CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION TO
REINFORCED
CONCRETE DESIGN
By Ts Dr Mohamad Azim Mohammad Azmi
Design Process
Architect Structural Engineer / Designer / Consultant Contractor

Architecture Action Design and

Construction
Plan Analysis Checking

Engineering Structural
Detailing
Layout Analysis

Safety, economical, serviceability

Engineering Design Process
Structural engineering is the study of how the various components of a building or
other structure act together to transmit forces down to the foundations.

❑Structural planning stage: When a structural scheme is devised to suit both the
purpose of the building and the site conditions.

❑Structural analysis stage: When the loads on the structure are determined and the
way that the loads disperse through the structure is analyzed using the principles
of structural mechanics.

❑Structural element design stage: When the size and properties of each member
are determined.
Engineering Design Process
❑Structural detailing stage: When detail drawings are produced to illustrate how the
structure is to be constructed on site.

❑Structural specification stage: When specification clauses are compiled to define

the standard of materials and workmanship to be used.

❑Construction stage: When the structure is built, with appropriate supervision,

inspection and testing to ensure that it complies with the drawings and the
specification.
Reinforced Concrete
Concrete is a composite material consists of
cement, aggregate, sand and water with the
approximate proportion as shown in Figure.

The strength of hardened concrete is basically

controlled by the water/cement ratio. Higher
water/cement ratio used in a mixture produces
workable concrete but unfortunately will result in a
weaker concrete when hardened.

The relationship of workability and strength is

shown in Figure. Concrete is a material strong in
compression but weak in tension. It has high
resistance to heat and durable if expose to the
environment.
Reinforced Concrete
Since it is weak in tension, reinforcement is needed to strengthen it. Thus a
concrete is strengthen using steel bars/reinforcement as shown in Figure and
known as Reinforced Concrete.

Steel bar is strong in tension. It is also strong in compression but it is rather weak
in lateral stability during compression and lost most of it strength during fire.

Steel can easily corrode if it is not protected from the environment. The
complementary properties of these two materials give a material that is strong in
various aspects.
Reinforced Concrete
The advantages of using reinforced concrete in structure are:
1) Concrete is cheaper than steel.
2) Good combination of concrete and steel:

❑Bond between concrete and steel prevents slip of the steel bar as shown in Figure.
The bond action allows the transfer of tensile stress from the concrete into the
steel bars.
❑Concrete covering prevent water intrusion and bar corrosion.
❑Similar rate of thermal expansion. Concrete thermal expansion is between
0.000010 to 0.000013 where else steel is 0.000012.
Reinforced Concrete
3) Durability of concrete protects the steel from external elements such
as fire and moisture.

4) Continuity from monolithic joint (no connection interruption or design

is needed at joints) as shown in Figure.

5) The reinforced concrete building system is more durable than any

other building system.
Reinforced Concrete
6) Reinforced concrete, as a fluid material in the beginning, can be
economically molded into a nearly limitless range of shapes.

7) The maintenance cost of reinforced concrete is very low.

8) As reinforced concrete can be molded to any shape required, it is widely

used in precast structural components. It yields rigid members with
minimum apparent deflection.

9) Compared to the use of steel in structure, reinforced concrete requires less

skilled labor for the erection of structure.
Reinforced Concrete Element
❑Generally, a reinforced concrete building consists
of several elements such as beam, slab, column,
wall, stair and foundation as shown in Figure.

❑The load on the floor which consists of the self-

weight of the slab and other loads imposed on the
floor will be carried by the secondary beams
(joist).

❑The load from the secondary beams will then be

transferred to the main beams (girder).

❑The load on the beam will in turn transfer to the

column and finally to the footing where the load
will be spread to the ground via the piles.
The Aim of Design
1) To achieve an acceptable probability that the structure will perform satisfactorily
during its intended life.

2) With an appropriate degree of safety, the structure should sustain all loads and
deformations of normal construction and use, have adequate durability, and
resistance to effects of misuse and fire.

3) Calculations alone do not produce safe, serviceable and durable structures.

Equally important are the suitability of materials, quality control and supervision of
workmanship during construction.

4)To produce a structure which is economical to construct, maintain and service

throughout its design life.
Eurocode
This manual is mostly based on a set of codes produced for use throughout the European
Union – the Eurocodes.

Each country in the European Union defines how each code is to be used by publishing a
National Annex for each code. This module is based on the UK National Annexes. (National
Annexes are unique features based on each country determined parameters and non-
contradictory complementary information.

Malaysia for instance has annex on small beams and columns for domestic construction,
creep and shrinkage of concrete, durability aspects and band beams constructions).

Tables below list a selection of these codes and standards. In relation to structural design,
the codes and standards are in two groups:

a) Those relating to materials and components

b) Those relating to loading and to the design of structures.
Eurocode
Eurocode

Malaysian Equivalent of Eurocode:

MS EN 1990:2009 – Basis of Structural Design

MS EN 1991-1-1:2009 – Actions on Structures
MS EN 1992-1-1:2009 – Design of Concrete Structures
Design Working Life
BS EN 1990, Eurocode - Basis of structural design, (Eurocode 0) gives indicative
design working lives for design purposes for various types of structures, as shown
in Table below.

**This course is only concern/focused on the design of class 4 structures only.

Limit State
❑Both BS8110 and EC2 are based on ultimate limit
state. The purpose of limit state design is to
achieve acceptable probabilities that a structure
will not become unfit for its intended use -
meaning that it will not reach a limit state.

❑Therefore, in any way a structure become unfit

for use will constitute a limit state. The design
aim is to avoid any such condition being reached
during the expected life of the structure.

❑The two principal types of limit state are as

shown in Figure.
Limit State
a) Ultimate limit state is associated with collapse or other forms of
structural damage likely to endanger life. The structure must be able to
withstand, with adequate factor of safety against collapse, the loads for
which it is designed to ensure the safety of the occupant and the building
itself. Examples of ultimate limit state are overturning, buckling,
collapse or internal explosion.

b) Serviceability limit state are associated with poor performance of the

structure which, even though not life-threatening, must be avoided.
Conditions whereby a structure is not fit to be used or the occupant feels
unsafe living in the structure. Generally, serviceability limit states are:
Limit State
Generally, serviceability limit states are:

Deflection – the appearance of any part of a structure must not be adversely affected by
deflections.

Cracking – local damage due to cracking and spalling must not affect the appearance,
efficiency and durability of the structure.

Durability – must be considered in terms of the proposed life of the structure and its
conditions of exposure.

Excessive vibration – may cause discomfort.

Fatigue - must be considered if cyclic loading is likely.

Fire resistance – must be considered in terms of resistance to collapse.

Loading / Actions
❑Generally, loads or actions cannot be predicted accurately and it is
uneconomical to design using the largest load that may be encountered by
the structure. Therefore, in design practice, characteristic load/actions is
used with low probabilities that it will be exceeded during the lifetime of the
structure.

❑Actions is the Eurocode terminology for loads and imposed deformations.

EC2 defines an action as a force or load applied to a structure. Actions are
categorized into PERMANENT (GK) ACTIONS and VARIABLE (QK) ACTIONS.

❑Permanent(Gk) actions is the fix load and usually unchanged in its location,
example self-weight of structures, finishes (screed, tiles etc), partition walls
(metal or brick), fittings, ceiling and fixed equipment such as water pipes
and air- condition ducts. Standard characteristic loadings can be found in BS
EN 1991, Eurocode 1 – Actions on Structures. Table shows some typical values
of permanent loading.
Loading / Actions
Loading / Actions
❑Variable(Qk) actions is any load that is temporarily on a structure. There are 2
types of variable action namely imposed and wind load.

i) Imposed load: Any gravity load, e.g people, furniture etc. Example of selected
imposed loads are shown in Table below.

ii) Wind load: Reference on wind load can be obtained in Part 4 of EC 2. Wind
load depends on wind speed, building height and size, etc. Reference wind
velocity for a locality is defined as mean wind velocity at 10 m above farmland
averaged over a period of 10 minutes with a return period of 50 years. EC2
requires that effects of horizontal loads due to geometric imperfections are
considered in addition to effects of horizontal loads due to wind.
Design Process
Example
The reinforced concrete floor beam as shown in Figure is used to support a concrete slab of 6 m
width and having a thickness of 100 mm. The slab also carries a 12 mm thick plaster ceiling for the
floor below. The beam also carries a brick wall of width 100 mm and 1.2 m in height. Determine the
load on the beam as kN per metre length of the beam. The density of concrete = 25 kN/m³. Given:

Density of brick = 22 kN/m³

Area load of 12 mm plaster = 0.21 kN/m².

Component Calculation Load

Concrete slab 25 kN/m³ x 0.1 m x 6 m 15 kN/m
Plaster ceiling 0.21 kN/m² x 6 m 1.26 kN/m
Brick wall 22 kN/m³ x 0.1 m x 1.2 m 2.64 kN/m

Total load on the beam 18.9 kN/m

Design Load
Design loads for Ultimate limit State are obtained by multiplying characteristic loads
by appropriate partial safety factor as shown in Table below.

The terms favourable and unfavourable refer to the effect of the action(s) on the
design situation under consideration. For example, if a beam, continuous over several
spans, is to be designed for the largest sagging bending moment it will have to
sustain any action that has the effect of increasing the bending moment will be
considered unfavourable whilst any action that reduces the bending moment will be
considered to be favourable.
Design Load
Partial safety factors for actions(γf) is applied due to:

1) Design assumptions and inaccuracy of calculation

2) Possible unusual increases in the magnitude of the actions
3) Unforeseen stress redistributions
4) Constructional inaccuracies

For simply supported beams, the partial safety factors for permanent,γG and variable actions, γQ will
normally be 1.35 and 1.5 respectively.

For checking ultimate limit states (ULS) of bending, shear and compression:

γGGk + γQQk = 1.35Gk + 1.50Qk

For checking serviceability limit states (SLS) of cracking and deflection:

γGGk + γQQk = 1.00Gk + 1.00Qk

Material Strength
The strength of materials upon which a design is based are normally those strengths
below which results are unlikely to fail. These are called ‘characteristic’ action. For
a large sample of a material tested, the distribution of strength will approximately
‘normal” so that a frequency distribution curve would be of the form as shown in
Figure below.
Design Process
From the graph, the characteristic action is defined: Characteristic actions = mean
action ± 1.64 standard deviations The mean and standard deviation, σ are given by:

These characteristic values represent the limits within which at least 90% of
values lie in practice. It is to be expected that not more than 5% will exceed the
upper limit and not more than 5% will fall below the lower limit.
Characteristic Strength of Concrete (Fck)
The concrete strength is assessed by testing the crushing strength of cylinders or
cube of concrete made from the mix in a crushing machine. These are usually cured,
and tested after 28 days according to standard procedures.

❑Concrete of a given strength is identified by its class – a Class 25/30 concrete has a
characteristic cylinder strength (fck) of 25 N/mm² and cube strength of 30 N/mm².
Table shows a list of commonly used classes.
❑If a cube and a cylinder are made of the same concrete then the cube will achieve a
higher strength because the steel platens of the compression testing machine exert
a greater lateral restraint on a stocky cube than they do on a more slender cylinder.
Characteristic Strength of Steel (Fyk)
Table shows the various characteristic strength of steel bars use in the construction industry.

Grade 250 bars are hot-rolled mild steel bars which usually has smooth surface so that the bond with
the concrete is by adhesion. Can be readily bent and use as links in beams and columns. (In European
Union and UK plain bars are no longer available). Grade 460 & 500 (EC2) are high yield bars with ribbed
surface as shown in Figure below.
Characteristic Strength of Steel (Fyk)
Deformed bars have a mechanical bond with the concrete, thus enhancing ultimate
bond stresses. The cross-sectional areas of various sizes of bars and the cross-
sectional area per unit width of slab are in Table below.
Thank You