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faqid=597
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Concrete Knowledge Center - Technical Questions


Development Length Calculation

Q. When calculating development lengths, why do the equations in ACI 318-05 Section 12.2.2
sometimes produce significantly longer development lengths than Eq. (12-1) in Section 12.2.3?
A. The equations for development length provided in Section 12.2.2 of ACI 318-05
1
and reproduced
in Table 1 are simplified versions of ACI 318-05 Eq. (12-1)
(1)
where y
s
is the bar size factor, c
b
is the minimum of the cover to the center of the bar or half the
center-to-center bar spacing, K
tr
is the transverse reinforcement index, and the remaining variables
are defined in Table 1. The equations in Table 1 are conservative for bars with various combinations of
cover, clear spacing between bars, and amount of transverse reinforcement. As the commentary to
Section 12.2 explains, the equations for Case 1 are based on the assumption that ( c
b
+ K
tr
)/d
b
in Eq.
(1) has a minimum value of 1.5. This assumption is valid for the following conditions:
Not less than 1d
b
of clear cover and 1d
b
clear between bars, along with transverse reinforcement
not less than the code requirements (K
tr
is assumed to be at least 0.5d
b
). Columns and beams
typically meet this condition; or
Not less than 1d
b
of clear cover and 2d
b
clear between bars, with no requirement for transverse
reinforcement (K
tr
is assumed to be 0). Walls and slabs typically meet this condition.
The second condition is illustrated for a splice location in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1: Minimum cover and clear spacing requirements at
a splice location for use with the development length
equations in Case 1 of Table 1. Clear spacing between
bars can be reduced to 1d
b
if minimum transverse
reinforcement is provided
The equations for Case 2 in Table 1 are based on the assumption that ( c
b
+ K
tr
)/d
b
has a minimum
value of 1.0. This assumption is valid for nearly all bars that are placed according to the minimum
spacing and cover requirements in Sections 7.6 and 7.7 of ACI 318-05.
Table 1: Development length equations from ACI 318-05 Section 12.2.2
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Concrete Knowledge Center - Technical Questions http://www.concrete.org/FAQ/afmviewfaq.asp?faqid=597
2 of 2 4/3/2008 10:14 AM