CE 433, Fall 2006 Deflection of a Reinforced Concrete Beam

Overview
The deflection of reinforced concrete beams is complicated by several factors.
1) The connections of a cast-in-place reinforced concrete frame usually transfer moment. The mid-
span deflection of a beam in such a frame is affected by the stiffness of the members framing into
the beam ends. The mid-span deflection can be calculated by solving two simultaneous equations
for the rotations at each beam end.
2) The flexural stiffness of a reinforced concrete beam changes from the uncracked state to the cracked
state. The ACI equation for the effective moment of inertia (I
e
) will be used to calculate a moment
of inertia somewhere between the uncracked moment of inertia (I
g
) and the cracked moment of
inertia (I
cr
) depending on the applied moment (M
a
).
3) Concrete continues to deform plastically under long-term loads. The additional deflection due to
this deformation, called creep, can be calculated using another ACI equation.

The equations necessary to calculate the deflection of a reinforced concrete beam will be developed for
each of the effects in the following three sections.

1) Accounting for Joint Rotation
An example beam from a multi-story reinforced concrete structure is shown in Figure 1 below. The
columns are assumed to be fixed at their far ends, as is the beam to the right of the loaded span. The
joint rotations (
left
and
right
), and the midspan deflection of the beam () due to the uniform load can be
calculated if the flexural stiffness of the connecting members is known (
L
I E
).

The connecting members will be assumed to be uncracked (a slightly unconservative assumption) but
the effective moment of inertia of the beam will be used. Since the effective moment of inertia (formula
shown in the next section) is a function of the applied moment, and the moments in the beam are a
function of the joint rotation, an iterative solution is required.









Figure 1. Structural model of beam deflection affected by end rotations.


w

left

right
CE 433, Fall 2006 Deflection of a Reinforced Concrete Beam
Equations relating the beam end moments (m) to the joint rotations () are developed by superimposing
the following two cases (illustrated in Figure 2):
(1) load applied and no joint rotation
(2) no load and joint rotation
The member end moments for Case (1) are called "fixed-end moments" (FEM) and can be calculated for
simple cases using formulas in mechanics of materials and/or structural analysis books. The fixed-end
moment due to a uniformly distributed load is:
12
2
L w
FEM = .
Equations for the member end moments for Case (2) are developed using available formulas relating end
moment to joint rotation at one end only:
A B A A
L
I E
m
L
I E
m
2
,
4
= =





Therefore the end moments for each member framing into the beam are
joint
4

L
I E
and the end moments
for the beam are:
B A B
B A A
L
I E
L
I E
m
L
I E
L
I E
m


4 2
2 4
+ =
+ =

note:
A
will be clockwise (negative) and
B
will be counter-clockwise (positive).

The total moment at the joint adjacent to the left end of the beam (J oint 2 in Figure 2) is:
0
25 23 21 2 int
= = m m m M
jo

where
( )

25 25 25
2 23
2 21
4
4
m FEM m
L
I E
m
L
I E
m
c
c
c
c
+ =
=
=

m
A
m
B

A
m
A
m
B

B
CE 433, Fall 2006 Deflection of a Reinforced Concrete Beam

and
5 2 25
2
25
2 4
12

b
b
b
b
L
I E
L
I E
m
L w
FEM
+ =
+ =

Therefore
0
2 4
12
4 4
5 2
2
2 2
= =
b L
I E
L
I E L w
L
I E
L
I E
M
b
b
b
c
c
c
c
2 joint


Similarly
0
2 4
12
4
4 4
2 5
2
_
5 5
= + =
b L
I E
L
I E L w
L
I E
L
I E
L
I E
M
b
b
b
b
g b
c
c
c
c
5 joint

where I
b_g
is the gross (uncracked) moment of inertia of the beam adjacent to the loaded span.


The two equilibrium equations can be rearranged in matrix form as

12
4
4
8 2
12
2 4 8
2
5
_
2
2
5 2
L w
L
I E
L
I E
L
I E
b L
I E
L w
b L
I E
L
I E
L
I E
b
b
b
g b
c
c b
b
b
b
c
c
=

+ + +
= +

+





The equations above can be solved for the joint rotations (
2
and
5
). The midspan deflection can then
be calculated from:

( )
8 384
,
8 8
384
4
4
b
right left
b
b
b
right
b
left
b
b FEM
FEM
L
I E
L w
L L
I E
L w

+ + =
+ =
=
+ =

(negative) clockwise is assuming
left


CE 433, Fall 2006 Deflection of a Reinforced Concrete Beam 4 / 9




Figure 2. End moments due to load and no joint rotation, and due to no load with joint rotation.

= +

2

5
L
c
actual moments

fixed-end moments

moments due to joint rotation
no joint
rotation
w
L
b
1
2
5
4
3 6
7
L
b
L
c
w
=
+
m
54
m
21
m
25 m
52
m
23
m
56
m
57
FEM
25
FEM
52
w
m
54
m

21
m

25 m

52
m

23
m

56
m

57

FEM

CE 433, Fall 2006 Deflection of a Reinforced Concrete Beam 5 / 9
2) Effective Moment of Inertia, I
e

The ACI equation for effective moment of inertia (I
e
) accounts for the fact that some of the
reinforced concrete beam is cracked, and some of it is uncracked (as shown in Figure 3).









Figure 3. Cracked and uncracked regions of typical reinforced concrete beam.
ACI Equation 9-8 is:
cr
a
cr
g
a
cr
e
I
M
M
I
M
M
I

=
3 3
1
where
M
cr
is the cracking moment =
t
g r
y
I f
and
f
r
is the modulus of rupture =
'
5 . 7
c
f psi ,
I
g
is the gross (uncracked) moment of inertia, and
y
t
is the distance from the neutral axis to the tension face
M
a
is the moment due to the applied load (M
D
or M
D+L
) for example
I
cr
is the moment of inertia of the cracked section.
The uncracked response and the cracked response under service loads were studied at the
beginning of the semester (see Flexure in RC Beams at 3 Stages).

Calculating the moment of inertia is a two-step process: first the neutral axis must be located,
then the moment of inertia can be calculated. Two methods of calculating the gross moment of
inertia (I
g
) are illustrated in Figures 4 and 5: a spreadsheet method and the traditional mechanics
of materials method.

The spreadsheet method is unchanged to calculate I
cr
. For the mechanics of materials method,
the steel reinforcement is first transformed into and equivalent area of concrete (transformed
section method) as shown in Figure 6.

The text author suggests using combining the effective moments of inertia at three sections of a
continuous beam: left end, mid-span, and right end using the following equation (Eqn. 9-11b on
pg 406):
) ( 15 . 0 70 . 0
_ _ _ _ _ end right e end left e mid e e
I I I I + + =
cracked cracked cracked uncracked uncracked
CE 537, Spring 2009 Deflection of a Reinforced Concrete Beam 6 / 9



= = = =
= =
=
0
0
T : similarly , ) (
) ( ) (
) (
b
t
y
c
y
c c
c c
dA y K E dA y K E dA y K E dA y C
y K E y E y
y K y

To find the location of the neutral axis, use the following equilibrium equation: 0 , 0 = + = T C F
H

Spreadsheet Method:
1) select a y
t

2) calculate C, T and F
H

3) repeat steps 1) and 2) until F
H
=0
Beam-Theory Method:
axis neutral the with coincides system coordinate the of origin the when true is This , 0
, 0 , 0 , 0 F From
0
0
H
=
= = + =

t
b
t
b b
t
y
y
y
y
c
y
c
y
c
dA y
dA y K E or dA y K E dA y K E

0. equal must y 0, equal to for So,
A of centroid the to axis reference the from distance the
, general, In

=
=
=
A y dA y
y where
A y dA y

This means that we need to locate the neutral axis at the centroid.
We can calculate the centroid for simple shapes using tables.
Also, we can calculate y of a shape made up of "n" simple shapes using the formula:

=
=
n
i
i i
A y A y
1



Figure 4. Two methods for calculating the location of the neutral axis of an uncracked section.
C
T
NA
Stress, Strain,
y
K
y
b
y
t
compression
tension
y
y
A
CE 537, Spring 2009 Deflection of a Reinforced Concrete Beam 7 / 9

Spreadsheet Method:
1) Calculate M
int
due to C and T
2) Calculate the moment of inertia (I) from
a) the moment vs. curvature relation:
EI
M
K =
b) the strain vs. curvature relation:
y
K

=
y EI
M
= or
E
y M
I
int
=
Beam-Theory Method:

=
= = = = =
dA y I where
I KE dA y KE dA y E y K dA y E y dA y y M
2
2
) ) ( ) (












We can calculate the moment of inertia (I) for simple shapes using formulas from
tables. For complex shapes, I can be calculating by evaluating the double integral.
Also, we can calculate I of a shape made up of "n" simple shapes using the formula:
( )

=
+ =
n
i
i i i
d A I I
1
2



Figure 5. Two methods for calculating the moment of inertia of an uncracked section.

CE 537, Spring 2009 Deflection of a Reinforced Concrete Beam 8 / 9

Same as for the uncracked section except:
y s s s
s s
f E f
f A T
< =
=

Spreadsheet Method (same as for I
g
):

To find location of neutral axis:
1) select a y
t

2) calculate C, T and F
H

3) repeat steps 1) and 2) until F
H
=0

To find moment of inertia:
3) Calculate M
int
due to C and T
4) Calculate the moment of inertia (I)
from

E
y M
I
int
=
Beam-Theory Method:
Since the concrete below the neutral axis is cracked (and has no strength) it is ignored.
The steel reinforcement is transformed into an equivalent area of concrete by
multiplying A
s
by the modular ratio n (as shown below).



The same procedures as for I
g
are then used to find the location of the neutral axis and
to calculate the moment of inertia, I
cr
.
Important: I
cr
is the moment of inertia with the steel transformed into an equivalent
area of concrete. When calculating the stress in the steel (e.g. using
I
y M
= ), the
stress must be multiplied by the modular ratio, n.

Figure 6. Two methods for calculating the location of the neutral axis and the moment of inertia of a cracked section
C
T
NA
Stress, Strain,
y
K
y
b
y
t
compression
cracked
compression
cracked
tension
s s
c
s
A n A
E
E
A = =
NA
CE 433, Fall 2006 Deflection of a Reinforced Concrete Beam 9 / 9


3) Long-term Deflections due to Creep
Concrete continues to deform under long-term loads. This plastic deformation is called creep.
The ACI equation to calculate creep deflection (ACI equation 9-11) is:

'
50 1

+
=

where
is the time-dependant factor for long-term load and is equal to

Duration of Load
3 months 1.0
6 months 1.2
12 months 1.4
5 years or more 2.0
Figure 9-16 in the text presents on a semi-log plot, handy for interpolating or deriving
an expression for (like for a spreadsheet).
' is the compression reinforcement ratio =
d b
A
s
'
where A
s
' is the area of compression
reinforcement.