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REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES

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CHAPTER 1 – BASIC CONCEPTS AND MATERIALS
1.1. BASIC CONCEPTS
1.1.1. What is reinforced concrete
- Reinforced concrete is a combination of concrete and reinforcement, or more
specifically, a type of concrete reinforced by reinforcing steel. Let us compare some
properties of two materials – concrete and steel in Table 1.1

Table 1.1 Properties of concrete and steel

Properties Concrete Steel

Compression Good Good-buckling
Tension Bad Good
Durability Good Corrosion
Fire resistance Good Bad
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- It can be seen from the table that the materials are complementary. So when they are
combined, a much better material – reinforced concrete can be formed. Usually,
steel is put in the tension zone of concrete as shown in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1 Combination of concrete and steel in reinforced concrete

- As steel reinforcement is also very strong in compression, sometimes it is put in the

compression zone of concrete such as in columns, compressive members in truss,
etc. to reduce cross section size of the members and to carry random forces such as
tension, shear and torsion in the members.
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- Loading test of two identical beams, one without reinforcement and one with
reinforcement is show in figure 1.2. For the concrete beam, when the cracks
appeared, they rapidly developed to the top face and the beam failed immediately.

- On the other hand, in the reinforced concrete beam, when cracks occurred, the
tension force was carried out by the steel reinforcement and the beam can carry
more loads until the reinforcement yielded and the concrete was crushed. It is
verified that the loading capacity of the reinforced concrete beam is significantly
higher than that of the concrete beam.

a) b)
1 1 b1 2 b
1 2 t 3 s
2
Pb≈20Pa
Figure 1.2 Concrete and reinforced concrete beam
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 Not every two materials can work together, Concrete and steel can work together
well in reinforced concrete due to the following reasons:
- There is bonding between concrete and steel reinforcement, which help transfer
stress between the two materials. Bonding is very important to ensure good
behavior of reinforced concrete;
- There is no chemical reaction between concrete and steel. In contrary, concrete
protests reinforcement from corrosion and other effects of the environment;
- Concrete and steel have similar thermal expansion coefficient (Concrete:
c=11,5x10-5 and Steel: s=1,2x10-5) so when they deform under temperature,
stress at the bonding is ignorable.
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1.1.2. Classifications of reinforced concrete structures

 By construction methods, reinforced concrete structures can be divided into three

categories as follows:
 Cast-in-place reinforced concrete: for cast-in-place concrete structures, the
construction procedures consist of setting up formwork, arranging steel
reinforcement and casting concrete on site. Cast-in-place reinforced concrete
structures have high stiffness and capable of carrying dynamic loads. Although the
construction process is complicated, it is necessary to have formworks.
 Precast reinforced concrete: reinforced concrete components manufactured in
factory, assembled on site. The construction process is shortened but precast
concrete do not have the advantages of cast-in-place reinforced concrete.
 Semi-precast reinforced concrete: reinforced concrete components are partially
manufactured, assembled on site, partially cast in place. The advantages of this
category are saving formworks while still having high stiffness. However, it requires
high technology and complex construction process to implement this type of
structures.
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Cast-in-place concrete Precast concrete

Semi- precast concrete

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Figure 1.3 Classification of reinforced concrete structures by construction methods

Based on the stress conditions of the steel reinforcement at manufacturing, reinforced

concrete structures are classified in to two types:
 Normal reinforced concrete structures where steel reinforcement has no stress at
manufacturing of the structures.
 Prestressed concrete structures where steel reinforcement is prestressed, causing
compression to tensile concrete. Therefore, cracks are prevented or crack width is
limited.
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1.1.3. Advantages and disadvantages of reinforced concrete structures

Reinforced concrete structures have been widely used all over the world as they have
following advantages:
- For making concrete, local material such as sand, cement, gravent, etc. can be used so
the cost of materials is relatively low.
- Reinforced concrete has high structural capacity and can carry dynamic loads such as
earthquake load, which is better than masonry structures.
- Reinforced concrete is durable and do not need much maintenance during its whole life
cycle.
- Reinforced concrete has high fire endurance as concrete can protect steel
reinforcement inside.
- Reinforced concrete can meet aesthetics requirement as it is shapeable decorative.
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On the other hand, reinforced concrete structures have several disadvantages, each of
which can be overcome by some solution as suggested in Table 1.2.
Table 1.2 Disadvantages of reinforced concrete structures and solutions overcome
Disadvantages Solution to overcome
Concrete is heavy, therefore, it is Use prestressed concrete (PC), light
difficult to make large – span structures (thin shell, hollow
structure. structures, etc.).
Concrete is vulnerable to crack, Use prestressed concrete, use
which reduce its stiffness, calculation methods to limit cracks.
durability and quality.
Concrete has poor thermal and Use hollow, multi-layer structures
noise insulation. such as bubble deck, 3D panels, etc.
Construction process of Use precast concrete, semi-precast
reinforced concrete structures is concrete, ready-mix concrete, etc.
complex.
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1.2. CONCRETE
1.2.1. Compression test of concrete
- Concrete strength is determined by a compressive test. The test specimen can be
cubic size of 100,150, 200 mm or cylinder with H = 2D as shown in Figure 1.4.
- Vietnamese standard uses cubic specimen with size a = 150m
- American and Japanese standards use cylinder D = 150mm.
- European codes use both cubic and cylinder specimens.
- For some other purposes, sometimes, rectangular prism sample can be used.

A
A
a A

h
a
a
D
Figure 1.4 Test specimens for compressive test
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- Test setup for compressive strength of specimen is

shown in Figure 1.5. 2
- Concrete strength is the stress corresponding to the
force causes failure to the specimen, which is
3
usually caused by its horizontal expansion. The 1
restraint of horizontal expansion or confinement of
concrete can increase its compressive strength. 3
2
Figure 1.5 Test setup and modes of failure
- Compressive strength of concrete is determined by equation (1.2)
P
Rb   MPa  or  KG / cm 2  (1.2)
A
Where: Rb : compressive strength of specimen in unit MPa (N/mm2) or kg/cm2;
P: force at failure of specimen (N);
A: cross sectional area of specimen (mm2).
Compressive strength of cylinder is approximately 80% that of cubic specimen of the
same size (a = D).
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1.2.2. Factors influencing concrete strength: Concrete strength depends on a number of

factors, including:
 Mix proportion of concrete, i.e. quantity and quality of cement, water/cement ratio,
aggregates proportion, etc.
 Size of specimens: For larger specimens, the influence of friction between specimen
surface and loading pad is less; therefore the failure load is smaller and strength is
lower than that of small specimen. Thus, it is necessary to specify standard specimen
as stated in Section 1.2.1.
 Age of concrete: concrete strength generally increases with age. In the early period
of 28 days, compressive strength is very quickly but it increases gradually later on.
 Humidity and temperature of the environment: In the naturally hardening condition,
the higher the temperature and humidity, the faster the increase of concrete strength
in the early stage.
Loading speed in compressive test: Higher loading speed gives higher strength as
the development of ductile deformation of the concrete is restrained.
As concrete strength is influenced by many factors, it is necessary to specify the test
conditions for the compressive test of concrete in standards and codes. For example,
standard age of concrete is taken as 28 days for all countries in the world; in
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Vietnamese codes, the standard loading speed is 0.2 MPa/sec. In addition, the
sampling, curing must also follow the standard.
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1.2.3. Tensile strength Rbt

- Tensile strength of concrete can be determined by tensile test with dog – bone
specimen, flexural test of beam specimen or by split cylinder test.
- Tensile strength of concrete can also be calculated through the relation between
compressive and tensile strength. For example, tensile strength can be calculated by
the curve relationship with compressive strength as in equation (1.2).
Rbt  (0.28  0.3) Rb (1.2)

Where Rb: compressive strength in MPa.

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1.2.4. MEAN STRENGTH AND NOMINAL STRENGTH

1.2.4.1. Mean strength
- Mean strength if concrete Rm is the average strength of the best specimens, which
is determined by equation 1.3, where n is the number of specimen; Ri is
compressive strength of specimen i:

Rm   i
R
(1.3)
n
1.2.4.2. Standard deviation and coefficient of variation
- For an adequate number of specimens (n>= 15), the standard deviation of the test
specimens is determined by equation 1.4.
  i2
 (1.4)
n 1
- The coefficient of variation is defined as:

 (1.5)
Rm
- Coefficient of variation is used to evaluate the uniformity of concrete. Concrete
with small  is more uniform and vice versa. With stable technologies and strict
control on strict proportion of concrete and construction process,  can be taken
as 0.135. In normal conditions without any statistics, v can be taken as 0.15.
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1.2.4.3. Characteristic strength

- Characteristic strength of concrete is determined with guaranteed probability of
95% and can be calculated by equation (1.6), where S is the factor depending on
the guarantee probability; S = 1.64 with probability of 95%.
R ch = R m (1- S ) (1.6)
1.2.4.4. Nominal strength
- Nominal strength Rbn is taken as characteristic strength multiply of a structural
factor, which take into account the difference between the behavior of concrete in
structural members and in the cubic test specimens in Vietnamese standard.
R bn =  kcR ch (1.7)
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1.2.5 CONCRETE MARKS AND CONCRETE GRADES

1.2.5.1. Concrete mark
- This is the concept in old Vietnamese standard (TCVN 5574 – 1991), noted as M.,
which is the mean strength of standard specimen with unit kg/cm2.
- Normal concrete has mark of M50, M75, M100, M150, M200, … M500, M600
- Standard specimen in Vietnamese standards is cubic 150x150x150mm with age of
28 days, curing in standard conditions and testing with standard loading speed of
0.2 MPa/sec.
1.2.5.2. Concrete grade
- This is used in current Vietnamese standard (TCXDVN 5574 – 2012), noted as B,
which is defined as the characteristic strength (with guarantee probability of 95%)
of the standard specimen with unit of MPa. Normal concrete can be B3.5, B5,
B7.5 to B60.
- The relationship between M and B is shown in equation 2.8.
B= M (1.8)

Where, : unit conversion coefficient from kg/cm2 to MPa, =0.1;

: conversion coefficient from mean strength to characteristic strength.
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For coefficient of variation =0.135, the value of =0.778,  B=0.0778M

1.2.6. CONCRETE DEFORMATION
1.2.6.1. Shrinkage and thermal expansion
a) Shrinkage:
As concrete harden, its volume reduces. Shrinkage can cause cracks in concrete, but it
increase bonding between concrete and steel. Thermal shrinkage may be reduced by
restricting the temperature rise during the hydration process, which can be done by:
 Use mix design with low cement content
 Avoid rapid hardening and finely ground cement if possible
 Keep aggregate and mixing water cool, etc.
A low water-cement ration will help reduce drying shrinkage. Other preventive
measures of shrinkage includes using proper construction process such as compacting,
mixing, curing, using of construction joints, expansion joints, etc. Arrangement of
reinforcement can also help reduce cracks due to shrinkage.
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b) Thermal expansion:
- The thermal expansion of concrete can be greater than shrinkage. Thermal stresses
and strains may be controlled by expansion joints in a structure. The thermal
expansion coefficient of concrete is averagely approximately 1x10-5.
- When the tensile stresses caused by shrinkage or thermal movement exceed the
tensile strength of concrete, cracking will occur. To control crack width, steel
reinforcement must be provided close to the concrete surface.
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1.2.6.2. Short-term deformation and modulus of elasticity

- Carry out a compressive test for a concrete c)
specimen and draw stress-strain

relationship, we obtain the curve in Figure R lt C
1.6.
- In this figure, is the ultimate strain of b B
concrete, taken as 0.002 for axially
compressed members and as 0.0035 for
compressive zone of flexural members.
- The elastic strain which is recoverable 0
when unloading the concrete specimen at b *b 
point A is, whereas the plastic part which is
pl el
unrecoverable is.

Figure 1.6 Stress-strain curve of concrete

and modulus of elasticity
- The elastic coefficient  of concrete is defined as the ratio between the elastic strain
and the total strain of concrete as in equation (1.9).
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 el
= (1.9)
b
For concrete, two types of modulus of elasticity are defined.
a) Secant or static modulus is the value corresponding to the stress of 0.4 mean
compressive strength:
E 'b =tg (1.10a)
b) Tangent or dynamic modulus is the slope of the tangent at zero stress:
Eb =tg (1.10)
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1.2.6.3. Creep
Creep is the continuous deformation of a member under sustained load. A typical
variation of deformation with time is shown in Figure 1.7. The characteristics of creep
are as follows:
The final deformation of the member
can be three to four time that short –
term elastic deformation.
The deformation is roughly
proportional to the intensity of
loading and to the inverse of the
concrete strength.
If the load is removed, only the
instantaneous elastic modulus will
recover – the plastic deformation
will not.

Figure 1.7 Increase of deformation

with time for concrete – Creep
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1.3. REINFORCING STEEL

1.3.1. GENERAL
Steel is a composition of iron and carbon and, in some cases, with the addition of some
other metals such as Chromium, Manganese, Titanium, etc. The ratio of carbon is
approximately 0.2 – 0.5% by weight.
Steel = Fe + C (0,2-0,5%) ( +Cr, Mn, Tn)
Steel reinforcement used for construction can be divided into the following types:
Plain bar: Diameter less than 10mm manufactured in role with weight of less than
500kg. Plain bars usually used for slab and for stirrups in beams and columns.
Deformed bar: Diameter no less than 10mm, manufactured in the form of bar with
length less than 13m (usually 11.7 m). Deformed bars used as longitudinal
reinforcement for beams, columns, walls.
Structural steel: structural steel has shaped sections, in including L – shaped (angle),
U – shaped (channel), H – shaped or tubes (circular, square). Structural steel used in
heavy - duty members.
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1.3.2. PROPERTIES OF STEEL

Typical stress – strain curves of steel are shown in Figure 1.8. It can be seen that steel
can be classified as ductile steel and high strength steel with no yielding. Strength of steel
is taken as yield stress. In case the steel does not have yield stress, the equivalent yield
stress is taken as in Figure 1.8b.
a)  b)
 C
B A B'
y
el A D

0  pl *s  0 0,2% 
Figure 1.8 Stress – strain curves of ductile steel and high strength steel
Modulus of elasticity of steel Es is the slope of the first part (OA) of the stress – strain
curve. The value of Es is within the range of 180,000 – 210,000 MPa.
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- In Vietnamese standard, reinforcing steel for concrete is classified into 4 groups CI, CII,
CIII, CIV.
 CI is manufactured in plain form
 CII is deformed bar with one – direction rib
 CIII and CIV is inclined two – direction rib or first – bone rib.
- Tensile and compressive strength of these groups of steel is given in Appendices of
[Phan Quang Minh, Kết cấu BTCT, phần cấu kiện cơ bản].
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1.4. REINFORCED CONCRETE

Bonding between concrete and reinforcement is the combination of following factors:
 Friction: shrinkage of concrete increase friction between concrete and steel;
 Interlocking: the concrete between the ribs of reinforcement cannot move;
 Chemical adhesion: cement paste acts as a glue bonding reinforcement to concrete.
Bonding is influenced by the following factors:
 Working conditions: Bonding of reinforcement in compression is higher than that of
tensile reinforcement;
 Embedded length of reinforcement l: When the embedded length increases, the
average bonding stress decreases;
 Methods to restrain horizontal expansion: Bonding between concrete and
reinforcement can be improved by using methods to restrain horizontal expansion
such as using welded reinforcement mesh, using spiral stirrups or increasing the
quantity of stirrups (lateral reinforcement).