Reinforced Concrete properties

Concrete in which steel is embedded in such a manner that the two

materials act together in resisting forces. The reinforcing steel-rods or
bars absorbs the tensile, shear, and sometimes the compressive stresses in
a concrete structure. Plain concrete does not easily withstand tensile and
shear stresses caused by wind, earthquakes, vibrations, and other forces
and the tensile strength of concrete is generally rated about 10 percent of
the compression strength. The tensile strength of steel and the
compressive strength of concrete work together to allow the member to
sustain these stresses over considerable spans and the resultant
combination of this two materials are known as reinforced concrete. Here
are some properties displayed :
1) Compressive Strength:

It is one of the most important properties of concrete and it is

defined as the maximum resistance measured for the concrete to
withstand an axial load at an age of 28 days. The strength
continues to increase by time and it almost reaches its maximum
strength after 28 days. According to the Egyptian code, six 15 cm
cubes are tested after 3 & 7 days (3 cubes a day) to identify its
compressive strength. The compressive strength after 3 & 7 days
have to be more then 18 & 27 MPa respectively.
2) Durability:

Is the ability of concrete to resist weathering action and chemical

attack while maintaining the desired engineering properties. The
ease with which structural concrete elements can be formed into
a variety of shapes and sizes. Freshly made concrete is of a plastic
consistency, which enables the material to flow into prefabricated
formwork. One of the prime characteristics influencing durability
of concrete is its permeability to increase of water and other
potentially deleterious materials. The desired low permeability in
concrete is achieved by having adequate cement, sufficient low
water/cement ratio, by ensuring full compaction of concrete and
by adequate curing.
3) Workability:

It is the effort required to impact a concrete mixture with a

minimum percentage of segregation. The voids existing in the
compacted mass of the concrete manipulates with its strength
and requires suitable workability as the presence of voids with 5%
can reduce the concrete's strength up to 30%. Therefore, Slump
test is used to discover the workability of concrete. The purpose of
this test is to examine the consistency of the fresh concrete. The
idea is that a cone with 30 cm height is filled with fresh concrete
and raised immediately after compacting it using a rod 25 strokes,
the difference between the height of the mould and that of height
point of the sample as the figure below, will determine the
consistency of the concrete.
4) Ductility:

Ductility is a desirable structural property because it allows

stress redistribution and provides warning of impending
failure. It is defined as the ability of material to undergo
large deformations without rupture before failure. A
material that experiences very little or no plastic
deformation upon fracture is termed brittle. Concrete is an
example of brittle material. To avoid failure of structure the
structural engineer must take all provisions to increase the
ductility of structure. By suitably anchoring the
reinforcement, the ductility of a structure can be increased
to a greater extent. Therefore, High ductility steel bars has
to be used as it can last much longer under the stresses
higher than yield strength with plastic deformation and
prevent the structure from collapsing.
 References

http://www.aboutcivil.org/durability-of-concrete.html

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/civileng/meyer/publications/pub
lications/93%20Concrete.pdf