CIE 525 Reinforced Concrete Structures Instructor: Andrew Whittaker

2. REINFORCED CONCRETE MATERIALS

2.1 Reinforcing Steel

Reinforcing steel (or rebar) is available in a number of sizes in the United States. Standard or
conventional US rebar sizes are

 #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #11, #14, #18

 number refers to the diameter of the bar in eighths of an inch, so a #4 bar has a
diameter of 4/8 inch or one-half of an inch

 #18 bars are used in bridge construction but rarely in building construction

Metric sizes are available but sizes are as above but with nominal diameter measured in mm.

Rebar are of a round cross-section with deformations to aid in anchoring the bars in the concrete.
Rebar grades include Grade 40 in sizes 3 through 6, Grade 50, Grade 60 in all sizes, and Grade
75 in sizes 6 to 18. Of these four grades, Grade 60 is the most common rebar. The grade refers to
the nominal yield strength, which is a lower bound to the likely yield strength. Size and grade
marks are rolled onto the rebar for identification purposes. See the figure below from Wight and
MacGregor (WM):

Rebar are produced according to ASTM specifications. Two of the most widely used
specifications are listed below. Rebar per ASTM A616 and A617 are rolled from discarded
railroad rails and train car axles, respectively; such rebar are not widely available.

 ASTM A615: Standard Specification for Deformed and Plain Billet Steel Bars for
Concrete Reinforcement

 most commonly used rebar; available in sizes noted above

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CIE 525 Reinforced Concrete Structures Instructor: Andrew Whittaker

 summary of mechanical properties from WM presented below

 may be used for seismic applications subject to special requirements

 f y and f u are on average 15% higher than nominal and f u  1.5 f y

 metric sizes also specified but different terminology from other countries; see WM
for details

 ASTM A706: Standard Specification for Low-Alloy-Steel Deformed Bars for Concrete
Reinforcement

 Grade 60 rebar

 bars intended for application where weldability, bendability, and ductility are
important

 larger elongation at break than A615 rebar; see table below.

 special controls on chemical content; low carbon equivalent; can be welded

 maximum yield strength f y  78 ksi; and f u  1.25 f y

 routinely used in seismic applications: ACI seismic provisions require the equivalent
of A706.

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CIE 525 Reinforced Concrete Structures Instructor: Andrew Whittaker

Sample stress-strain relations for rebar of different grades are presented in the figure below from
WM.

 Grade 60 rebar is less ductile than Grade 40 rebar.

 Grade 40 rebar has a longer yield plateau than Grade 60 rebar; the yield plateau for
higher strength rebar is short to non-existent.

 E for rebar can be taken as 29E3 ksi for all grades of steel

High-cycle fatigue can be a design variable for rebar in certain applications such as bridge decks

 one or both of the extreme stresses in the stress range must be tensile

 see Corley, J. Struct., ASCE, June 1978 and WM for details

2.2 Concrete

Concrete is composed of cement, water, aggregate, and additives. Three types of concrete are

 Normalweight concrete (NWC)

 density of approximately 150 lb/ft3

 high-strength aggregates (quartz for example)

 concrete fails due to mortar (paste) cracking with little to no aggregate failure

 commonly specified type of concrete

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CIE 525 Reinforced Concrete Structures Instructor: Andrew Whittaker

 Lightweight concrete (LWC)

 density of between 90 and 120 lb/ft3

 lightweight aggregates such as pumice or artificial aggregates from shales and slates
that have been expanded by heating

 often used in floor systems to reduce foundation loads etc

 mechanical properties different from NWC; see ACI 318 and WM for details

 lower modulus of elasticity than NWC

 Heavyweight concrete (HWC)

 density of between 200 and 300+ lb/ft3

 most often used for radiation shielding and radiation containment

 conventional aggregate augmented with or replaced by steel and iron pellets

Typical stress-strain curves for concrete cylinders in compression are presented below. Note the
trends of increased stiffness, increased strength, and reduced deformation capacity.

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CIE 525 Reinforced Concrete Structures Instructor: Andrew Whittaker

Concrete is most often characterized by its nominal compressive strength, f c' .

 uniaxial strength established by a standard cylinder test after 28 days of moist curing

 used to monitor concrete strength for quality control or acceptance

 strength affected by water/cement ratio, type of cement, aggregate, additives, curing

conditions, rate of loading (strength  with increase in strain rate), age at testing (strength
 with age but rate of increase can vary widely)

 suppliers or producers develop mix designs so that target mean compressive strength is
higher, and sometimes appreciably higher, than the specified value to avoid low strengths
and possible rejection (after the concrete has cured in place)

 failure of unconfined NWC is generally a result of cracking at the interface of the mortar
and the aggregate, and eventually in the mortar between the aggregate

 under multiple cycles of loading, damage progresses so that strength reduces with
increased load cycles

 under sustained loading, creep results in redistribution of internal stresses and gradual
damage; under sustained compressive load, the strength is only approximately
0.75  0.85 f c' ; see the figure below from WM

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CIE 525 Reinforced Concrete Structures Instructor: Andrew Whittaker

The modulus of elasticity of concrete is dependent on the type of aggregate used. For example,
the modulus of normalweight aggregates range between 1.5 and 5 times that of the mortar.
Lightweight aggregates have modulus of elasticity values that are comparable to the mortar. For
normal weight concrete with a density of 145 lb/ft3, ACI gives the modulus of elasticity as:

E c  57,000 f c' in psi

Consider now other aspects of the mechanical behavior of concrete: biaxial loading response;
triaxial loading response, including hydrostatic compression.

The behavior of a cube of concrete under biaxial loading is shown below. The arrowheads
indicate compressive loading. The strength data in the figure are normalized by the uniaxial
strength.

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CIE 525 Reinforced Concrete Structures Instructor: Andrew Whittaker

 under biaxial tension, the strength is close to that in uniaxial tension

 under biaxial compression, maximum uniaxial stresses can exceed 120% of the uniaxial
strength

 under a state of biaxial compression-tension, the concrete fails at lower stresses that it
would if stressed uniaxially in tension or compression

The strength and ductility of concrete under triaxial compression exceed those under uniaxial
compression, as shown below. This figure presents stress-strain curves for concrete cylinders
subjected to a constant lateral (confining) fluid pressure while the longitudinal stress was
increased to failure.

The above data, from tests at the University of Illinois at Urbana in 1928, were used to suggest
the following relationship between the longitudinal stress at failure ( 1 ), the uniaxial
compressive strength ( f c' ), and the confining pressure (  3 ):

1  f c'  4.1 3

Deformation capacity is of great importance in earthquake and blast engineering. In reinforced

concrete buildings that are designed to resist these effects, components such as columns, beams,
and beam-column joints are detailed with closely spaced ties or spirals. When a concrete
component is subjected to large compressive loadings, and the width or part width of the
concrete component increases due to Poisson’s effect and microcracking, the ties or spirals are
stressed in tension, creating an offsetting confining compressive stress in the enclosed concrete.
The resulting triaxial state of compressive stress in the concrete enclosed or confined by the ties
or spirals increases the strength and ductility of the concrete component. Models for such
confined concrete are presented in the following module.

What are the consequences of not confining reinforced concrete components that could be
subjected to large inelastic straining? Below are photographs from the Imperial County Services
building in southern California that was badly damaged in the 1979 Imperial County earthquake.

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CIE 525 Reinforced Concrete Structures Instructor: Andrew Whittaker

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