,eff    8.15kN / mm 2
1   1  2.8
2. SLS checks: deflection

 Solution:
(2) Consider cracking of concrete
For uncracked section:
The second moment of area,
I uc  bh3 / 12  300  7003 /12  8.575 109 mm4

The curvature is,

1 M 200 106
     2.86  106 mm 1
 r uc Ec ,eff I uc 8.15 10  8.575 10
3 9
2. SLS checks: deflection

 Solution:
(2) Consider cracking of concrete
For cracked section:
x
bx   E As (d  x )  0  E  200 / 8.15  24.54 x  329mm
2

The second moment of area,

I cr  bx 3 / 3   e As (d  x) 2
 300  3293 / 3  24.54  2450  (600  329) 2  7.98 109 mm 4

The curvature is,

1 M 200  106 6 1

     3.08  10 mm
 r cr Ec ,eff I cr 8.15 10  7.98 10
3 9
2. SLS checks: deflection

 Solution:
(2) Consider cracking of concrete
Calculate the 'average' curvature:
 bh 2  300  7002
M cr  fctm    2.6   63.7kN .m
 6  6

2 2
M   63.7 
  1    cr   1  0.5     0.95
 M   200 

1 1 1 1 1

     (1   )    0.95    0.05    3.07 106 mm 1
r  r cr  r uc  r cr  r uc

Note: since ξ is always close to 1, the cracked curvature

always dominate. As a result, in Chinese code, only the
cracked section is considered.
2. SLS checks: deflection

 Solution:
(3) Consider shrinkage of concrete
 cs  470 106

For uncrakced section (neutral axis at mid height):

S  As (d  x )  2450  (600  350)  6.13 10 5 mm 3
I  I uc  8.575  109 mm 4
1 S 6.13 105
    cs e  470  10  24.54 
6
 0.82 10 6 mm1
 r uc I 8.575 10 9

For crakced section (neutral axis depth x=329mm):

S  As (d  x)  2450  (600  329)  6.64  105 mm3
I  I cr  7.98 109 mm4
1 S 6.64  105
    cs e  470 10  24.54 
6
 0.96  10 6 mm 1
 r cr I 7.98  10 9
2. SLS checks: deflection

 Solution:
(3) Consider shrinkage of concrete
The 'average' curvature due to shrinkage:
1 1 1 6 1
   0.95    0.05    0.95 10 mm
 r cs  r  cr  r uc

(4) Total curvature

1 1
    3.07 106  0.95 106  4.02 106 mm 1
r  r cs

(5) Deflection:
0.104 L2 (1/ r )  0.104  95002  4.02 10 6  37.8mm
 L / 250  38mm
3. SLS: check of span-effective depth ratio

 The calculation of delfection is tedious, while not accurate.

Simplification is needed.
In the deflection equation,

1 1  c ,max   rm
ymax  kL2 
r r d

Rearrage,
Span L a1 1
 
Effective depth d L k  c ,max   rm

a 1 Load pattern
 Strain and stress level
L 250
3. SLS: check of span-effective depth ratio

 As an alternative, an indirect method is generally adopted by

limiting the span-effective depth ratio of members.
l  0  0  
3/2

 K 11  1.5 f ck  3.2 f ck   1  if   0

d      

l  0 01 1 0    
3/2

 K
K 11111.5
1.5 f ckf ck   f ck  f ck 1  if   0
d   12  12  0 

Note: assumption σs=310 MPa and fyk=500MPa.

3. SLS checks: span-effective depth ratio

 The following corrections are needed:

 For spans larger than 7 m (except flat slab), a correction
factor of 7/span is needed.
 For flat slabs with spans exceed 8.5 m, a correction factor of
8.5/span.
 If the characteristic strength of steel reinforcement is not 500
MPa, a correction factor of 500/fyk is needed.

 If the provided reinforcement area (As,prov) is larger than that

calculated (As,req), a correction factor of As,prov /As,req is needed

(limited to 1.5).
3. SLS checks: span-effective depth ratio

 In summary,
3. SLS checks: span-effective depth ratio

 Example: a rectangular beam of C25/30 concrete spans 10 m.

If the breadth b=300 mm, check the acceptability of an
effective depth d=600 mm when fyk=500 MPa is used. At the

ultimate limit state it is determined that As,req=1250 mm2 of

tension steel is needed and 3 No. 25 diameter steel bars
(As,prov=1470 mm2) are provided for an interior span.

 Answer: As ,req 1250

=   0.7%
bd 300  600

 For interior span, K=1.5

 Basic span depth ratio is : 16
3. SLS checks: span-effective depth ratio

 For interior span, basic span-depth ratio will be: 1.5×16=24

 As the span length exceeds 7 m, a correction factor of 7/span
should be applied,

7
 24  16.8
10

 Correction of steel area,

As , prov 1470
16.8   16.8   19.8
As ,req 1250

 The actual span-depth ratio is 10000/600=16.7<19.8. As a

result, the deflection requirement are satisfied.
4. SLS checks: cracking width calculation

 Bending members generally exhibit a series of distributed

cracks, even at working load.
 As long as the cracks are small, it will not affect the strength
and durability of RC members.
 The actual width of cracks varies a lot and is difficult to be
accurately estimated.
 In EC 2, the possibility of maximum crack width exceeds a
certain level (i.e. 0.3 mm generally) under quasi-permanent
combination is limited to be very small.
4. SLS checks: cracking width calculation

Allowable maximum crack width (EC2)

4. SLS checks: cracking width calculation
Cracking Process:
a c a b c a b c
>Mcr >Mcr

Mcr Mcr Mcr Mcr

a c a b c a b c
ft

sc sc sc

ss2
ss ss

ssm
ss
ss1

t t
l l sab sbc
>2l

Before cracking First batch crakcs Second batch cracks

Crack spacing: min scr, max 2scr.

4. SLS checks: cracking width calculation

 Crack is the result of strain difference between concrete and

steel bars.
 If cracking spacing s and mean strain of concrete εcm and

steel εsm are know, the crack width can be calculated as,
w  s ( sm   cm )

 The crack width generally increases with crack spacing.

Only the maximum crack width is considered,
wk  sr ,max ( sm   cm )
4. SLS checks: cracking width calculation

 The maxium crack spacing can be calculated by EC2,

sr ,max  3.4c  0.425k1k2 /  p ,eff

 p ,eff  As / Ac ,eff , effective reinforcement ratio

 When bar spacing exceeds 5(c+ϕ/2), sr ,max  1.3(h  x )

4. SLS checks: cracking width calculation

 The crack spacing (and width) increases with the cover

thickness of longitudinal bar; use a smaller cover as long as
possible;
 The crack width increase with the diameter of steel bar;
small diameter steel bars are preferred;

sr ,max  3.4c  0.425k1k2 /  p ,eff

4. SLS checks: cracking width calculation

 Definition of effective tension concrete area Ac,eff

hc ,ef  min  2.5(h  d ), (h  x) / 3, h / 2
4. SLS checks: cracking width calculation

 The strain difference between concrete and steel is,

4. SLS checks: cracking width calculation

Example: Calculate the design crack width for the beam shown
below. The quasi-permanent moment is 650 kN.m. fck=25 MPa,
the total area of teel is 3770 mm2.
4. SLS checks: cracking width calculation

Solution:
(1) Calculate strain difference
Ecm  31kN / mm 2

Notional dimension: 2 A / u  2  400 1000 / 2800  285mm

Final creep factor (assume t0=28day): ef  2.63

Ecm 31
Effective modulus of concrete: Ec ,eff    8.54kN / mm 2
1  ef 1  2.63

x Es 200
bx   e As (d  x) e    23.42 x  457mm
N.A. depth: 2 Ec ,eff 8.54

M 650 106
s    222MPa
The stress of steel bar: (d  x / 3) As (930  457 / 3)  3770
4. SLS checks: cracking width calculation

Solution:
(1) Calculate strain difference
kt  0.4
f ct ,eff  f ctm  2.6 MPa
Es 200
e    6.45
Ecm 31
As 3770
 p ,eff    0.0539
Ac ,eff 2.5  (1000  930)  400

f ct ,eff
 s  kt
 p ,eff
 1   e  p,eff  
 sm   cm   0.6 s
Es Es
2.6
222  0.4   1  6.45  0.0539  222
 0.0539  0.6 
200  103 200 103
 0.001  0.00067
4. SLS checks: cracking width calculation

Solution:
(2) Calculate the maximum crack spacing
sr ,max  3.4c  0.425k1k2 /  p ,eff
 3.4  50  0.425  0.8  0.5  40 / 0.0539  296 mm

(3) Crack width

wk  sr ,max ( sm   cm )  296  0.001  0.296mm  0.3mm

4. SLS checks: cracking width calculation

 Ways to reduce crack width:

(1) Reduce the stress in steel bars can reduce the strain of steel
and the crack width;
(2) Reduce the diameter of steel bars will reduce the spacing of
cracks and crack width (i.e. more cracks but smaller);
(3) Increase the effective reinforcement ratio;
(4) Use deformed instead of plain bars.
4. SLS checks: cracking width calculation
 Deemed to satisfy strategy:
By limiting the bar diameter and bar spacing, the crack width
can generally be satisfied. The calculation can be avoided.
Thanks!