DEBRE MARKOS UNIVERSITY

DEBRE MARKOS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY & MANAGEMENT ENGINEERING

DESIGN OF REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES

Chapter-I INTRODUCTION

Lecturer By
Mr.Venkatesh Kannekanti
jusvenki@gmail.com
CONTENTS
 General Introduction
 Structural Properties of Concrete &
Reinforcement Steel
 Reinforced Concrete design methods
: Safety and Serviceability
 General Introduction
 CONCRETE: Etymology
 The word concrete comes from the Latin word "concretus"
(meaning compact or condensed), the perfect passive participle of
"concrescere", from "con-" (together) and "crescere" (to grow).
 Concrete is a composite material, comprising a matrix of 
aggregate (typically a rocky material) and a binder (typically 
Portland cement or asphalt), which holds the matrix together.
 Many types of concrete are available, determined by the
formulations of binders and the types of aggregate used to suit
the application for the material.
 General Introduction
 CONCRETE:
 General Introduction
• These variables determine strength, density, as well as chemical
and thermal resistance of the finished product.
• A cement, most commonly Portland cement, is the most prevalent
kind of concrete binder. For cementitious binders, water is mixed
with the dry powder and aggregate, which produces a semi-liquid
slurry that can be shaped, typically by pouring it into a form. The
concrete solidifies and hardens through a chemical process called 
hydration.
• The water reacts with the cement, which bonds the other
components together, creating a robust stone-like material.
General Introduction
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

 The following are the properties of the concrete;

 Compressive Strength
 Tensile Strength
 W/C Ratio
 Curing
 Creep
 Shrinkage
 Poisson’s Ratio
 Volumetric change
 Density
 Durability
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

 Compressive Strength - is defined as the measured

maximum resistance of a concrete or mortar specimen to an
axial load, usually expressed in N/mm2 at an age of 28-days.
 During the first week to 10 days of curing it is important that
the concrete not be permitted to freeze or dry out
 In practical terms, about 90% of its strength is gained in the
first 28 days the first 28 days.
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

 Concrete compressive strength depends upon many factors:

1. quality and proportions of the ingredients.
2. the curing environment.
 Tests for this property are made on cylindrical specimen of
height equal to twice the diameter (usually 6x12 inches, i.e.
150 x300mm) originally as specified by American society
for Testing and materials (ASTM).
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

 The compressive strength is calculated from failure load

divided by cross-sectional area resisting the load and
reported in units of force per square area.
 In EBCS 2-1995, concrete is graded based on tests of 150
mm cubes at the age of 28 days which may be
considered as the characteristic cube compression
strength in MPa and graded as C5, C15, C20, C30, C40,
C50 and C60 the numbers being characteristic
compressive strength in MPa
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

 Strength can be increased by

 Decreasing W/C ratio
 Using high strength aggregates because that makes 65-75% of
the volume of concrete.
 Grading the aggregates to produce a small percentage of voids
in the concrete
 Moist curing the concrete after it has set
 Vibrating the concrete in the forms while plastic
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

 Tensile Strength:
 It is used to design for shear, torsion and crack width. This is
much lower than compressive strength and generally falls
between 8 and 15 percent of compressive strength.
 It is difficult to determine from tension test due to problem with
gripping and is indirectly determined from split-cylinder test or
flexure test (modulus of rupture) or from empirical formulae.
 In a split-cylinder test, a 150mm*300mm compression test
cylinder is placed on its side and loaded in compression along the
diameter.
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

 Water-Cement Ratio:
 The single most important indicator of strength is the ratio
of the water used compared to the amount of cement
(w/c ratio)
 Basically, the lower this ratio is, g the higher the final
concrete strength will be.
 This concept was developed by Duff Abrams of The
Portland Cement Association in the early 1920s and is in
worldwide use today.
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

 A minimum w/c ratio (water-to-cement ratio) of about 0.3

by weight is necessary to ensure that the water comes
into contact with all cement particles (thus assuring
complete hydration).
 The typical values are 0.4 to 0.6
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

 Advantages of low water/cement ratio:

 Increased strength
 Lower permeability
 Increased resistance to weathering
 Better bond between concrete and reinforcement
 Reduced drying shrinkage and cracking
 Less volume change from wetting and drying
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

 Curing - maintenance of a satisfactory moisture content

and temperature in concrete for a suitable period of time
immediately following placing & finishing so that the
desired properties may develop.
 Factors that effect curing:
 Time
 Temperature
 Moisture
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

 Creep:
• It is strain that occurs under constant sustained compressive load.
It is also defined as deformation of a member under sustained load.
It results in stress redistribution and additional deformation and
should be considered.
• For example, in the design of RC beams for allowable stress, the
effects of creep are taken into account by reducing the modulus of
elasticity of concrete usually by 50%.
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

• Creep is
 Proportional to stress
 Increases with increase in W/C ratio
 Decrease with relative humidity of atmosphere
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

 Shrinkage of Concrete:
• The property of diminishing in volume during the process of drying
and hardening is termed Shrinkage.
• It depends mainly on the duration of exposure. If this strain is
prevented, it produces tensile stress in the concrete and hence
concrete develops cracks.
 Poisson’s ratio:
• Poisson’s ratio varies between 0.1 for high strength concrete and
0.2 for weak mixes. It is normally taken as 0.15 for strength design
and 0.2 for serviceability criteria.
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

 Volume Change:
• Shrinkage is the shortening of concrete during hardening and
drying under constant temperature. The prime cause of shrinkage
is due to loss of a layer of adsorbed water from the surface of the
gel particles.
• It depends on relatively humidity (but recoverable on wetting and
of composition of the concrete.
• Essentially, Shrinkage occurs as the moister diffuses out of the
concrete which result the exterior to shrink more rapidly than the
interior.
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

• This leads to tensile stresses in the outer skin of the concrete and
compression stresses in the interior. The effect of shrinkage can be
reduced by using less cement and by adequate moist curing.

  Density:
• Increase in density results in increase in strength. Density can be
increased by using denser aggregate, graded aggregates, vibrating
and reducing w/c ratio.
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

 Durability:
• Concrete durability has been defined by the American Concrete
Institute as its resistance to weathering action, chemical attack,
abrasion and other degradation processes. Concrete should be
capable of withstanding
 Weathering such as corrosion and
 Mainly freezing and thawing. This can be improved by increasing water
tightness.
 Chemical reaction
 Wear
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE

 add
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF REINFORCED STEEL

 REINFORCED STEEL:
 It is a high-strength and high cost steel bar used in concrete
construction (e.g., in a beam or wall) to provide additional
strength. When reinforcing steel is used with concrete, the concrete
is made to resist compression stress and the steel is made to resist
tensile stress with or without additional compressive stress.
 When RC elements are used, sufficient bond between the two
materials must be developed to ensure that there is no relative
movement between the steel bars and the surrounding concrete.
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF REINFORCED STEEL

 This bond may be developed by:

 chemical adhesion
 natural roughness
 closely spaced rib-shaped surface deformation of reinforcement
bars as shown in figure.
 Reinforcing bars varying 6 to 35 mm
in size are available in which all are
surface deformed except φ6.
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF REINFORCED STEEL

 The Properties of structural steel include:

 Tensile properties
 Shear properties
 Bar Shape & Size
 Creep
 Relaxation
 Fatigue
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF REINFORCED STEEL

 Tensile Properties of Structural Steel:

• There are different categories of steel structures which can be used
in the construction of steel buildings. Typical stress strain curves
for various classes of structural steel, which are derived from steel
tensile test.
• The elastic modulus of all steel classes is same and equal to
200000MPa or 2×106 MPa. As the load on the steel is increased, it
would yield at a certain point after which plastic range will be
reached.
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF REINFORCED STEEL

 The yield point is the point at which steel specimen reach 0.002
strain under the effect of specific stress (yield stress).

 Ductility of steel structure is crucial properties that allow

redistribution of stress in continuous steel elements.
 Ductility is expressed by percentage of steel cross sectional
reduction.
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF REINFORCED STEEL

 As far as poisons ratio is concerned, it is the ratio of transverse

strain to axial strain and it is about 0.30 and 0.50 in elastic and
plastic range, respectively.
 Regarding cold working of structural steel, it is the process in
which different shapes of steel structure are produced at room
temperature.
 Consequently, steel structure ductility is increased but its ductility
is reduced. Residual stress is a stress that stays in steel element
after it has been fabricated.
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF REINFORCED STEEL

 Shear Properties of Structural Steel

• Shear strength of steel structure is specified at the failure under
shear stress and it is about 0.57 times yield stress of structural
steel.
• Regarding elastic shear modulus, it is expressed as the ratio of
shear stress to shear strain in elastic range of steel structure.
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF REINFORCED STEEL

 Commonly, elastic shear modulus of steel structure can be taken as

75.84Gpa or the following formula can be used to compute elastic
shear modulus.
G=E/(1+µ)

Where:
G: Steel structure shear elastic modulus
E: Modulus of elasticity of steel structure
µ: Position’s ratio
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF REINFORCED STEEL

 BAR SHAPE AND SIZE

 Reinforcement steel bars are round in cross-section. To restrict
longitudinal movement of the bars relative to the surrounding
concrete and for force transfer from the bars to the concrete,
deformations are rolled on to the bar surfaces.
 Minimum requirements for deformations such as spacing, height
and circumferential coverage have been established by
experimental research.
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF REINFORCED STEEL

 ASTM specifications require the deformations to have average

spacing not exceeding 0.7 of the nominal bar diameter and a height
at least 0.04 to 0.05 of the bar diameter. The deformations must
cover 75% of the bar circumference.
 The angle that these deformations make with the axis of the bar
should not be less than 45°. Generally longitudinal ribs are also
present.
 Deformed steel bars are produced
in sizes ranging from 8mm to 35mm
in Ethiopia. Ø6mm is plain bar and is used for stirrups.
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF REINFORCED STEEL

 Creep of Structural Steel Relaxation:

 Creep is gradual variation of strain of steel structure under
constant stress. It occurs due to the influence of constant stress and
the effect of fire.
 Creep property is insignificant for structural steel frame design and
construction apart from the case in which the effect of fire should
be taken into consideration.
 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF REINFORCED STEEL

 Structural Steel Relaxation:

 It is a step by step reduction of structural steel under a constant
stress. Usually, yield strength of steel structure increases around
5% over stress relieved strain and the steel structure would suffer
from plastic elongation which around 0.01.
 Fatigue of Structural Steel:
• Fatigue is the failure of steel structure due to crack initiation and
development under the influence of cyclic loading. Various tests
are available to evaluate structural steel fatigue such as flexure
test, rotating beam test and axial load test.
 REINFORCED CONCRETE DESIGN METHODS

 DESIGN PHILOSOPHIES
• Design is a process used in engineering to specify how to create or
do something. A design must satisfy such requirements like
functional, performance and resource usage. It is also expected to
meet restrictions on the design process, time of completion, cost,
or the available tools for doing the design.
• The analysis and design of the individual structural elements of
reinforced concrete structures, with emphasis on:
 REINFORCED CONCRETE DESIGN METHODS

• Beams – horizontal members carrying lateral loads and subjected

to flexural stress,
• Slabs – horizontal plate elements carrying gravity loads and
subjected to flexural stress, and
• Columns – vertical members carrying primarily axial load but
generally subjected to axial compressive force with or without
bending moment.
 REINFORCED CONCRETE DESIGN METHODS
 In (reinforced concrete) buildings, architectural
planning and design is carried out to determine
the arrangement and layout of the building to meet
client’s requirements.
 The structural analysis versus design cycle is
represented by the flowchart.
 REINFORCED CONCRETE DESIGN METHODS
• Once the form and structural arrangement have been finalized the structural
design procedure consists of the following:
 idealization of the structure into component parts
 load estimation on the various structural components
 analysis to determine the maximum internal stresses and strains
 design of sections and reinforcement arrangements
 detail drawings and bar schedule preparation
 There are three methods of concrete design. These are
1. The Working Stress Design (WSD) method
2. The Ultimate Strength Design (USD) method
3. The Limit State Design (LSD) method
 REINFORCED CONCRETE DESIGN METHODS
 The Working Stress Design (WSD) method
 In this method the section of reinforced concrete members are designed
assuming straight- line stress-strain relationships, i.e., the response and
stresses are elastic.
 The stresses in the concrete and steel at service load are kept below a
stress called allowable or permissible stress, which is obtained dividing
the ultimate strength of the materials by safety factor. For instance, the
allowable compressive stress in extreme fiber of concrete should not
exceed.
 REINFORCED CONCRETE DESIGN METHODS

 0.425 fck and that of tensile stress in steel 0.52 fyk, for class-I works.
  The internal bending moments and forces for a structure are calculated
assuming linear elastic behavior.
 Because of elastic stress distribution is assumed in design, it is not really
applicable to a semi-plastic (elasto-plastic) material such as concrete, nor
is it suitable when deformations are not proportional to the load, as in
slender columns.
 It has also been found to be unsafe when dealing with the stability of
structures subject to overturning forces.
 This method was used from 1900-1950 for the design of reinforced
concrete members.
 REINFORCED CONCRETE DESIGN METHODS
 The Ultimate Strength Design (USD) method
 After about half a century of practical experience and laboratory tests the
knowledge of the behavior of structural concrete under load has vastly
increased and the deficiencies of elastic theory (working stress design
method) have become evident. . This method was popular from 1950 up
to 1960s.
 The deficiencies of WSD are,
 Reinforced concrete sections behave in-elastically at high loads;
hence elastic theory cannot give a reliable prediction of the strength
of the members because inelastic strains are not taken into account.
 REINFORCED CONCRETE DESIGN METHODS
 Because reserve of strength in the inelastic range of stress-strain of
concrete is not utilized, the Working Stress Design Method is
conservative and hence results in uneconomical design.
 The stress-strain curve for concrete is nonlinear and is time
dependent. Creep strains can be several times elastic strains.
Therefore, modular ratio used in WSD is a crude approximation.
Creep Strains can cause a substantial redistribution of stresses and
actual stresses in structures are far from allowable stress used in
design.
 REINFORCED CONCRETE DESIGN METHODS
 The Limit State Design (LSD) method
 More recently, it has been recognized that the design approach for
reinforced concrete should ideally combine the best features of ultimate
strength and working stress design.
 This is desirable because if sections are proportioned by ultimate
strength requirements alone there is a danger that although the load
factors are adequate to ensure safety against strength failure, the cracking
and deflections at service loads may be excessive.
 Cracking may be excessive if the steel stresses are high or if the bars are
badly distributed
 REINFORCED CONCRETE DESIGN METHODS
 The deflections and crack widths must be checked for service loads to
make sure that they lie within reasonable limiting values dictated by
functional requirements of the structure.
 This check requires the use of elastic theory. Therefore, in the LSD
method structures will be designed for strength at ultimate loads (ULS),
and deflection and crack width checked at service loads (SLS).
 This design philosophy is gaining acceptance in many countries
throughout the world including Ethiopia. EBCS2-1995 is based on the
LSD method.
The End