INTERACTION DIAGRAMS FOR RCC COLUMNS WITH CHANNEL CROSS SECTIONS

ABSTRACT

Civilization updates itself as centuries pass. This century and the forthcoming centuries to
come will be characterized by development in all aspects that were once termed imaginary. To
be relevant to the course of study undertaken, if a single aspect infrastructure development is
considered, its graph is having a rising trend through the decades. Innovative ideas have formed
in the minds of civil engineers which changed the way things used to work around. Things that
were once fictitious have become real. For instance, the constructions of structures on artificial
islands, buildings that can change their orientation after desired intervals, structures that could be
self sufficient with their energy requirement and those which can purify air and obtain water
from moist air were once classified as mere creative unrealistic ideas. Now they have been
realized by a dedicated group of engineers.

To be on par with the world that is undergoing superfast development and innovation, it
is the need of every civil engineer to upgrade himself to the current scenario and to take an
innovative step in his own zone of influence.

As an innovative approach, an effort has been made to identify a possible unconventional

section for columns. Columns are most important members of a frame which is expected to
transfer loads coming over the structure safely to the foundation. The conventional cross sections
provided for RCC columns are rectangular, square or circular.

In this project, concrete columns having channel shaped cross sections are imagined.
Their strength characteristics in comparison to the rectangular columns are studied and
interpretations are made.

As a first step in attaining the objective, internal forces equations for channel shaped
cross sections have been derived. Interaction diagrams have been prepared with the derived
equations using MS Excel. The analytical results for strength have been verified by carrying out
experimental works.

The arguable advantages of this arbitrary section over conventional section have been
compared in terms of strength envelopes provided by both cross sections with same area.

This is just a single idea that has been tested for its feasibility in this project work as a
part of undergraduate course. Many such opportunities exist in the world yet to be explored. It is
obvious that these opportunities will be identified, explored and exploited in the future so as to
evolve into a better civilization that would be characterized by developments and activities
which may not have been imagined by the bright minds of this century.