REINFORCED CONCRETE

DESIGN (I)
•It is a composite material which is composed of
Portland cement , fine aggregates (sand) , coarse
aggregates(gravel/stone) ,water, air and with or
without additives.

•After mixing processes a chemical reactions take

place in which the cement powder reacts with
water and bounds all the aggregates to produce
plain concrete, If we put steel fibers in the
concrete it will be a reinforced concrete.
Advantages
•availability
•concrete material is available.
• fabrication time
•It needs little fabrication time.
• fire resistance
•It has significant fire resistance
 architectural and structural functions
•It combines architectural and structural functions.
• member size
•There are no constrains in member size.
•compressive strength
•It has relatively high compressive strength.
• vibration damping
•it causes vibration and acoustic damping
• maintenance costs
•It has relatively low maintenance costs
Disadvantages
•frame work
•It requires frame work and intensive labors
•strength/weight ratio
•IT has relatively low strength/weight ratio
•time dependent behavior
•It has time dependent behavior such as creep and
volume change(shrinkage)
•tensile strength
•It has low concrete tensile strength
Facts
plain concrete is strong in compression and very weak in tension.
The tensile strength of concrete is about one-tenth(8-12%) its
compressive strength.
reinforcing steel is added in the tension zone to carry all the
developed tensile stresses.
The tensile strength of the steel is approximately equal to 100-140
times the tensile strength of the usual concrete.
The disadvantage of steel is corrosion, but the concrete
surrounding the reinforcement provides an excellent protection.
the strength of the exposed steel subjected to fire is close to .zero,
but again the enclosure of .the reinforcement in the concrete
produces very satisfactory fire protection. Finally, concrete and
steel work very well together in temperature changes because their
coefficients of thermal expansion are almost the same. The
coefficient of thermal expansion for steel is 6.5x10-6, while that for
the concrete is about 5.5x10-6.
Stress – strain curve of concrete
Grades of reinforced concrete (N/mm2)
Reinforced 18 20 25 30 35 40 45
concrete

Stress – strain curve for all concrete grades

Stress – strain curve for concrete in compression
Stress – strain curve for concrete and its components
Ec= modulus of elacticity of concrete
=stress/strain= 4400 Mpa
Concrete characteristics
•Quality:
•The concrete quality is measured by its strength and
durability, aggregates and the water ratio and humidity
affect on concrete strength.
•Durability of concrete means that the ability of concrete to
resists chemical attack and freezing and thawing.
•Workability:
•It can be defined as the ability of to conform to fine
forming details.
•Economical:
•It can be defined as the cost of producing good quality of
effective operation.
Mechanical Properties of Concrete
1-Compressive Strength:
Many factors affect the concrete compressive strength
such as
a- the water cement ratio
b- the type of cement,
c- aggregate properties,
d-age of concrete
e- time of curing.
•The most important factor of all is the water cement ratio.
The lower water content with good workability leads to higher
concrete compressive strength.
•Increasing the water cement ratio from 0.45 to 0.65 can
decrease the compressive strength by 30-40 percent.
•High-range water-reducing admixtures (super plasticizers) are
available and they allow engineers to produce fluid concrete
mixes with a sharply reduced amount of water.
•In Egypt, the compressive strength of concrete is usually
determined by loading a 150 mm cube up to failure in uniaxial
compression after 28 days of casting (fcu)
•cubes are covered by the Egyptian Code for Design and
Construction of Concrete Structures (ECP-203) including
connection factors that can be used if the tested specimen is
not the same dimension or shape as the standard cube. This
is the strength specified on the construction drawings and
used in the design calculations.
(fcu )Grades of reinforced concrete and prestressed
concrete(N/mm2)

R.C 18 20 25 30 35 40 45
P.S 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
•Field conditions are not the same as those in the
laboratory, and the specified 28-days strength might not
practically be achieved in the field unless almost perfect
mixture, vibration, and perfect curing conditions are
present. As a result, the ECP 203 stated that the target
concrete compressive strength must exceed the
characteristic strength fcu by a safety margin (M). The
safety margin for a concrete mix design depends on the
quality control of the concrete plant and can range from
4 Nlmm2 to 15 Nlmm2 •
fm =fcu+M
Value of the safety margin M (N/mm2 )
One test data is an average of 3 cube tests
SD: Standard deviation
Safety margin M
Statistical
data fcu < 20 N/mm 2 20-40 N/mm2 40-60 N/mm2

40 test data 1.64 SD ≥ 4 N/mm 1.64 SD ≥ 6 1.64SD >-

or more 2 N/mm2 7.5N/mm2

less than 40 Not less than ≥ 12 N/mm2 ≥ 15 N/mm2

test data 0.6fcu
•Since concrete is used mostly
in compression, its
compressive stress-strain
curve is of a prime interest. All
curves have somewhat similar
characteristics. They consist
of an initial relatively straight
elastic portion in which
stresses and strains are
closely proportional, then
begin to curve to reach a
maximum value at a strain
of0.002 to 0.003. There is a can
descending branch after the
peak stress is reached. It stress-strain curve for all concrete grades
be noticed that the weaker
grades of concrete are less
brittle than the stronger ones.
Thus, they will take larger
strains and deformations
before breaking.
2-Tensile strength
Experimental tests indicate that the tensile strength of
concrete is highly variable and ranges from about 8-12%
of its compressive strength. The actual value depends on
the type of test and crack propagation pattern at failure.
•Tensile strength is usually determined by the bending test
or by the split cylinder test. The ECP 203 states that the
value of concrete tensile strength can be taken from
experimental tests as follows:
•60% from the concrete tensile strength determined from
bending test.
•85% from the concrete tensile strength determined from
split cylinder test.
•In the bending test (modulus of rapture test), a plain concrete
beam is loaded in flexure up to failure. The flexure tensile
strength or the modulus of rupture fr is computed from the
following equation.
•The tensile strength does not correlate well with the concrete compressive
strength but rather with its square root. The ECP gives an expression for
estimating the concrete tensile
ftr =concrete tensile strength= 0.6 Mpa
3-Modulus of Elasticity
•It is clear from the stress-strain curve of the concrete shown in Fig
that the relation between the stress and the strain is not linear. Thus,
the modulus of elasticity changes from point to point. Furthermore,
its value varies with different concrete strengths, concrete
age, type of loading, and the characteristics of cement and
aggregate. The initial tangent is sometimes used to estimate the
concrete modulus of elasticity, in which the slope of the stress-strain
curve of concrete at the origin is evaluated.
•The ECP gives the following formula for estimating the
concrete modulus of elasticity
Ec= modulus of elacticity of concrete
=stress/strain= 4400 Mpa
where fcu is the concrete compressive strength in N/mm2

Concrete modulus of elasticity

4-Shrinkage
As the concrete dries it shrinks in volume due to the excess water used in concrete
mixing.
•The shortening of the concrete per unit length due to moisture loss is called
shrinkage strain.
•The magnitude of the shrinkage strain is a function of
•the initial water content,
•the composition of the concrete
• the relative humidity of the surroundings
• member's size and shape.
•Drying shrinkage occurs as the moisture diffuses out of the concrete. As a result,
the exterior shrinks more rapidly than the interior. This leads to tensile stresses in
the outer skin of the concrete member and compressive stresses in its interior. The
rate of the shrinkage increases as the exposed area to the volume increases.
The ECP-203 gives the following formula to estimate the virtual member thickness
B=2Ac/pc
Where Ac = area of cross section
Pc = section perimeter subjected to shrinkage
Although shrinkage continues for many years approximately
90% of the ultimate shrinkage occurs during the first year

Variation of shrinkage with time for concrete

 Values of shrinkage strain for concrete × 10-3
Values of final shrinkage for ordinary concrete are generally of the order
of 0.00016 to 0.00030.

weather Dry weather Humid weather

condition Relative humidity =55% Relative humidity== 75%

Virtual thickness B Virtual thickness B

Time by
B ≥600 600 > B > B ≤ 200 B B ≥600 600 > B > B ≤
days 200 200 200

3-7 0.31 0.38 0.43 0.21 0.23 0.26

7-60 0.30 0.31 0.32 0.21 0.22 0.23

>60 0.28 0.25 0.19 0.20 0.19 0.16

5-Creep
•When a reinforced concrete member is loaded, an initial
deformation occurs as shown in Fig. Experimental studies show
that this initial deformation increases with time under constant
loading.
•The total deformation is usually divided into two parts:
•initial deformation
• a time dependent deformation named creep.
•More than 75% of the creep deformation occurs during the first
year and 95% in the first five years.
•The creep deformations are within a range of one to three
times the instantaneous elastic deformations.
•Creep causes an increase in the deflection with time that may
lead to undesirable deformation of the member. Thus, the
deflection must be investigated to ensure that the deformations are
within the allowable limits of the code.
Elastic and creep deformation of concrete
Reinforcing Steel

The most common types of

0.2%
reinforcing steel are bars and
welded wire fabrics. They are
produced according to the
Egyptian standards 262/1999.
Bars are supplied in lengths up
to 12m, however, longer bars
may be specially ordered.
Reinforcing bars are available
in four grades with a yield
strength of 240, 280, 360, and
400N/mm2.

Yield stress of steel

•The yield strength and the modulus of elasticity are
determined from the stress-strain curve of a
specimen bar loaded in uniaxial tension up to failure.
The modulus of elasticity of steel (the slope of the stress-
strain curve in the elastic region) is 200 GPa (200,000
Nlmm2 ).
•The specified strength used in design is based on the
yield stress for mild steel, whereas for high yield steel
the strength is based on a specified proof stress of 0.2%
. . .
Es=steel modulus of elasticity= 200,000 N/mm2
•The design stress is the yield stress fy
•The ultimate stress fu >fy
•Fu/fy for different grades of steel
Mild steel ( 350/240, 450/280)  

High grade steel (520/360) 

High grade steel (600/400) 
Limit States Design Method
•Members are designed with a capacity that is much greater than
required to support the anticipated set of loads. This extra capacity
not only provides a factor of safety against failure by an
accidental overload or defective construction but also limits the
level of stress under service loads to control deflection and
cracking. The Egyptian code permits the use of two design
methods, namely, the allowable working stress design method and
the ultimate limit states design method. In the present time, the
former is the most commonly used in the design of reinforced
concrete structures.
•When a structure or a structural member becomes deficient for its
planned use, it is said to have reached a limit state. The limit states
of concrete structures can be divided into the following three
groups:
•Ultimate Limit states
•These limit states are concerned with the failure of a structural
member or the whole structure. Such a failure should have a very
low probability of occurrence since it may lead to loss of human
lives.
•Serviceability limit states
•These include all types that affect the functional use of the
structure and can be classified as:
1-Deformation and Deflection Limit States: Excessive
deflections may be visually unacceptable and may lead
to walls or partitions damage.
2-Cracking Limit States: Excessive cracks may
lead to leakage, corrosion of the reinforcement, and
deterioration of concrete.
3-Vibration Limit States: Vertical vibration of floors or
roofs may cause unacceptable level of comfort for the
users.
•Stability limit states
•These include buckling of compression members, overturning,
sliding, formation of plastic hinge/mechanism, and general cases
of instability. Also, in some cases, localized failure of a member
may cause the entire structure to collapse. Such failure is called
progressive failure and should be avoided.
Strength Reduction Factors
•Strength reduction factors for both concrete and steel are
introduced by the Egyptian code to account for several factors.
These factors include simplifications, approximations, and
small errors that may be encountered during calculations.
They also consider variations between the actual strength and
the design strength.
c = 1.5 }pure bending, shear and torsion eccentric and
concentric tensile forces
s = 1.15 bond and bearing
Load Combinations
•D= dead load ( all the fixed gravity load such as R.C
member weight, floor cover, wall,…etc)
•L= live load ( all the movable gravity load such as
veichle, furniture,…etc)
•E= fluid pressure
•S= earth quick load
•W= wind load
Condition Factored Load U
Basic U = 1.4 D + 1.6 L
U = 1.5 (D+L) L <0.75 D
U=0.9 D
U = 0.9 D + 1.6 L
U = 0.8 (1.4 D + 1.6 L ± 1.6 W)
wind
U = 0.9 D±l.3 W
U = 1.12 D +a L + S
Earthquake
U =0.9D ±S
U = 1.4 D + 1.6 L + 1.6 E
Earth pressure
U = 0.9 D + 1.6 E
U = 1.4 D + 1.6 L + 1.4 E
Closed tanks
U = 0.9 D + 1.4 E
U = 0.8 (1.4 D + 1.6 L + 1.6 T)
Settlement, creep, or temperature
U = 1.4 D + 1.6 T
U = 1.4 D + 1.6 L + 1.6 K
Dynamic loading
U = 0.9 D + 1.6 K