Horizontal reinforcement (Walls: BS 8110) Page 1 of 2

Horizontal reinforcement (Walls: BS 8110)

For some of the horizontal bar parameters, additional user defined limits can be applied ­ where
this is the case values are specified in Design Options > Wall > Reinforcement Layout.

Reinforcement area for a RC wall

The following parameters control the horizontal reinforcement area of RC wall,

Limiting minimum ratio of horizontal reinforcement area to gross concrete area, Uh,lim,min
Limiting maximum ratio of horizontal reinforcement area to gross concrete area, Uh,lim,max

Where the main vertical reinforcement is used to resist compression and does not exceed 2% of
the concrete area, at least the following percentage of horizontal reinforcement should be
provided, depending upon the characteristic strength of reinforcement.1

Minimum area of horizontal reinforcement, Ash,min = Uh, lim,min*Ac

= 0.003*Ac (For fy = 250 N/mm2)
= 0.0025*Ac (For fy = 500 N/mm2)
Where
Ac= Gross area of the concrete wall
fy = Characteristics strength of reinforcement.

For intermediate values of fy, linear interpolation is applicable.

IF
Asc > 0.02*Ac
THEN
Links are provided as per section Link/Containment Reinforcement in addition to the above
requirement.2
Although not a BS code requirement, an additional check is performed for the maximum area of
horizontal reinforcement:
Asc,maxsh,max = Uh,lim,max*Ac = 0.04*Ac

Diameter of horizontal bar

Minimum diameter of horizontal bar, Ih,min = MAX [ 0.25*Iv , Ih,min,u , 6 mm ]3
Where
Iv = maximum diameter of vertical bar
Ih,min,u = minimum diameter of link specified by user

Spacing of horizontal loose bars

4
Limiting minimum clear vertical spacing of the horizontal bars, scl,h,min is given by,
scl,h,min = MAX [hagg + 5mm, scl,u,h,min ]
Where
hagg = maximum size of coarse aggregate

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Horizontal reinforcement (Walls: BS 8110) Page 2 of 2

scl,u,h,min = user specified minimum clear vertical distance between bars

scl,h,min = minimum clear vertical distance between bars
IF
I > hagg + 5mm,
THEN
scl,h,min > I
Where
I = diameter of horizontal bar
Although not a BS code requirement, an additional check is performed (as per the Eurocode) for
the maximum spacing of horizontal bars in wall.
Limiting maximum horizontal spacing, scl,h,max = MIN [ 3*h , 400mm ]

Reinforcement area for a Plain wall

For a plain wall,
0 ≤ U v < 0.004
The same bar limit checks that are performed for an RC wall are also performed for a plain
wall.

Parent topic
• Wall Design to BS 8110

1. BS 8110­1:1997 cl 3.12.7.4

2. BS 8110­1:1997 cl 3.12.7.5

3. BS 8110­1:1997 cl 3.12.7.4

4. BS 8110­1:1997 cl 3.12.11.1

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