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Chapter Four: Flexural Behaviour of Beams Reinforced Concrete Beams Behaviour

This document discusses the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete beams under loading. It describes the three stages of a beam's behavior: [1] Stage 1 is when the load is low and the stress distribution is linear, [2] Stage 2 is when cracking occurs as tensile stresses exceed the concrete's tensile strength, and [3] Stage 3 is when the neutral axis has moved up and the steel has yielded. It also provides the equation to calculate a beam's cracking moment and describes how to determine the neutral axis and stresses in a cracked beam based on the transformed section method. An example problem is given to demonstrate calculating stresses using the working stress method.

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230 views

Chapter Four: Flexural Behaviour of Beams Reinforced Concrete Beams Behaviour

This document discusses the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete beams under loading. It describes the three stages of a beam's behavior: [1] Stage 1 is when the load is low and the stress distribution is linear, [2] Stage 2 is when cracking occurs as tensile stresses exceed the concrete's tensile strength, and [3] Stage 3 is when the neutral axis has moved up and the steel has yielded. It also provides the equation to calculate a beam's cracking moment and describes how to determine the neutral axis and stresses in a cracked beam based on the transformed section method. An example problem is given to demonstrate calculating stresses using the working stress method.

Uploaded by

jabbar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter Four

Flexural behaviour of Beams

Reinforced concrete beams behaviour


Consider a simply supported and reinforced concrete beam with uniformly
distributed load on top. Under such loading and support conditions, flexure-
induced stresses will cause compression at the top and tension at the bottom of
the beam. Concrete, which is strong in compression, but weak in tension, resists
the force in the compression zone, while steel reinforcing bars are placed in the
bottom of the beam to resist the tension force. As the applied load is gradually
increased from zero to failure of the beam (ultimate condition), the beam is
expected to behave as follows:

Stage I: when the applied load is low, the stress distribution is essentially linear
over the depth of the section. The tensile stresses in the concrete are low enough
(below √ ) so that the entire cross-section remains un-cracked and the
stress distribution is as shown.

Stage 1

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Al-Qasim Green University Ass. Lecturer: Mohammed K. Dhahir
Stage 2: On increasing the applied load, the tensile stresses at the bottom of the
beam become high enough to exceed the tensile strength at which the concrete

cracks (above √ . After cracking, the tensile force is resisted mainly by


the steel reinforcement. The concrete stress distribution in the compression zone
becomes nonlinear.

Stage 2

Stage 3: at nominal (so,-called ultimate) strength, the neutral axis has moved
farther up-ward as flexural cracks penetrate more and more toward the
compression face. The steel reinforcement has yielded and the concrete stress
distribution in the compression zone becomes more nonlinear. Below the neutral
axis, the concrete is cracked except for a very small zone.

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Al-Qasim Green University Ass. Lecturer: Mohammed K. Dhahir
Stage 3

Cracking moment
The area of reinforcing as a percentage of the total cross-sectional area of a beam
is quite small (usually 2% or less), and its effect on the beam properties is almost
negligible as long as the beam is un-cracked. Therefore an approximate
calculation of the bending stresses in such a beam can be obtained based on the
gross properties of the beam's cross section. The stress in the concrete at any
point a distance from the neutral axis of the cross section can be determined
from the following formula in which is the bending moment, which is equal to
or less than the cracking moment of the section, and is the gross moment of
inertia of the cross section:

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Al-Qasim Green University Ass. Lecturer: Mohammed K. Dhahir
As stated earlier, if the tensile stresses in concrete exceed ( √ , the
concrete crack, thus by substituting this value in the equation above, the cracking
moment can be determined easily

Example: Calculate the cracking moment for the section shown below if the value
of

√ √

Notes

1-After cracking, the steel bars carry the entire tensile load below the neutral
surface. The upper part of the concrete beam carries the compressive load

2-In the transformed section, the cross sectional area of the steel, is replaced
by the equivalent area of .

Where:
= the modular ratio =

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Al-Qasim Green University Ass. Lecturer: Mohammed K. Dhahir
Transformed section
Location of the natural axis (kd)
Moment of Area of Compression = Moment of Area of tension

This can be solved using the quadratic formula


√

Where

Cracked Moment of inertia

( )

Here, the moment of inertia of the steel area around itself is neglected, since the
height of the segment is very small

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Al-Qasim Green University Ass. Lecturer: Mohammed K. Dhahir
Stresses

Based on the working stress method

Example: Calculate the bending stresses for the section shown based on the
working stress method, use , , If
1-
2-

Solution/ calculate cracking moment of the beam

√ √

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Al-Qasim Green University Ass. Lecturer: Mohammed K. Dhahir
Calculate applied maximum moment

the section is un-cracked

Calculate applied maximum moment

The section is cracked

Find the neutral axis (kd)

√ √

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Al-Qasim Green University Ass. Lecturer: Mohammed K. Dhahir
Homework: for the same beam given above, determine the maximum load that
can be applied without exceeding the allowable stress limits given by the working
stress method

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Al-Qasim Green University Ass. Lecturer: Mohammed K. Dhahir

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