Sheena Mae Flores

1. Why can concrete and steel be used together in an advantageous way?

- Steel, which has high tensile strength, is used with concrete in order to counteract
the concrete's low tensile strength and ductility. The main purpose of inclusion
of steel is resist tensile stress in particular regions of the concrete that may cause
structural failure or cracking. Concrete and steel work well together in reinforced
concrete because they have similar coefficients of thermal expansion, and a suitable
bond can be made between the concrete and the steel rods.

2. Stress-strain relationships of concrete: obtained in test and idealized (simplified)

Uniaxial tension and compression test uncracked and cracked state polastic state

3. Stress-strain relationships of reinforcement: obtained in test and idealized (simplified)

4. What is the difference between characteristic strength and design strength?

- The compressive strength of concrete is given in terms of the characteristic

compressive strength of 150 mm size cubes tested at 28 days. The characteristic
strength is defined as the strength of the concrete below which not more than 5% of
the test results are expected to fall. Meanwhile, design strength is the load-bearing
capacity of a member computed on the basis of the allowable stresses which are
assumed in design. The assumed values for the strength of concrete, and the yield
stress of steel on which the theoretical ultimate strength of a section is computed.

5. What is the difference between uniaxial strength and biaxial compression strength of concrete?

- The uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) is the maximum axial compressive stress
that a right-cylindrical sample of material can withstand before failing. It is also
known as the unconfined compressive strength of a material because confining
stress is set to zero.

6. By what characteristics does the concrete modulus of elasticity depend from?

- The modulus of elasticity of concrete can be defined as the slope of the line drawn
from a stress of zero to a compressive stress of 0.45f'c. As concrete is a
heterogeneous material. The strength of concrete is dependent on the relative
proportion and modulus of elasticity of the aggregate.

7. What is the shrinkage of concrete? What are the consequences of shrinkage? How shrinkage be
reduced? What is the final value of it?

- The volumetric changes of concrete structures due to the loss of moisture by

evaporation is known as concrete shrinkage or shrinkage of concrete. It is a time-
dependent deformation which reduces the volume of concrete without the impact
of external forces. This shrinkage causes an increase in tensile stress, which may lead
to cracking, internal warping, and external deflection, before the concrete is
subjected to any kind of loading. The lowest water-to-cement ratio is important to
avoid this type of shrinkage. A procedure that will help reduce settlement cracking,
as well as drying shrinkage in walls, is to reduce the water content in concrete as the
wall is placed from the bottom to the top. The time flow and the final values of
shrinkage are influenced by numerous factors: temperature and humidity,
dimensions of elements, the type and quantity of cement, water-cement factor,
granulometric and mineralogical composition of aggregates, concrete strength,
method of workability and curing, concrete age at the end of curing and many other
factors.

8. What is the fundamental difference between mild steel and hard-drawn steel?

- Mild steel contains approximately 0.05–0.25% carbon making it malleable and

ductile. Mild steel has a relatively low tensile strength, but it is cheap and easy to
form; surface hardness can be increased through carburizing. Meanwhile, hard
drawn steel wire is made by the special heat treatment and cold drawing process by
using high quality high carbon steel wire rods. It is ideal for resistance welding and
intended for use as reinforcement for concrete and for manufacture into welded
wire fabric.
9. What characteristic does the anchorage length of steel bars in concrete depend from?

- Anchorage length is the additional length of bar required to insert or connect

another member at the junction. It is the minimum length required for steel
embedded in concrete to develop a proper bond so that they cannot be separated in
future due to any kind of force (pull, shear, bending). According to IS 456:2000, the
calculated tension or compression in any bar at any section shall be developed on
each side of the section by providing appropriate development length or by an end
anchorage.

10. How can the anchorage length be influenced (reduced)?

- Shorter development lengths are required for bars in compression than in tension
since the weakening effect of flexural tension cracks in the concrete are not present.
This development length may be reduced where excess reinforcement is provided
and where confining ties or spirals are provided around the reinforcement (25
percent reduction)

11. What dimensions does is the effective length of reinforced concrete beams depend from?

- The effective length of a beam is calculated to determine its susceptibility to lateral

torsional buckling (which occurs when a bending moment is applied). It is a factor
that is applied to the actual length (or span) of a beam and is dependent on the end
restraints and the actual load application position height.

12. What are the different functions of links (stirrups) in reinforced concrete beams?

- Stirrups are provided to resist shear and also to hold the longitudinal reinforcements
in place. The stirrups resist flexure-shear and diagonal tension crack formations.
When crack forms due to shear various forces resisting the shear are resistance due
to uncracked concrete, vertical component of the aggregate interlock, shear
resistance of stirrups and dowel force in the tension reinforcements. In absence of
stirrups the other three forces are not able to effectively resist the shear. But in the
presence of stirrups redistribution of these forces occurs and they effectively resist
crack formation after the stirrups have yielded. Stirrups also help in resisting cracks
due to temperature and shrinkage effects. Inclined stirrups are most effective in
resisting shear as they resist the crack formation more effectively.

13. Equilibrium conditions of rectangular sections subjected to flexure

- The Strength Design Method requires the conditions of static equilibrium and strain
compatibility across the depth of the section to be satisfied. The following are the
assumptions for Strength Design Method:
i. Strains in reinforcement and concrete are directly proportional to the distance
from neutral axis. This implies that the variation of strains across the section is
linear, and unknown values can be computed from the known values of strain
through a linear relationship.
ii. Concrete sections are considered to have reached their flexural capacities
when they develop 0.003 strain in the extreme compression fiber.
iii. Stress in reinforcement varies linearly with strain up to the specified yield
strength. The stress remains constant beyond this point as strains continue
increasing. This implies that the strain hardening of steel is ignored.
 iv. Tensile strength of concrete is neglected.
v. Compressive stress distribution of concrete can be represented by the
corresponding stress-strain relationship of concrete. This stress distribution
may be simplified by a rectangular stress distribution.

14. Equilibrium conditions of rectangular sections subjected to flexure in case of doubly reinforced
sections.

- The strength of concrete in compression is increased by the strength provided by the

compression steel if the compressive stress of concrete is not enough to carry the loads. The total
compressive stress is now equal to the strength by the concrete and compressive steel which is now
equal to the tensile stress at the bottom fiber of the structural member. The yield stress of the
tensile bars will always be attained for doubly reinforced beam.

15. Why used to be limited the height of the compression zone in ξcod?

- concrete below ξcod is assumed to be cracked and cannot carry tensional force anymore.

16. What is the reason of limiting the area of the tension reinforcement in As,min?

- With a very small amount of tensile reinforcement, the computed moment strength as a
reinforced concrete section becomes less than that of the corresponding plain concrete section
computed from its modulus of rupture. Failure in such a case can be quite sudden.

17. What is the reason of limiting the area of the tension reinforcement in As,max?

- It is to ensure that the steel reinforcement will yield first in order to ensure ductile failureas well as
provide space for the aggregates in order to avoid honeycombs that could affect the strength of the
member.

18. Principles of realization of the necessary steel area.

- Provided steel area of a member must be greater that its required area. The diameter of the bars
must not be too great to provide better crack control and must not be too small to avoid placing
problems and must also be identical to provide uniform space distribution.