Mechanics and Design of Concrete Structures

Spring 2004

Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge in Boston. (Image courtesy of the Federal Highway Administration.)

Course Highlights

This course site features a complete set of lecture notes and student projects.

Course Description

The main objective of 1.054/1.541 is to provide students with a rational basis of the design of reinforced concrete
members and structures through advanced understanding of material and structural behavior. This course is
offered to undergraduate (1.054) and graduate students (1.541). Topics covered include: Strength and Deformation
of Concrete under Various States of Stress; Failure Criteria; Concrete Plasticity; Fracture Mechanics Concepts;
Fundamental Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Structural Systems and their Members; Basis for Design and Code
Constraints; High-performance Concrete Materials and their use in Innovative Design Solutions; Slabs: Yield Line
Theory; Behavior Models and Nonlinear Analysis; and Complex Systems: Bridge Structures, Concrete Shells, and
Containments.

Professor Oral Buyukozturk thanks Tzu-Yang Yu, a graduate student at MIT, for his valuable assistance in
preparing course documents.

Syllabus
Instructor

Prof. Oral Buyukozturk

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 

Two sessions / week
1.5 hours / session

Student Assistant

Tzu-Yang Yu

Objective and Approach

The main objective of this course is to provide students with a rational basis of the design of reinforced concrete
members and structures through advanced understanding of material and structural behavior. The subject will be
approached by looking into the behavior of reinforced concrete at different levels: material level, element level
and structural and systems level. For each level, various concepts will be introduced as listed below:
Material Level

 Micro-Cracking Mechanism
 Multi-Axial Loading Responses

 Failure Theories

 Plasticity

 Fracture

Element Level

 Shrinkage and Creep

 Ductility

 Shear Transfer

 Failure Modes

Structural Level

 Torsion of Beams
 Biaxial Bending of Beam-Columns

 Yield Line Theory of Slabs

 Joints

System Level

 Tall Buildings
 Segmental Bridges

 R/C Thin Shell and Containment Structures

Special Topics Selected From

 Earthquake Resistant Design

 Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) of Concrete

 Use of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites in Repair and Strengthening

 High Performance Concrete

Studies of material and element levels will mostly focus on the analysis aspect while those of structural and
system levels will be on the design aspect. Application of knowledge in each level will be emphasized. Special
topics will be covered to the extent possible given the time limitation, and based on the project interests of the
students.

Possible Project Areas

(See separate document "Term Project" for a detailed list)

  Failure Studies, Repair and Strengthening Scheme
 Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM)

 Seismic Design of Structures

 Innovative Tall Building Systems and Design

 Concrete Shell Structures

 Intelligent Materials and Structures

 High Performance Concrete (HPC) Materials and Structures

Grading Policy

There will be two 90-minute in-class exams and one individual project, and homeworks.

ACTIVITIE
PERCENTAGES
S
Examination 25% for each (50% for total)
Homework 25%
Project 25% (including Project
Reports and Project
Presentations)