Development Length – Difference between Development Length and Lap Length

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What is Development Length?

Table of Contents
 How rebars transfer stresses to adjacent concrete section?
 Why there’s a need for development length of rebars?
 What is development Length?
 What is the difference between lap length and development length?

Prepared By : En_raffiq
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So, there’s a lot more confusion going on out there about the difference
between development length and lap length also known as splice length.
With that, I thought I should give my words about the two very important and
basic concepts of structural engineering and construction.

To understand why there is a need to provide development length and splice

length across the rebars; you’ve got to have some overview on how rebars
actually transfer or take stresses to or from the adjoining concrete mass.

How rebars transfer stresses to adjacent concrete section?

Reinforcement bars take up the tensile stresses from tensioned zones that are transferred by
concrete matrix by using bond resistance.

If the bond between the two types of material is not at par with the induced stresses the structure
may fail in brittle which is too dangerous.

All reinforcements now have ribs across the perpendicular direction to provide

Important to Note
These ribs account for about 85% of the bond strength while only 15% depends on the friction
between steel and concrete.

Important to Note
With above you might think that plain rebars have no application so why are
those factories still producing them? Actually these plain smooth rebars are still
used while doweling two adjacent concrete slabs when you need an expansion
or contraction joint. One end of the dowel is greased and caped while the other
one is embedded to allow slippage in case of expansion and/or contraction.
Now that you’ve got the background why it is so important for the rebars to
have proper anchorage in the concrete matrix; let’s move on to our core issue
which is about development length.

Some lateral restraint and anchorage against slippage bond failure.

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Effect of Ribs on Development Length of Rebars

Why there’s a need for development length of rebars?

In buildings we have various elements of structure like a column and beam. If

you have an overview of load transfer mechanism you would have picture in
your mind how the imposed load (dead and live) is transferred from slab to
beams from beams to columns and from columns to footing.

Now to transfer tensile stresses from element of structure to other you just
can’t terminate the reinforcement at the end of the element i.e. you must have
to develop and project the main reinforcement into the adjacent section to have
those tensile stresses transferred efficiently.

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The fixed end restraint in an element like in beams – you have to provide this
development to provide resistance against induced bending moment. But in
cases where you have the hinge or roller restraint you don’t have to provide
this development.

Have a look at the below cantilever beam; we know the tensile stresses are
maximum at the supporting end but we have to project these bars in to the
supporting column for transferring the tensile stresses across.

Development Length in Cantilever Beam

So the rebars are projected and extended into the supporting column by a distance Ld called
development length to make beam and column monolithic.

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What is development Length?
Now, we can define the development length as:

The extended certain minimum length of reinforcement bars across the two
different elements of a structure across the point of maximum tensile stresses to
establish the desired bond strength and make them monolithic without slip or
to prevent bar from pulling out under tension is called development length. It is
usually denoted by the nomenclature Ld.

How to Calculate Development Length?

Development length of rebar depends on following factors:

1. Diameter of rebar
2. Design bond stresses
3. Tensile stresses in bar at the section considered at design load.

So we can calculate the value of development length by the following formula:

Ld = ɸϬs / 4Ϯbd

Where

ɸ = nominal diameter of the rebar

Ϭs = stress in bar at the section considered at design load, and

Ϯbd = design bond stress

For places where straight development length is not possible, hooks, bends and mechanical
anchorages can be provided to have proper anchorage.

The design bond stresses depends on the concrete grade and type of rebar whether plain or
deformed bar. So as a guide I’ve produced these tables. This design bond stress are different for
limit state design method and for working stress method as reproduced below:

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 Design Bond Stress in Limit State Method

M40 and
M20 M25 M30 M35
above
Concrete Grade 1.2 1.4 1.5 1.7 1.9 For Plain
Bars in
Tension
Design Bond For
Stress deformed
1.92 2.24 2.4 2.72 3.04
(Ϯbd,N/mm2) bars in
tension

Design Bond Stress in Working Stress Method

M20 M25 M30 M35 M40 M45 M50

For Plain
Concrete
0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Bars in
Grade
tension
Design Bond
Stress For
(Ϯbd N/mm2) deformed
1.28 1.44 1.6 1.76 1.92 2.08 2.24
bars in
tension

What is the difference between lap length and development length?

In factories all over the world, the standard length produced of a rebar is 12 meters (39 feet). So
if you have a pile foundation of 30 meters you have to provide lap or rebars to transfer tensile
forces from one rebar to the other.

So, lap length also known as splice length, is the length of the rebar that is overlapped so that the
tensile forces can be transferred across the location of discontinuity of rebars. So from definition
it is quite clear that development length is across the section of structure or element whereas the
lap or splice length is only across the location of discontinuity of rebars.

Prepared By : En_raffiq
Telegram: https://t.me/civilengineeringissues