Lecture 4 – Properties of Concrete and Steel and Strength of

Reinforced Concrete in bending

• In this lecture you will learn

• About some of the properties of concrete relevant for designing structural members

• About some of the properties of steel reinforcement relevant for designing structural
members

• Behaviour of Beams subjected to bending and how to design them for flexure (bending
moments)
 Properties of Concrete
• Concrete has a number of properties that we need to consider for design. The two most important
are its compressive strength and its durability. We generally specify concrete by specifying its
compressive strength as all other properties tend to improve with compressive strength (although
stronger concrete tends to shrink more). Concrete has a much higher compressive strength than
tensile strength, which is why we reinforce our concrete beams with steel. We measure the
compressive strength of concrete by crushing either a cylinder or cube

A video of a cylinder being tested can been seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYmil0luMEs

 Properties of Concrete

Stress Strain Diagram for Concrete

Cube

45

40

35

30

Stress (MPa)
25

20

15

10

0
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008
Strain
Eurocode standard properties based on cube or cylinder strength
Table 3.1 EN1992
Table 3.1 Strength and deformation characteristics for concrete
Concrete Property Strength Classes for Concrete
fck (MPa) 12 16 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
fck,cube (MPa) 15 20 25 30 37 45 50 55 60
fcm (MPa) 20 24 28 33 38 43 48 53 58
fctm (MPa) 1.6 1.9 2.2 2.6 2.9 3.2 3.5 3.8 4.1
fctk, 0,05 (MPa) 1.1 1.3 1.5 1.8 2 2.2 2.5 2.7 2.9
fctk,0,95 (MPa) 2 2.5 2.9 3.3 3.8 4.2 4.6 4.9 5.3
Ecm (GPa) 27 29 30 31 33 34 35 36 37
εc1 0.002 0.002 0.002 0.002 0.002 0.002 0.002 0.002 0.003
ecu1 0.0035
εc2 0.002
ecu2 0.0035
n 2
εc3 0.00175
ecu3 0.0035

All the notation is defined in Eurocode, the ones we are mainly interested in is
ecu3 = strain at the ultimate limit state
fck = characteristic compressive strength of the concrete (used in calculations, also how we
specify the concrete if we are testing cylinders)
fck,cube = cube strength (how we specify the concrete if we are using cubes
 Testing Reinforcement

For reinforcing steel, tensile strength is the main structural property we are interested in and this is
done by performing a tensile test. We are also interested in ductility which we can see from this test

A video of a reinforcing bar being tested can be seen at https://youtu.be/t9_NNzHN0_4

Note while tensile strength is the important parameter, ductility is the thing
that will let you sleep at night
Eurocode Definitions of Reinforcement Properties Figure 3.7 EN1992
Eurocode Idealisation of Reinforcement Properties Figure 3.8 EN1992

fs
Material Factors for concrete and reinforcing steel Table 2.1 EN1992
End of Section

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 Revision of beams in bending and bending stresses

In Structures and Materials you learnt that the stress in a cross-section

𝑀𝑦
subjected to bending was 𝜎 = 𝐼

Failure was assumed to occur when the strain at the extreme fibres reached
𝑀𝑦
yield (the strength of the material) i.e. 𝜎𝑦 =
𝐼

For this to be true their were a number of assumptions made, such as plane
sections remain plane. For reinforced concrete we have to make some extra
assumptions because the behaviour is more complicated
 Revision – Elastic bending of a beam

• Consider the following beam subjected to bending

We apply a bending moment to a beam, it bends and the top fibres compress and the bottom fibres stretch.
Through the centroid of the cross-section is an axis of zero strain (neutral axis). In experiments we note that when
the shear is low, the strain is proportional to the distance from the neutral axis. We describe this as Plane sections
remain plane. If we have a linear elastic material, then we can change stresses to strains using Young’s modulus
ey fy

Fc
M M M

Ft
Strain Stress is
elastic
Plain sections
remain plane
So far you have learnt that for a beam in elastic bending because plane sections
𝑀𝑦
remain plane the bending stresses can be calculated by 𝜎 = 𝐼 = 6 fy / bd2
And that failure occurs when the stress exceeds the strength of the material. f
fy
The problem with concrete is that is that concrete is much weaker in tension Idealised stress/strain
curve
than in compression that it will fail at very low loads and before we have utilized
the full compressive strength of the concrete E

We therefore add steel reinforcing to the concrete to provide tensile capacity to ey e

the beam
 Designing a reinforced concrete beam to resist bending

We must ensuring that the bending strength of a beam MRd is greater that the ultimate
bending load (MEd)

i.e. MEd < MRd

To calculate the bending strength MRd we must develop a model of the beams behaviour.

The assumptions for a reinforced concrete subjected to bending

– Plane sections remain plane
– Strain in concrete and bonded reinforcement is equal (compatibility)
– Tensile strength of concrete can be ignored
– Compression in concrete can be represented by an equivalent rectangular stress block
– Reinforcement is perfectly elastic perfectly plastic (although hardening can be used)
 Properties of Concrete
Stress Strain Diagram for Concrete
Cube

45

40
Top of Beam
35 To be equivalent, the
green area must be equal
30 to the red box and they

Stress (MPa)
must also have the same
25 centroid. It is easier to
Strain
calculate the area and
20 centroid of the red box, so
Fc = Fc we use this
15

10

5
Neutral Axis
0
0 0.002 0.004
Stress 0.006 0.008
Strain
Eurocode Idealisation of Reinforcement Properties Figure 3.8 EN1992

fs

es
 Eurocode idealised reinforced concrete cross section
h = 1.0 for fck ≤ 50 MPa
h= 1.0 – (fck – 50)/200 for 50 < fck ≤ 90 MPa
fcd = cc fck / gc
cc = 0.85

Fc = cc h fck Ac/gc

l = 0.8 for fck ≤ 50 MPa Fc = cc h fck lx b/gc for rect
l = 0.8 – (fck – 50)/400 for 50 < fck ≤ 90 MPa
ecu3 = 0.0035

MEd Fs = es Es As if es < ey
Fs = As fyk/gs if es >= ey

Plane Sections Remain Plane

Figure 3.5 EN1992

es
 Idealised reinforced concrete cross section for this module
𝛼𝑐𝑐 𝑓𝑐𝑘 cc = 0.85
gc = 1.5
ecu3 = 0.0035 𝛾𝑐 Fc = 0.85 fck Ac / gc
Fc = 0.85 fck 0.8x b / gc for rect

0.8 x
Fs = es Es As if es < ey
Fs = As fyk/gs if es >=ey
MEd
Es = 205 000 Mpa
gs = 1.15

Plane Sections Remain Plane

fs

es
 Ultimate Moment Capacity
• Remember Equilibrium must always be maintained (SH = 0, SM = 0)
• Step 1 Draw a diagram of strain in the X-section and a diagram of stress
• Step 2 Assume a depth to neutral axis (x)
• Step 3 Calculate es using similar triangles and ecu3 = 0.0035
• Step 4 Calculate the force in the concrete compression zone (Fc)
• Step 5 Calculate the stress in the reinforcement and subsequently the force in the reinforcement (Fs)
• Step 6 if Fc = Fs then “x” is correct (i.e. SH = 0). If not choose new “x”
• Step 7 when correct “x” has been obtained, calculate internal moment (moments can be taken about any point,
but it is suggested that you take moments about the reinforcement) MRd= Fc (d - lx/2)

• Since SM = 0, for equilibrium MRd must be equal to the applied Moment at failure (i.e. the design moment MEd)
 Example 2 (Rectangular Cross-Section)
Calculate the ultimate moment capacity of the reinforced concrete cross-section

As = 4 x T25 = 1963 mm2

fck = 30 MPa
fyk = 500 MPa
Cover = 20mm
750
E = 200 000MPa

400
 Example 2 – Irregular Cross-Section

Calculate the ultimate moment

capacity for the reinforced
concrete cross-section if
As = 3217mm2
1000
fck = 40MPa
cover = 30mm
E = 200 000 MPa
fyk = 500 MPa

200 200 200

 Summary

• Concrete is weak in tension and so we provide steel reinforcement to resist

the tensile forces

• It is important to understand the strain and stress curves for a concrete

beam in bending (slide 16)

• The beam reaches its ultimate limit state when Strain in the concrete =
0.0035 (for fck <=50 Mpa)

• Use similar triangles to calculate the strain in steel

• calculate forces in concrete and forces in steel (slide 16)

• These must always be equal (ALWAYS – equilibrium)

• Use equilibrium to calculate the ultimate moment that the beam can resist
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