Reinforced Concrete Flexural

Members
Reinforced Concrete Flexural Members

Concrete is by nature a continuous material

Once concrete reaches its tensile

strength ~400 psi, concrete will crack.
Stress in steel will be ~ 4000 psi.
 Design Criteria
Serviceability
Crack width limits
Deflection limits
Strength must provide adequate
strength for all possible loads
As area of steel in
tension zone
Asarea of steel in
compression zone
d distance from center of
tension reinforcement to
outermost point in
compression
d distance from center of
compression
reinforcement to
outermost point in
compression
Strain and Stress in Concrete Beams
Strain
s s s> y
T
cracked concrete cracked concrete
jd
C d

c c c=0.003
Stress
fs fs fs=fy
T
cracked concrete cracked concrete

C c

fc fc fc=fc

M = Tjd = Cjd where j is some fraction of the effective depth, d

T = Asfs at failure, T = AsFy C = T = force in As and concrete

 Stress in Concrete at Ultimate
ACI 318 approximates the
stress distribution in
concrete as a rectangle
0.85fc wide and a high,
where a = 1c.

Cconcrete = 0.85fcabw

Csteel = As fs

Asfy = 0.85fcabw + As fs
 Definitions
1 shall be taken as 0.85 for concrete strengths fc up
to and including 4000 psi. For strengths above 4000
psi, 1 shall be reduced continuously at a rate of 0.05
for each 1000 psi of strength above 4000 psi, but 1
shall not be taken less than 0.65.

bw = width of web

fs = stress in compression reinforcement (possibly fy)

With No Compression Steel
Asfy = 0.85fcabw

As f y
a
0.85 f 'c bw

a
jd d
2
a
j 1
2d

For most beams, 5/6 j 19/20

 Moment Equation
recall, M = Tjd = Cjd and T = AsFy
= 0.9 for flexure

Mu Mn=0.9Tjd = 0.9Asfyjd

substituting 5/6 j 19/20

0.75Asfyd Mu 0.85Asfyd
 Reinforcement Ratio
As
Reinforcement ratio for beams
bw d

A's
' Compression reinforcement ratio
bw d
 Design Equations

Mu For positive moment sections of T-shaped beams,

As
0.85 f y d and for negative moment sections of beams or
slabs where b.

Mu For negative moment sections where b and

As for positive moment sections without a T flange
0.75 f y d
and with b.

Mu For intermediate cases where b < < b

As
0.80 f y d regardless of the direction of bending.
Balanced Reinforcement Ratio, b
To insure that steel tension reinforcement reaches a strain
s fy/Es before concrete reaches = 0.003 (steel yields
before concrete crushes) the reinforcement ratio must be
less than b. Where b is the balanced reinforcement ratio
or the reinforcement ratio at which the steel will yield and
the concrete will crush simultaneously.
f 'c
b 0.3191 For rectangular compression zones (negative bending)
fy
For positive bending (T-shaped compression zone) reinforcement
ratio is usually very low (b very large)
b = effective flange width, least of:
bw + half distance to the adjoining parallel beam on each side of the web
the span length of the beam
bw + 16 hf
 Balanced Reinforcement Ratio
b for rectangular compression zone

Fy, ksi fc = 3000 psi 4000 5000 6000

40 0.0203 0.0271 0.0319 0.0359

50 0.0163 0.0217 0.0255 0.0287

60 0.0136 0.0181 0.0213 0.0239

Note: if > b can add compression reinforcement to prevent failure due to crushing of concrete.
 Depth of Beam for Preliminary Design

The ACI code prescribes minimum values of h, height of

beam, for which deflection calculations are not required.

Minimum values of h to avoid deflection calculations

Type of simply one end both ends cantilever

beam supported continuous continuous
construction
beams or l /16 l /18.5 l /21 l /8
joists
one way l /20 l /24 l /28 l /10
slabs
 Preliminary Design Values
5/3 b practical maximum reinforcement ratio

For typical d/bw ratios:

2.5M u
d
3

f y b
 Beam Analysis
ACI 318 Approximate Moments and Shears
 Compression Reinforcement
If > b must add compression reinforcement to prevent
failure due to crushing of concrete

fy
A's ( As bw d b )
f 'sb

8d '
f 'sb 87 1
3d
 Crack Control
For serviceability, crack widths, in tension zones, must be limited.

ACI 318 requires the tension

reinforcement in the flanges
of T-beams be distributed
over an effective flange width,
b, or a width equal to 1/10
span, whichever is smaller. If
the effective flange width
exceeds 1/10 the span,
additional reinforcement shall
be provided in the outer
portions of the flange.
 Flexure Design Example p. 21 notes
The partial office building floor plan shown had
beams spanning 30 ft and girders spanning 24 ft.
Design the slab, beams, and girders to support a
live load of 80 psf and a dead weight of 15 psf in
addition to the self weight of the structure. Use
grade 60 reinforcing steel and 4000 psi concrete.

30 ft 30 ft 30 ft 30 ft

24 ft

24 ft

24 ft
Reinforcing Steel