STRUCTURAL DESIGN

Structural design is the investigation of the stability, strength and rigidity of structures. The basic
objective in structural analysis and design is to produce a structure capable of resisting all applied
loads without failure during its intended life. The primary purpose of a structure is to transmit or
support loads. If the structure is improperly designed or fabricated, or if the actual applied loads
exceed the design specifications, the device will probably fail to perform its intended function,
with possible serious consequences. A well-engineered structure greatly minimizes the possibility
of costly failures.

There are three methods of structural design, i.e. working stress, ultimate load and limit state
method of structural design. These design methods are used for reinforced concrete as well as steel
structure design.

DESIGN OF RCC STRUCTURES

Reinforced Concrete

Reinforced cement concrete is a composite material and is made of concrete and steel
reinforcement. The concrete may be assumed to work purely in compression whereas the
reinforcement is predominately subjected to tension.

Purpose of using reinforced cement concrete

 Plain cement concrete has very low tensile strength. The tensile strength of concrete is
about one-tenth of its compressive strength. As a result, a plain concrete beam fails
suddenly as soon as the tension cracks start to develop.
 To improve the tensile strength of concrete, some sort of reinforcement is needed which
can take up the tensile stress developed in the structure.
 It’s not only increases the strength but also in preventing the temperature and shrinkage.
 Therefore, reinforcing steel is added in the tension zone to carry all the developed tensile
stresses.

Advantages of RCC when compared with other building materials

 Concrete is workable when fresh and strong when hardens.

  It can be moulded into any required shape and size.
 The raw materials required are easily available.
 Skill is not required for casting concrete elements.
 Concrete is durable, fire resisting and rigid.
 Concrete requires less maintenance.

Disadvantages of RCC when compared with other building materials

 The self-weight of the structural elements will be more while concrete is used.
 Concrete has a very low tensile strength. Hence cracks will form in the tension zone if
reinforcement is not provided properly.
 Cracks develop in concrete, also due to shrinkage, creep, temperature, etc. which permit
seepage of water into the concrete. This causes corrosion of steel reinforcement and thereby
peeling of concrete.
 Concrete has poor insulating property.
 Dismantling and reusing of concrete elements are mostly not possible.
 Concrete is brittle in nature and hence has low impact resisting capacity.

Uses of reinforced concrete

It is used for the construction of,

 Buildings
 Bunkers and silos
 Chimneys and towers
 Flyovers
 Retaining walls
 Roads and railway bridges
 Water tanks

Types of load on R.C.C structures

 Dead load
  Live load or Imposed load
 Wind load
 Snow load
 Earthquake load
 Seismic load

Elements of structures

 Beam
 Column
 Floor
 Foundation
 Slab
 Staircase

Methods of design

 Modular Ratio Method (or) Working Stress Method(WSM) (or) Elastic Method of
Design
 Load Factor Method (or) Ultimate Load Method(ULM) (or) Ultimate Strength Method
 Limit State Method(LSM)

Working Stress Method (WSM)

Elastic behaviors of materials are used in this method of design. The method of elastic design of a
structure is defined as a method which limits the structural usefulness of the material of the
structure up to a certain load at which the maximum stress in extreme fibre reaches the
characteristic strength of material in bending.

Advantages
1. The design usually results in relatively large sections of structural members, compared to
ultimate load. Due to this structures designed by working stress method gives better
serviceability performance under working loads.
 2. This method is only the method available when one has to investigate the reinforced
concrete section for service stresses and for the serviceability state of deflection and
cracking.

Disadvantages
1. The WSM does not show the real strength nor gives the true factor of safety of the structure
under failure.
2. The modular ratio design results in larger percentage of compression steel than that given
by the limit state design, thus leading to un-economic design.
3. Because of creep and non-linear stress-strain relationship, concrete does not have definite
modulus of elasticity.
4. The WSM fails to discriminate between different types of loads that act simultaneously but
have different uncertainties.

Ultimate Load Method of Design (ULM)

This method is based on the ultimate strength, when the design member would fail. In this method
factors are taken into account only on loads are load factors. The method of ultimate design of a
structure is defined as a method which limits the structural usefulness of the material of the
structure up to ultimate load.

Advantages
1. While the WSM uses only the nearly linear part of stress-strain curve, the ULM uses fully
the actual stress-strain curve.
2. The load factor gives the exact margin of safety against collapse
3. The method allows using different load factors for different types of loads and the
combination thereof.
4. The failure load computed by ULM matches with the experimental results.
5. The method is based on the ultimate strain as the failure criteria.
6. The method utilizes the reserve of strength in the plastic region.
Disadvantages
1. The method does not take into consideration the serviceability criteria of deflection and
cracking.
2. The use of high strength reinforcing steel and concrete results in increase of deflection and
crack width.
3. The method does not take into consideration the effects of creep and shrinkage.
4. In the ULM, the distribution of stress resultants at ultimate load is taken as the distribution
at service loads magnified by the load factor. This is erroneous since significant
redistribution of stress resultants takes place as the loading is increased from service loads
to ultimate loads.

Limit State Method (LSM)

The Limit State Method is defined as a method which limits the structural usefulness of the
material of the structure up to a certain load at which acceptable limit of safety and serviceability
are applied so that the failure of structure does not occur. It is the combination of Working Stress
Method and Ultimate Load Method. In this method partial factor of safety is considered on both
loads and stresses. This method is advance over other methods. Since, safety and serviceability are
considered.

Advantages

1. Ultimate load method only deals with on safety such as strength, overturning, and sliding,
buckling, fatigue.
2. Working stress method only deals with serviceability such as crack, vibration, deflection
etc. But, Limit state method advances than other two methods. Hence by considering safety
at ultimate load and serviceability at working load.
3. The process of stress redistribution and moment redistribution are considered in the
analysis and more realistic factor of safety values are used in the design. Hence, the design
by limit state method is found to be more economical.
 4. The overall sizes of flexural members arrived by limit state method are less and hence they
provide better appearance to the structure.

Factors considered in limit state of collapse

 Flexure
 Compression
 Shear
 Torsion

Factors considered in limit state of serviceability

 Cracking
 Deflection
 Durability
 Fire resistance
 Vibration