Course Title: Structural Concrete Design

Course lecture: Prof. R.O. Onchiri

 INTRODUCTION
 Reinforced concrete is a composite
material, consisting of steel reinforcing
bars embedded in concrete.
 Concrete has high compressive
strength but low tensile strength.
 Steel bars can resist high tensile
stresses but will buckle when subjected
to comparatively low compressive
stresses
Steel bars are used in the zones within
a concrete member which will be
subjected to tensile stresses.
Reinforced concrete is an economical
structural material which is both strong
in compression and in tension.
Concrete provides corrosion protection
and fire resistance to the steel bars.
 In this course we will learn to understand the basic
performance of concrete and steel as structural
materials, and the behavior of reinforced concrete
members and structures and will be able to:
 Approach the design in a more knowledgeable
fashion
 Understand and adapt the changes in code
provisions better and faster.
 The overall goal is to be able to design reinforced
concrete structures that are:
 Safe, Economical, Efficient
 Reinforced concrete is one of the principal building
materials used in engineered structures because:
advantages of reinforced concrete
1. Economy.
This is, of course, a function of the costs of the materials and of
the labor and time necessary to erect the structure.
Concrete floor systems tend to be thinner than structural steel
systems because the girders and beams or joists all fit within the
same depth, or the floors are flat plates or flat slabs, This
produces an overall reduction in the height of a building
compared to a steel building, which leads
(a) lower wind loads because there is less area exposed to wind
and
(b) savings in cladding and mechanical and electrical risers.
The materials for reinforced concrete structures are widely
available and can be produced as they are needed in the
construction.
2. Suitability of material for architectural and structural
function.
 A reinforced concrete system frequently allows the designer
to combine the architectural and structural functions.
 Concrete has the advantage that it is placed in a plastic
condition and is given the desired shape and texture by
means of the forms and the finishing techniques.
 This allows such elements as flat plates or other types of slabs
to serve as load-bearing elements while providing the
finished floor and ceiling surfaces.
 Similarly, reinforced concrete walls can provide architecturally
attractive surfaces in addition to having the ability to resist
gravity, wind, or seismic loads.
 Finally, the choice of size or shape is governed by the designer
and not by the availability of standard manufactured
members.
3. Fire resistance.
 The structure in a building must withstand
the effects of a fire and remain standing
while the building is being evacuated and
the fire extinguished.
 A concrete building inherently has a 1- to 3-
hour fire rating without special fireproofing
or other details.
 Structural steel or timber buildings must be
fireproofed to attain similar fire ratings.
4. Rigidity.
 The occupants of a building may be disturbed if their
building oscillates in the wind or if the floors vibrate
as people walk by.
 Due to the greater stiffness and mass of a concrete
structure, vibrations are seldom a problem.
5. Low maintenance.
 Concrete members inherently require less
maintenance than do structural steel or timber
members.
 This is particularly true if dense, air-entrained
concrete has been used for surfaces exposed to the
atmosphere and if care has been taken in the design
to provide adequate drainage from the structure.
6. Availability of materials.
 Sand, gravel or crushed rock, water,
cement, and concrete mixing facilities are
very widely available, and reinforcing steel
can be transported to most construction
sites more easily than can structural steel.
 As a result, reinforced concrete is
frequently the preferred construction
material in remote areas.
DISADVANTAGES OF REINFORCED CONCRETE
1. Low tensile strength.
 The tensile strength of concrete is much lower
than its compressive strength (about one tenth );
hence, concrete is subject to cracking when
subjected to tensile stresses.
 In structural uses, the cracking is restrained by
using reinforcement, to carry tensile forces and
limit crack widths to within acceptable values.
 Unless care is taken in design and construction,
however, these cracks may be unsightly or may
allow penetration of water and other potentially
harmful contaminants.
2. Forms and shoring.
The construction of a cast-in-place structure
involves three steps not encountered in the
construction of steel or timber structures.
These are (a) the construction of the forms,
(b) the removal of these forms, and (c) the
propping or Shoring of the new concrete to
support its weight until its strength is
adequate.
 Each of these steps involves labor and/or
materials that are not necessary with other
forms of construction.
3. Relatively low strength per unit of weight
or volume.
The compressive strength of concrete is
roughly 10 percent that of steel, while its
unit density is roughly 30 percent that of
steel.
As a result, a concrete structure requires a
larger volume and a greater weight of
material than does a comparable steel
structure.
As a result, steel is often selected for long-
span structures.
4. Time-dependent volume changes.
 Both concrete and steel undergo approximately the
same amount of thermal expansion and contraction.
Because there is less mass of steel to be heated or
cooled, and because steel is a better conductor than
concrete, a steel structure is generally affected by
temperature changes to a greater extent than is a
concrete structure.
On the other hand, concrete undergoes drying
shrinkage, which, if restrained, may cause deflections or
cracking.
Deflections in a concrete floor will tend to increase with
time, possibly doubling, due to creep of the concrete
under sustained compression stress.
OBJECTIVES OF DESIGN
A structural engineer is a member of a
team that works together to design a
building, bridge, or other structure. In the
case of a building, an architect generally
provides the overall layout, and
mechanical, electrical, and structural
engineers design individual systems within
the building.
 THE DESIGN PROCESS
The design process is a sequential and iterative
decision-making process. The three major phases are
the following:
1. Definition of the client’s needs and priorities.
 All buildings or other structures are built to fulfill a
need.
It is important that the owner or user be involved in
determining the attributes of the proposed building.
These include functional requirements, aesthetic
requirements, and budgetary requirements.
The latter include initial cost, premium for rapid
construction to allow early occupancy, maintenance,
and other life-cycle costs.
2. Development of project concept.
 During this stage, the overall structural concept
is selected. From approximate analyses of the
moments, shears, and axial forces, preliminary
member sizes are selected for each potential
scheme.
 Once this is done, it is possible to estimate costs
and select the most desirable structural system.
 The overall thrust in this stage of the structural
design is to satisfy the design criteria dealing
with appropriateness, economy, and, to some
extent, maintainability.
3. Design of individual systems.
 Once the overall layout and general structural concept
have been selected, the structural system can be designed.
 Based on the preliminary design selected in phase 2, a
structural analysis is carried out to determine the
moments, shears, torques, and axial forces in the
structure.
The individual members are then proportioned to resist
these load effects.
The proportioning, must also consider overall aesthetics,
the constructability of the design, coordination with
mechanical and electrical systems, and the sustainability of
the final structure.
The final stage in the design process is to prepare
construction drawings and specifications.
The structure should satisfy four major criteria:
1. Appropriateness. The arrangement of spaces, spans, ceiling
heights, access, and traffic flow must complement the intended
use. The structure should fit its environment and be
aesthetically pleasing.
2. Economy. The overall cost of the structure should not exceed
the client’s budget. Frequently, teamwork in design will lead to
overall economies.
3. Structural adequacy. Structural adequacy involves two major
aspects.
(a) A structure must be strong enough to support all anticipated
loadings safely.
(b) A structure must not deflect, tilt, vibrate, or crack in a
manner that impairs its usefulness.
4. Maintainability. A structure should be designed so as to
require a minimum amount of simple maintenance procedures.
 Design Codes
 Designing must be according to the provisions of a
building codes, which are a legal documents
containing requirements related to such things as
structural safety, fire safety, plumbing, ventilation,
and accessibility to the differently enabled persons
BS 8110: Structural use of concrete.
BS 8110 is divided into the following three parts:
Part 1: Code of practice for design and construction.
Part 2: Code of practice for special circumstances.
Part 3: Design charts for singly reinforced beams, doubly
reinforced beams and rectangular columns
Eurocode 2
LIMIT STATES AND THE DESIGN OF
REINFORCED CONCRETE
Two limit states design for reinforced concrete
in accordance to BS 8110.
1. Ultimate limit state – considers the
behaviour of the element at failure due to
bending, shear and compression or tension.
2. The serviceability limit state- considers the
behaviour of the member at working loads
and is concerned with deflection and
cracking.
Ultimate limit states.
These involve a structural collapse of part or all of
the structure. Such a limit state should have a very
low probability of occurrence, because it may lead
to loss of life and major financial losses. The major
ultimate limit states are as follows:
(a) Loss of equilibrium of a part or all of the
structure as a rigid body. Such a
failure would generally involve tipping or sliding of
the entire structure and would
occur if the reactions necessary for equilibrium
could not be developed.
b) Rupture of critical parts of the structure, leading
to partial or complete collapse.
The majority of this book deals with this limit state.
(c) Progressive collapse. In some structures, an
overload on one member may
cause that member to fail. The load acting on it is
transferred to adjacent members
which, in turn, may be overloaded and fail, causing
them to shed their load to adjacent members,
causing them to fail one after another, until a major
part of the structure has collapsed. This is called a
progressive collapse
(d) Formation of a plastic mechanism. A
mechanism is formed when the reinforcement
yields to form plastic hinges at enough
sections to make the structure unstable.
(e) Instability due to deformations of the
structure. This type of failure involves
Buckling.
(f) Fatigue. Fracture of members due to
repeated stress cycles of service loads
may cause collapse.
2. Serviceability limit states.
The major serviceability limit states include the
following:
(a) Excessive deflections
 For normal service. Excessive deflections may
cause machinery to malfunction, may be visually
unacceptable, and may lead to damage to
nonstructural elements or to changes in the
distribution of forces.
 In the case of very flexible roofs, deflections due to
the weight of water on the roof may lead
toincreased depth of water, increased deflections,
and so on, until the strength of the roof is
exceeded.
(b) Excessive crack widths. Although reinforced
concrete must crack before
the reinforcement can function effectively, it is possible
to detail the reinforcement
to minimize the crack widths. Excessive crack widths
may be unsightly and may allow leakage through the
cracks, corrosion of the reinforcement, and gradual
deterioration of the concrete.
(c) Undesirable vibrations. Vertical vibrations of floors
or bridges and lateral
and torsional vibrations of tall buildings may disturb
the users. Vibration effects have
rarely been a problem in reinforced concrete buildings.
3. Special limit states. This class of limit states
involves damage or failure due to
abnormal conditions or abnormal loadings and
includes:
(a) damage or collapse in extreme earthquakes,
(b) structural effects of fire, explosions, or vehicular
collisions,
(c) structural effects of corrosion or deterioration,
and
(d) long-term physical or chemical instability
(normally not a problem with
concrete structures).
Loss of static equilibrium of the structure or any part of it
considered as a rigid body, where:
minor variations in the value or the spatial distribution of
actions from a single source are significant, and the strengths
of construction materials or ground are generally not
governing;

Example: a bridge deck launched with a counterweight

where loss of static equilibrium may be possible
Example: failure of a beam supporting
a floor due to excessive stresses
 Failure or excessive deformation of the ground
where the strengths of soil or rock are significant
in providing resistance;
Example: resistance of foundations like footings,
piles,
Fatigue failure of the structure or
structural members.
Examples: Cracks developing in bridges
deck due to repetitive loading generated by
traffic
 Material properties
The two materials whose properties
must be known are concrete and steel
reinforcement.
• compressive strength.
• tensile strength
 Material properties - concrete
•The most important property is the
compressive strength. The strength may
vary due to operation such as
transportation, compaction and curing.
•Compressive strength is determined by
conducting compressive test on concrete
specimens after 28 days of casting.
 CHARACTERISTIC COMPRESSIVE
STRENGTH OF CONCRETE, fcu
• Concrete is a mixture of water, coarse and fine
aggregate and a cementitious binder (normally
Portland cement) which hardens to a stone like
mass.
• As can be appreciated, it is difficult to produce a
homogeneous material from these components.
• Furthermore, its strength and other properties
may vary considerably due to operations such as
transportation,compaction and curing.
The compressive strength of concrete is usually
determined by carrying out compression tests on
28-day-old, 100 mm cubes which have been
prepared using a standard procedure laid down in
BS Standards.
An alternative approach is to use 100 mm
diameter by 200 mm long cylinders.
Irrespective of the shape of the test specimen, if
a large number of compression tests should be
carried out on samples made from the same mix
it would be found that a plot of crushing strength
against frequency of occurrence would
approximate to a normal distribution
 MATERIALS PROPERTIES CONCRETE
• BS 8110 refers to the characteristic strength (fcu ) which
is defined as the value below which not more than 5 per
cent of the test results fall.
 Stress-strain curve for concrete

Design of Structural Elements, Idealized stress strain curve for

Third Edition by Chanakya Arya concrete in the BS8110
 Material properties of steel

Idealized stress strain curve for

Design of Structural Elements, Third Edition by concrete in the BS8110
Chanakya Arya
44
• Note that the strength class consists of the
characteristic cylinder strength of the mix
followed by its characteristic cube strength.
• For example, a class C25/30 concrete has a
characteristic cylinder strength of 25
Nmm−2 and a characteristic cube strength
of 30 Nmm−2.
 Durability (clause 3.1.5, BS 8110)
Durability of concrete structures is achieved
by:
1.The minimum strength class of concrete
2.The minimum cover to reinforcement
3.The minimum cement content
4.The maximum water/cement ratio
5.The cement type or combination
6.The maximum allowable surface crack width
Concrete cover for fire resistance
CHARACTERISTIC STRENGTH OF REINFORCEMENT, fy
Concrete is strong in compression but weak in
tension. Because of this it is normal practice to
provide steel reinforcement in those areas where
tensile stresses in the concrete are most likely to
develop.
BS 8110 recommends that design should be based
on the characteristic strength of the reinforcement
(fy) and gives typical values for mild steel and high
yield steel reinforcement, the two reinforcement
types, of 250 Nmm−2 and 500 Nmm−2
 DESIGN STRENGTH
• Tests to determine the characteristic strengths of
concrete and steel reinforcement are carried out
on near perfect specimens, which have been
prepared under laboratory conditions.
• Such conditions will seldom exist in practice.
 LOADING
• In addition to the material properties,
the designer needs to know the type and
magnitude of the loading to which the
structure may be subject during its
design life.
• The loads acting on a structure are
divided into three basic types: dead,
imposed and wind
 Dead Loads
Dead loads are those that are constant in magnitude
and fixed in location throughout the lifetime of the
structure such as: floor fill, finish floor, and plastered
ceiling for buildings and wearing Surface, sidewalks,
and curbing for bridges.
Live Loads
Live loads are those that are either fully or partially in
place or not present at all, may also change in location;
the minimum live loads for which the floors and roof of
a building should be designed are usually specified in
building codes
Environmental Loads
Environmental Loads consist of wind, earthquake, and
snow loads.
 DESIGN LOAD
Design load =  f Fk
• The design loads are used to calculate the
distribution of bending moments and shear forces
in the structure usually using elastic analysis
methods
• The distribution of stresses in reinforced
concrete members is usually more complicated,
but can be estimated once the stress–strain
behaviour of the concrete and steel
reinforcement is known.
FAILURES IN CONCRETE STRUCTURES
Failures in concrete structures can be due to
any of the following factors:
1.incorrect selection of materials
2.errors in design calculations and detailing
3.poor construction methods and
inadequate quality control and supervision
4.chemical attack
5.external physical and/or mechanical factors
including alterations made to the structure
 Incorrect selection of materials
 The concrete mix required should be selected to
meet the environmental or soil conditions where the
concrete is to be placed.
 Minimum grade of concrete for Reinforced concrete
work is 25 (According to BS 8110)
 Higher grades should be used for some foundations
and for structures near the sea or in an aggressive
industrial environment.
 If sulphates are present in the soil or groundwater,
sulphate-resisting Portland cement should be used.
 Where freezing and thawing occurs air entrainment
should be adopted.
 Errors in design calculations and detailing
 section sizes, slab thickness etc. and reinforcement sizes and
spacing specified are adequate to carry the worst combination of
design loads.
 The check should include overall stability, robustness and
serviceability and foundation design.
 Incorrect detailing is one of the commonest causes of failure and
cracking in concrete structures.
 First the overall arrangement of the structure should be correct,
efficient and robust. Movement joints should be provided where
required to reduce or eliminate cracking.
 The overall detail should be such as to shed water.
 Internal or element detailing must comply with the code
requirements.
 The provisions specify the cover to reinforcement, minimum
thicknesses for fire resistance, maximum and minimum steel
areas, bar spacing limits and reinforcement to control cracking,
lap lengths, anchorage of bars etc