012.

Working Stress, Ultimate Load ,Limit State Method of Design

Stress Strain Curve For Mild Steel

The Stress strain curve shows the elastic limit i.e. the point up to which the material obeys Hooke’s law
or the point up to which stress is linearly proportional to strain. It is important to note that the material
remains elastic within this zone. The material reaches its ultimate strength at the point shown in the
diagram. The range from elastic limit to the ultimate strength is called as the Plastic range and material
does not regain its original form after removal of the applied force. The material fails and ruptures after
this point and this range is of no use in designing of structures. Failure of a structure occurs due to

1. Bad quality of material used, hence actual stress values obtained at site are much lower than the
values used in designing

2. Over loading of structures, hence loads on site are much higher than the ones assumed in designing.

1. Working Stress Method

1. The basic assumption is that the failure occurs in the elastic zone of the material and hence a factor
of safety is applied to the ultimate stresses to get permissible or working stresses.

1. Concrete up to collapse is elastic and stress strain diagram is linear and the material obeys Hooke’s
law.
2. A plain section normal to the axis of bending remains plain after bending.

3. Tensile stresses are borne by steel and compressive stresses by concrete and there is perfect bond
between steel and concrete.

For working stress approach, service loads are used in the whole design and the strength of material is
not utilized in the full extent. In this method of design, stresses acting on structural members are
calculated based on elastic method and they are designed not to exceed certain allowable values. In
fact, the whole structure during the lifespan may only experience loading stresses far below the ultimate
state and that is the reason why this method is called working stress approach. Under such scenario, the
most economical design can hardly be obtained The values used in calculations are the permissible
stresses in steel and concrete obtained by dividing the ultimate stresses by a factor of safety (f.o.s) 3 in
case of a insitu material concrete and 1.85 to 2 for a more reliable material like steel.

For M20 Grade Concrete σbc = 7 N/mm² and For Fe 415 Steel σst = 230

280 280
1. Modullar Ratio m = 3σbc = 3 x 7 = 13.33

n σbc
2. Position of Neutral Axis =
d−n σst/m
hence n=0.29d

3. Lever Arm = d-n/3 = 0.9 d

4. Compressive Force Fc = average Compressive Stress x Area = σbc/2 x b x n = 1.015 bd

5. Tensile Force Ft = Tensile Stress x Area in tension= σst x Ast = 230 Ast

6. M.R compression = Fc X Lever Arm = 1.015 bd x 0.9 d = 0.91 bd²

𝐌.𝐑
7. M.R Tension = Ft X Lever Arm = 230 x Ast X 0.91 d Hence Ast = 𝟐𝟑𝟎 𝐗 𝟎.𝟗𝟏 𝐃
Limitations

1. Linear stress strain relationship assumed is not true.

2. It gives uneconomical sections.

3. It gives the impression that failure load is factor of safety times working load which is not true and in
case of indeterminate structures there is always redistribution of load as plastic hinges are formed
at critical sections

Advantages

1. It is simple and reasonably reliable

2. As working stresses are low, serviceability requirements are satisfied and there is no need to check
them. However this method is deleted from I.S. 456 but concept has been retained to check
serviceability states of deflections and cracking. Hence knowledge of this method is essential and
has been included in the appendix of I.S. 456

2. Ultimate Load Method.

In this method Ultimate Load is used as the Design Load and the collapse criteria used for the design.
Ultimate load is defined as Working Load multiplied by a load factor. This gives a better concept of load
carrying capacity of the structure. Its salient features are

1. Uses actual stress strain curve and ultimate strain as failure criteria.

2. Redistribution of forces is accounted since it works in the plastic region.

3. It allows varied selection of load factors, a lower value for loads with more certainty like Dead Load
and Higher values for less certain loads like Live Load and Wind Load, e.g. for a structure where the
effect of wind load and earthquake loads are not considered the load factor for dead loads was 1.5
and for live loads 2.2.

4. As stress diagram is not linear various models have been proposed but the most acceptable has
been Whitney’s Stress block due to its simplicity. Maximum fiber stresses have been taken as 0.66
 yield values. The theory replaces the parabolic diagram by rectangular stress diagram such that the
c.g. of both the compressive and tensile areas lie at the same point and their areas are also equal.

M.R COMPRESSION = Fc x Lever Arm = 0.66 fCK x b x d/2 x (d-d/4) = 0.25 fck bd²

M.R Tension = fy x Ast x (d-d/4) = 0.75 fy x d x Ast

Where FCK is Characteristic strength of concrete for M20 Grade Concrete FCK = 20 N/mm²And fy is the yield
strength of steel. For Fe 415 fy= 415N/mm².

This method gives economical sections. However it leads to excessive deformations and cracking
especially when high strength deformed bars are used. Thus this method fails to satisfy the serviceability
and durability criteria. To overcome this problem codes started adopting load factor method in which
load factors were modified. A load factor of 2 was used in Design and additional factor of safety of 1.5
was used for designed concrete mixes for calculating permissible stresses to control serviceability
requirement.

3. Limit State Method

Limit State Design is based on Limit State concept i.e. to achieve an acceptable probability that a
structure will not become unserviceable in its life time for the use for which it was designed. The
acceptable limit for safety and serviceability requirement before failure occurs is called Limit State.
Various Limit States that are considered are

1. Limit State of Collapse a. Flexural b. Compression c. Shear d. Torsion

3. Limit State of Durability. This Limit State relates to the capacity of the structure to withstand
safely adverse effects of natural forces during its service lifetime.

In this method design values of stresses in materials are derived from Characteristic values and Deign
loads are obtained by multiplying the working loads by partial factor of safety.

Characteristic stresses of the material are the values of stresses in the material below which not
more than 5% of test results are expected to fail.

Concrete Grade M15 grade M20 grade M25 grade M30 grade
fck Characteristic Strength in N/mm² 15 20 25 30

Grade of Steel Fe 250 Fe 415 Fe 500

Characteristic Loads.These are those loads having 95% probability of not being exceeded in the
life of the structure. Partial Factor of Safety- It is the factor by which loads are multiplied to get
Factored Loads.

1. For Concrete this is 1.5.

2. for steel this is 1.15

3. for loads this is 1.5

Advantages. For limit state approach, for each material and load, a partial safety factor
is assigned individually depending on the material properties and load properties.
Therefore, each element of load and material properties is accurately assessed resulting
in a more refined and accurate analysis of the structure. In this connection, the material
strength can be utilized to its maximum value during its lifespan and loads can be
assessed with reasonable probability of occurrence. Limit state approach is commonly
used for the majority of reinforced concrete design because it ensures the utilization of
material strength with the lowest construction cost input.

Assumptions in the Flexural Theory For Limit State Method In R.C.C

1. Plane section normal to the axis remain plane after bending

2. Maximum strain in concrete at the outermost compression fibre is taken as 0.0035 in

3. The relationship between the compressive stress distribution in concrete and the
strain in concrete may assumed to be rectangular, trapezoidal, parabolic or any other
shape which results in prediction of strength in substantial agreement with the test
results. For design purposes the compressive strength in concrete shall be assumed
to be 0.67 times the strength of concrete from cube tests and a partial factor of
safety of 1.5 shall be additionally applied.

4. The tensile strength in the portion below the neutral axis is ignored and concrete
below the neutral axis does not take part in the structural action.

5. The stresses in the reinforcement shall be derived from the stress strain curve for
the type o𝐹f steel and partial factor of safety of 1.15 shall be applied.

6. The maximum strain in the tension reinforcement in the section at failure shall be
𝑓𝑦
taken as +.002.
1.15 𝐸1

1. Compressive Force Cu = 0.36 fck x b x XU

2. Tensile Force Tu = 0.87 fy x Ast

3. Z = lever arm = d -0.416 Xu

Grade of Steel Depth of Neutral Axis from Compression Edge = Xu

Lever arm = d – 0.416 Xu = d- 0.416 x 0.479d = 0.80 d

M.R compression = Cu x lever arm = 0.36 fck.b.Xu x 0.80d = 0.36 x fck x b x 0.479d x 0.80d =0.138 fck bd²

M.R tension = Tu x lever arm = O.87 fy x Ast x 0.8 d