ASTU Department of Civil Engineering Reinforced Concrete I

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTON TO REINFORCED CONCRETE

1.1. INTRODUCTION
Traditionally, the study of reinforced concrete design begins directly with a chapter on materials,
followed by chapters dealing with design. In this material, a departure is made from that
convention. It is desirable for the student to have first an overview of the world of reinforced
concrete structures, before plunging into the finer details of the subject. Accordingly, this section
gives a general introduction to reinforced concrete and its applications. It also explains the role of
structural design in reinforced concrete construction, and outlines the various structural systems
that are commonly adopted in buildings.

That concrete is a common structural material is, no doubt, well known. But, how common it is,
and how much a part of our daily lives it plays, is perhaps not well known — or rather, not often
realized. Structural concrete is used extensively in the construction of various kinds of buildings,
stadia, auditoria, pavements, bridges, piers, breakwaters, berthing structures, dams, waterways,
pipes, water tanks, swimming pools, cooling towers, bunkers and silos, chimneys, communication
towers, tunnels, etc. It is the most commonly used construction material, consumed at a rate of
approximately one ton for every living human being. “Man consumes no material except water in
such tremendous quantities”.
1.2. PLAIN AND REINFORCED CONCRETE

1.2.1. PLAIN CONCRETE

Concrete may be defined as any solid mass made by the use of a cementing medium; the
ingredients generally comprise sand, gravel, cement and water. That the mixing together of such
disparate and discrete materials can result in a solid mass (of any desired shape), with well- defined
properties, is a wonder in itself. Concrete has been in use as a building material for more than a
hundred and fifty years. Its success and popularity may be largely attributed to (1) durability under
hostile environments (including resistance to water), (2) ease with which it can be cast into a
variety of shapes and sizes, and (3) its relative economy and easy availability. The main strength
of concrete lies in its compression-bearing ability, which surpasses that of traditional materials
like brick and stone masonry. Advances in concrete technology, during the past four decades in
particular, have now made it possible to produce a wide range of concrete grades, varying in
mass density (1200−2500 kg/m3) and compressive strength (10 −100 MPa).

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Concrete may be remarkably strong in compression, but it is equally remarkably weak in tension
[Figure 1-1(a)]. Its tensile strength is approximately one-tenth of its compressive strength. Hence,
the use of plain concrete as a structural material is limited to situations where significant tensile
stresses and strains do not develop, as in hollow (or solid) block wall construction, small pedestals
and ‘mass concrete’ applications (in dams, etc.).

1.2.2. REINFORCED CONCRETE

Concrete would not have gained its present status as a principal building material, but for the
invention of reinforced concrete, which is concrete with steel bars embedded in it. The idea of
reinforcing concrete with steel has resulted in a new composite material, having the potential of
resisting significant tensile stresses, which was hitherto impossible. Thus, the construction of load-
bearing flexural members, such as beams and slabs, became viable with this new material. Its
utility and versatility are achieved by combining the best features of concrete and steel. Consider
some of the widely differing properties of these two materials that are listed below in Table 1-1.

Table 1-1- Complementary properties of Concrete and Steel

Concrete Steel
Strength in Tension Poor Good
Strength in Compression Good Good, but slender bars will buckle
Strength in Shear Fair Good
Durability Good Corrodes if unprotected
Fire resistance Good Poor, suffers rapid loss of strength at high temperature
It can be seen from this list that the materials are more or less compatible. The steel bars (embedded
in the tension zone of the concrete) compensate for the concrete’s incapacity for tensile resistance,
effectively taking up all the tension, without separating from the concrete [Figure 1-1(b)]. The
bond between steel and the surrounding concrete ensures strain compatibility, i.e., the strain at any
point in the steel is equal to that in the adjoining concrete. Moreover, the reinforcing steel imparts
ductility to a material that is otherwise brittle. In

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practical terms, this implies that if a properly reinforced beam were to fail in tension, then such a
failure would, fortunately, be preceded by large deflections caused by the yielding of steel, thereby
giving ample warning of the impending collapse [Figure 1-1(c)].

Tensile stresses occur either directly, as in direct tension or flexural tension, or indirectly, as in
shear, which causes tension along diagonal planes (‘diagonal tension’). Temperature and shrinkage
effects may also induce tensile stresses. In all such cases, reinforcing steel is essential,and should
be appropriately located, in a direction that cuts across the principal tensile planes (i.e., across
potential tensile cracks). If insufficient steel is provided, cracks would develop and propagate, and
could possibly lead to failure.

Reinforcing steel can also supplement concrete in bearing compressive forces, as in columns
provided with longitudinal bars. These bars need to be confined by transverse steel ties [Figure 1-
1(d)], in order to maintain their positions and to prevent their lateral buckling. The lateral ties also
serve to confine the concrete, thereby enhancing its compression load-bearing capacity.

The development of reliable design and construction techniques has enabled the construction of a
wide variety of reinforced concrete structures all over the world: building frames (columns and
beams), floor and roof slabs, foundations, bridge decks and piers, retaining walls, grandstands,
water tanks, pipes, bunkers and silos, folded plates and shells, etc.

(a) Plain concrete beam

cracks and fails in
flexural tension
under asmall load

(b) Reinforced
concrete beam
supports loadswith
acceptably low
deformations

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(c) Ductile mode of failure

under heavy loads

(d) Reinforced
concretecolumn

Figure 1-1 - Contribution of steel bars in reinforced concrete

1.3. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF REINFORCED CONCRETE FOR A
STRUCTURE
The choice of whether a structure should be built of reinforced concrete, steel, masonry, or
timber depends on the availability of materials and on a number of value decisions.

1. Economy.
2. Suitability of material for architectural and structural function.
3. Fire resistance.
4. Rigidity.
5. Low maintenance.
6. Availability of materials.
On the other hand, there are a number of factors that may cause one to select a material other
than reinforced concrete. These include:
1. Low tensile strength.
2. Forms and shoring.

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3. Relatively low strength per unit of weight or volume.

4. Time-dependent volume changes.

1.4. THE DESIGN PROCESS

1.4.1. OBJECTIVES OF DESIGN

A structural engineer is a member of a team that works together to design a building, bridge, or
other structure. In the case of a building, an architect generally provides the overall lay-out, and
mechanical, electrical, and structural engineers design individual systems within the building. The
structure should satisfy four major criteria:

1. Appropriateness.
2. Economy.
3. Structural adequacy.
4. Maintainability

1.4.2. THE DESIGN PROCESS

The design process is a sequential and iterative decision-making process. The three major phases
are the following:

1. Definition of the client’s needs and priorities.

2. Development of project concept
3. Design of individual systems.

1.5. DESIGN CODES AND HANDBOOKS

1.5.1. PURPOSE OF CODES

National building codes have been formulated in different countries to lay down guidelines for the
design and construction of structures. The codes have evolved from the collective wisdom ofexpert
structural engineers, gained over the years. These codes are periodically revised to bring them in
line with current research, and often, current trends.

The codes serve at least four distinct functions:

1. They ensure adequate structural safety, by specifying certain essential minimum

requirements for design.

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2. They render the task of the designer relatively simple; often, the results of sophisticated
analyses are made available in the form of a simple formula or chart.
3. The codes ensure a measure of consistency among different designers.
4. They have some legal validity, in that they protect the structural designer from any
liability due to structural failures that are caused by inadequate supervision and/or faulty
material and construction.
The codes are not meant to serve as a substitute for basic understanding and engineering
judgment. The student is, therefore, forewarned that s/he will make a poor designer if s/he
succumbs to the unfortunate (and all-too-common) habit of blindly following the codes. On the
contrary, in order to improve her/his understanding, s/he must learn to question the code
provisions — as, indeed, s/he must, nearly everything in life!

1.5.2. INTRODUCTION TO ETHIOPIAN STANDARD EURONORMS CODE

The development of the Eurocodes started in 1975; since then they have evolved significantly
and are now claimed to be the most technically advanced structural codes in the world. There are
ten Eurocodes covering all the main structural materials (see Figure 1-2). The structural Eurocodes
were initiated by the European Commission but are now produced by the Comité Européen de
Normalisation (CEN) which is the European standards organization. CEN is publishing the design
standards as full Ethiopian Standards EN (Euronorms):
ES EN 1991: Actions on structures (ES1)
Part 1-1: General actions – Densities, self-weight and imposed loads
Part 1-2: General actions on structures exposed to fire
Part 1-3: General actions – Snow loads
Part 1-4: General actions – Wind loads
Part 1-5: General actions – Thermal actions
Part 1-6: Actions during execution
Part 1-7: Accidental actions from impact and explosions

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ES EN 1992: CES 149 Design of concrete structures (ES2)

Part 1-1: General rules and rules for buildings (ES2 Part 1-1)
ES EN 1993: CES 152 Design of steel structures (ES3)
ES EN 1994: CES 154 Design of composite steel and concrete structures (ES4)
ES EN 1995: CES 155 Design of timber structures (ES5)
ES EN 1996: CES 156 Design of masonry structures (ES6)
ES EN 1997: CES 158 Geotechnical design (ES7)
ES EN 1998: CES 160 Earthquake resistant design of structures (ES8)
All ES EN follow a common editorial style. The codes contain ‘Principles’ and ‘Application rules’.
Principles are identified by the letter P following the paragraph number. Principles are general
statements and definitions for which there is no alternative, as well as, requirements and
analytical models for which no alternative is permitted unless specifically stated.

Application rules are generally recognized rules which comply with the Principles and satisfy
their requirements. Alternative rules may be used provided that compliance with the
Principles can be demonstrated, however the resulting design cannot be claimed to be wholly in
accordance with the Eurocode although it will remain in accordance with Principles.

1.6. MATERIALS

1.6.1. BEHAVIOR OF CONCRETE UNDER COMPRESSION

1.6.2. Compressive strength of concrete
Generally, the term concrete strength is taken to refer to the uniaxial compressive strength as
measured by a compression test of a standard test cylinder, because this test is used to monitor
the concrete strength for quality control or acceptance purposes. For convenience, other strength
parameters, such as tensile or bond strength, are expressed relative to the compressive strength.

1.6.3. Statistical Variations in Concrete Strength

Concrete is a mixture of water, cement, aggregate, and air. Variations in the properties or
proportions of these constituents, as well as variations in the transporting, placing, and compaction
of the concrete, lead to variations in the strength of the finished concrete. In addition,discrepancies
in the tests will lead to apparent differences in strength. The shaded area in Figure 1-3 shows the
distribution of the strengths in a sample of 176 concrete-strength tests.

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Figure 1-3 - Distribution of concrete strengths.

The mean or average strength is 3940 psi, but one test has strength as low as 2020 psi and one is
as high as 6090 psi.

If more than about 30 tests are available, the strengths will generally approximate a normal
distribution. The normal distribution curve, shown by the curved line in Figure 1-3, is symmetrical
about the mean value, x of the data. The dispersion of the data can be measured by the sample
standard deviation, S , which is the root-mean-square deviation of the strengths from their mean
value:

( 1-1)

The standard deviation divided by the mean value is called the coefficient of variation, V:

( 1-2)

This makes it possible to express the degree of dispersion on a fractional or percentage basis
rather than an absolute basis. The concrete test data in Figure 1-3 have a standard deviation of
615 psi and a coefficient of variation of or 15.6 percent. 615/3940 = 0.156.

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If the data correspond to a normal distribution, their distribution can be predicted from the
properties of such a curve. Thus, 68.3 percent of the data will lie within 1 standard deviation above
or below the mean. Alternatively, 15.6 percent of the data will have values less than
x s , Similarly, for a normal distribution, 10 percent of the data, or 1 test in10, will have

̅ (1-aV), where a=1.282, Values of a corresponding to other probabilities can

values less than 𝑋
be found in statistics texts.

Figure 1-4 shows the mean concrete strength, fcr, required for various values of the coefficient

of variation if no more than 1 test in 10 is to have strength less than 3000 psi. As shown in this
figure, as the coefficient of variation is reduced, the value of the mean strength, fcr, required to

satisfy this requirement can also be reduced.

Figure 1-4 - Normal frequency curves for coefficients of variation of10, 15, and 20 percent.
NB: Poor control .......................... V > 14%
Average control… ................ V = 10.5%
Excellent control ................... V < 7%
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1.6.4. Stress-Strain Curves
Typical stress-strain curves of concrete (of various grades), obtained from standard uniaxial
compression tests, are shown in Figure 1-5. The curves are somewhat linear in the very initial
phase of loading; the non-linearity begins to gain significance when the stress level exceeds
about one-third to one-half of the maximum. The maximum stress is reached at a strain
approximately equal to 0.002; beyond this point, an increase in strain is accompanied by a decrease
in stress. For the usual range of concrete strengths, the strain at failure is in the range of 0.003 to
0.005.

The higher the concrete grade, the steeper is the initial portion of the stress-strain curve, the
sharper the peak of the curve, and the less the failure strain. For low-strength concrete, the curve
has a relatively flat top, and a high failure strain.

When the stress level reaches 70–90 percent of the maximum, internal cracks are initiated in the
mortar throughout the concrete mass, roughly parallel to the direction of the applied loading. The
concrete tends to expand laterally, and longitudinal cracks become visible when the lateral strain
(due to the Poisson effect) exceeds the limiting tensile strain of concrete (0.0001—0.0002).The
cracks generally occur at the aggregate-mortar interface. As a result of the associated larger lateral
extensions, the apparent Poisson’s ratio increases sharply.

Figure 1-5 - Typical stress-strain curves of concrete in compression

The descending branch of the stress-strain curve can be fully traced only if the strain-controlled
application of the load is properly achieved. For this, the testing machine must be sufficiently rigid
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(i.e., it must have a very high value of load per unit deformation); otherwise, the concrete islikely
to fail abruptly (sometimes, explosively) almost immediately after the maximum stress is reached.
The fall in stress with increasing strain is a phenomenon which is not clearly understood; it is
associated with extensive micro-cracking in the mortar, and is sometimes called softening of
concrete.

1. Modulus of Elasticity
The Young’s modulus of elasticity is a constant, defined as the ratio, within the linear elastic range,
of axial stress to axial strain, under uniaxial loading. In the case of concrete under uniaxial
compression, it has some validity in the very initial portion of the stress-strain curve, which is
practically linear [Figure 6]; that is, when the loading is of low intensity, and of very short duration.

Various descriptions of Ec are possible, such as initial tangent modulus, tangent modulus (at a
specified stress level), secant modulus (at a specified stress level), etc. — as shown in Figure 6.
Among these, the secant modulus at a stress of about one-third the cube strength of concrete is
generally found acceptable in representing an average value of Ec under service load conditions
(static loading).

Figure 6 – Various descriptions of modulus of elasticity of concrete

( I T≡ initial tangent, T ≡ tangent, S ≡ secant )

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1.6.4. BEHAVIOR OF CONCRETE UNDER TENSION
Concrete is not normally designed to resist direct tension. However, tensile stresses do develop in
concrete members as a result of flexure, shrinkage and temperature changes. Principal tensile
stresses may also result from multi-axial states of stress. Often cracking in concrete is a result of
the tensile strength (or limiting tensile strain) being exceeded. As pure shear causes tension on
diagonal planes, knowledge of the direct tensile strength of concrete is useful for estimating the
shear strength of beams with unreinforced webs, etc. Also, knowledge of the flexural tensile
strength of concrete is necessary for estimation of the ‘moment at first crack’, required for the
computation of deflections and crack widths in flexural members.

As pointed out earlier, concrete is very weak in tension, the direct tensile strength being only about
7 to 15 percent of the compressive strength. It is difficult to perform a direct tension test on a
concrete specimen, as it requires a purely axial tensile force to be applied, free of any
misalignment and secondary stress in the specimen at the grips of the testing machine. Hence,
indirect tension tests are resorted to, usually the flexure test or the cylinder splitting test.

1.6.5. Stress-Strain Curve of Concrete in Tension

Concrete has a low failure strain in uniaxial tension. It is found to be in the range of 0.0001 to
0.0002. The stress-strain curve in tension is generally approximated as a straight line from the
origin to the failure point. The modulus of elasticity in tension is taken to be the same as that in
compression. As the tensile strength of concrete is very low, and often ignored in design, the tensile
stress-strain relation is of little practical value.

1.7.2.1. Splitting Tensile Strength

The cylinder splitting test is the easiest to perform and gives more uniform results compared to
other tension tests. In this test, a ‘standard’ plain concrete cylinder (of the same type as used for
the compression test) is loaded in compression on its side along a diametric plane. Failure occurs
by the splitting of the cylinder along the loaded plane [Figure 7]. In an elastic homogeneous
cylinder, this loading produces a nearly uniform tensile stress across the loaded plane as shown in
Figure 7.

From theory of elasticity concepts, the following formula for the evaluation of the splitting tensile
strength fct is obtained:

2P (1)
fct =
3.14dL
Where P is the maximum applied load, d is the diameter and L the length of the cylinder.

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Figure 7 – Cylinder splitting test for tensile strength

1.6.5. REINFORCING STEEL

As explained earlier, concrete is reinforced with steel primarily to make up for concrete’s
incapacity for tensile resistance. Steel embedded in concrete, called reinforcing steel, can
effectively take up the tension that is induced due to flexural tension, direct tension, ‘diagonal
tension’ or environmental effects. Reinforcing steel also imparts ductility to a material that is
otherwise brittle. Furthermore, steel is stronger than concrete in compression also; hence,concrete
can be advantageously reinforced with steel for bearing compressive stresses as well, as is
commonly done in columns.

1.7.3.1. Stress-Strain Curves

The stress-strain curve of reinforcing steel is obtained by performing a standard tension test.
Typical stress-strain curves for the three grades of steel are depicted in Figure 1-8.

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Figure 1-8 - Typical stress-strain curves for reinforcing steels

For all grades, there is an initial linear elastic portion with constant slope, which gives a
Modulus of elasticity Es that is practically the same for all grades. The Code specifies that the

value of Es to be considered in design is 2 ∗ 105 𝑀𝑃𝑎 . The stress-strain curve of mild

steel (hot rolled) is characterized by an initial nearly elastic part that is followed by an yield plateau
(where the strain increases at almost constant stress), followed in turn by a strainhardening range
in which the stress once again increases with increasing strain (although at a decreasing rate) until
the peak stress (tensile strength) is reached. Finally, there is a descending branch wherein the
nominal stress (load divided by original area) decreases until fracture occurs. (The actual stress, in
terms of load divided by the current reduced area, will, however, show an increasing trend).

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