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Chapter 1 Introduction

The document introduces reinforced concrete and its principles. It explains that concrete resists compressive stresses well but is weak in tension, while steel resists tension well. Reinforced concrete combines the two materials, with steel reinforcing resisting tensile stresses and concrete providing compression resistance and protecting the steel. It discusses the advantages of reinforced concrete including its strength, durability, and cost effectiveness, as well as its disadvantages such as weakness in tension and the need for formwork. It also describes the bond between steel and concrete and factors that improve their compatibility.

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41 views5 pages

Chapter 1 Introduction

The document introduces reinforced concrete and its principles. It explains that concrete resists compressive stresses well but is weak in tension, while steel resists tension well. Reinforced concrete combines the two materials, with steel reinforcing resisting tensile stresses and concrete providing compression resistance and protecting the steel. It discusses the advantages of reinforced concrete including its strength, durability, and cost effectiveness, as well as its disadvantages such as weakness in tension and the need for formwork. It also describes the bond between steel and concrete and factors that improve their compatibility.

Uploaded by

mike smith
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

CHAPTER 1

Introduction to Reinforced Concrete

1.1 The Principle of Reinforced Concrete:

An ideal example for understanding the behavior traits of reinforced concrete is to


consider a simply supported homogeneous beam under a uniform gravity load leading to
a positive bending moment. Figure 1.1 illustrates the loading condition and deformed
shape of this hypothesized beam. As noted, the top portion of the beam is subjected to
compression while the bottom portion is subjected to tension as a result of the acting
bending moment.

Uniform Load Deformed Shape

Beam Compression
Tension
hinge roller

Figure 1.1: Tension and compression in a uniformly loaded homogenous beam.

While concrete is particularly sound in compression, it is vulnerable to failure in tension.


As such concrete can resist the compressive stresses of the beam shown in Figure 1.1.
Steel is very tough in tension as well as compression but it is considerably expensive and
vulnerable to environmental factors. Therefore, steel in small amounts, may be used in
the beam of Figure 1.1 to resist the tensile stresses. As concrete is resilient to
environmental factors, it is a primary advantage of this proposed cooperation between
steel and concrete is that concrete can provide protection for steel against corrosion and
fire. Based on the aforementioned discussion, a reinforced concrete beam section may
look similar to Figure 1.2. Concrete is used in massive amounts to absorb compressive
stresses and to provide protection for steel. Steel used in small ratios is adequate for
resisting tensile stresses.

Concrete

Neutral Axis
Figure 1.2: A typical reinforced
concrete beam section.
Steel

1.1
1.2 The Advantages of Reinforced Concrete:

As reinforced concrete is a widely used construction material, it possesses certain


essential advantages that promoted its widespread utilization. A summarized list of these
advantages follows:

• Considerable compressive strength compared with other construction materials.


• Excellent durability against environmental effects.
• Low maintenance.
• Long service life with an insignificant reduction in load bearing capacity.
• Inexpensive, particularly for use in footings, slabs, piers, basements, walls, dams
and other massive structures or structural elements.
• Can be cast into various shapes with enhanced aesthetic appeal.
• Concrete manufacturing can take advantage of readily available local materials
such as sand and rock.
• Typically concrete requires relatively unskilled laborers without a great deal of
special training compared with other construction materials.

Reinforced concrete is currently the main construction material for practically all regions
of the world except for places with an abundance of wood.

1.3 The Disadvantages of Reinforced Concrete:

In spite of the advantages of reinforced concrete listed in Section 1.2, there are certain
disadvantages that need to be dealt with including the following items:

• Concrete is relatively weak in tension.


• Concrete is subjected to the effect of shrinkage.
• Due to its tension weakness and subjection to shrinkage, concrete is exposed to
the effects of cracking that can result in weakening, vulnerability to
environmental effects, and increased maintenance costs. Proper design and
construction precautions are essential for this behavior aspect of reinforced
concrete.
• Reinforced concrete typically requires formwork for construction.
• Reinforced concrete is a rather heavy material with a unit weight of 145 lb/ft3
(2.3 kg/m3).
• Concrete strength per unit volume is relatively low, typically resulting in large
members.
• Concrete properties can vary widely as raw material properties vary and can
deteriorate in the lack of adequate quality control for mixing, placing, as well as
curing.

1.2
Appropriate design and construction precautions can limit or eliminate the major
disadvantages of reinforced concrete. Such precautions have lessened the effects of
concrete disadvantages aiding in its widespread use as a construction material.

1.4 Compatibility of Steel and Concrete:

1.4.1 Bond between steel and concrete:

Steel reinforcement for concrete is generally in the form of bars strategically located
within the structural element for resistance of tensile stresses. Concrete makes up the
mass of structural elements. Upon load application to a structural member, tensile
stresses are streamed to the location of steel bars where resistance is provided. These
tensile stresses are transferred to the steel bars via the bond of steel and concrete;
therefore such bond is essential. Generally, in the analysis of reinforced concrete
structural elements (as shown in Chapter 4), perfect bond between steel and concrete is
assumed.

Bond of steel and concrete is made up of chemical bond, friction and mechanical bond.
Both chemical bond and friction are considered not reliable. Therefore, prior to the
inception of deformed steel bars, hooks were typically provided to enhance bond between
plain (smooth) steel bars and concrete via utilizing a mechanical bond component as a
supplement as shown in Figure 1.3.

Reinforced
Concrete
Beam
Steel Bar with
End–Hooks

Figure 1.3: Reinforced concrete beam detail prior to the inception of deformed steel bars.

Following the inception of deformed steel bars, the use of hooks in bar detailing
decreased significantly. Deformed steel bars are provided with surface deformations or
indentations (as explained in Chapter 2) to improve their mechanical anchorage to
concrete. This procedure was not only proven very effective in improving bond strength
between steel and concrete, but also enhanced the overall behavior of reinforced concrete
structural members. Such improvement stemmed from that bond in the presence of
surface deformations is distributed throughout the length of each steel bar rather than
being concentrated at an end-hook that may cause local deformations within the concrete
and possibly premature failure. A common type of deformed bars has deformations as
shown in Figure 1.4.

1.3
Surface Deformations

Figure 1.4: Schematic diagram of a deformed steel bar.

1.4.2 Thermal expansion and lateral strains:

With similar thermal expansion coefficients and similar poisson’s ratios, reinforced
concrete will practically behave as one material under the effect of external loading as
well as thermal effects assuming that prudent design is provided. Steel and concrete have
similar coefficients of thermal expansion about 5.5x10-6 in/in/oF. Such similarity reduces
or eliminates thermal stresses within reinforced concrete that could result from
temperature variations and aids in enhancing compatibility of steel and concrete.

Steel and concrete also have similar poissons’s ratios of about 0.20. This similarity
reduces the potential of lateral strains and stresses in reinforced concrete which further
enhances the compatibility of steel and concrete.

1.4
Test your knowledge:

1. What functions does steel serve in reinforced concrete?

2. What functions does concrete serve in reinforced concrete?

3. What is the reason for the decrease of hooked steel bar detailing in reinforced
concrete recently?

4. In your opinion, what are the main two advantages of reinforced concrete?

5. In your opinion, what are the main two disadvantages of reinforced concrete?

6. In addition to the factors listed in this chapter, what other factors can be beneficial for
compatibility of steel and concrete?

7. Based on your personal observations, list in order the most common construction
materials in your area.

1.5

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