Reinforcement detailing in beams

 Beam carries transverse external loads that cause bending

moment, shear forces and in some cases torsion
 Concrete is strong in compression and very weak in tension.
 Steel reinforcement counter act tensile stresses in reinforced
concrete beams.
 Mild steel bars or Deformed or High yield strength deformed bars
(HYSD) used.
 HYSD bars have ribs on the surface and this increases the bond
strength at least by 40%

Types of beams
The beams classes are as follows:

Based on beam shape

 Rectangular beam
 L-shape beam
 Circular shape beam
 T-shape beam

When a beam is designed with slab, called slab beam or Tee-beam,

reinforcements are provided as shown in figure below. The beam is
generally designed as simple beam but additional reinforcement provided
on top with slab to make it behave like a Tee-beam.
 Fig.1: Mid-span Details of Tee-Beam.

Fig.2: Slab-Beam Details

According to supporting conditions

Simply supported, fixed, continuous and cantilever beams

Based on embedded reinforcement

Singly reinforced

Reinforcement are provided to resist tensile stresses due to bending and

shear in beams for singly reinforced sections.

In practice, for singly reinforced beams, two additional bars are provided
in compression face of the beam so that stirrups can be tied with bars.
These additional reinforcement are of nominal diameter of 8mm or
10mm.

Doubly reinforced

when depth of section is restricted due to reasons such as architectural

reasons, or basement floors, the beam section is designed as doubly
reinforced concrete beam.

These bars shall withstand compressive stresses and are provided with
reinforcement in compression face.

Beams when subjected to torsion are provided additional longitudinal and

shear reinforcement to resist bending and shear stresses developed due
to torsion.

Types of Reinforcement in Beams

Generally a beam consists of following steel reinforcements:

 Longitudinal reinforcement at tension and compression face.

 Shear reinforcements in the form of vertical stirrups and or bent
up longitudinal bars.
o Side face reinforcement in the web of the beam provided
when the depth of the web in a beam exceeds 750 mm.
o Distribute minimum 0.1% of the web area equally on
two faces at a spacing not exceeding 300 mm or web
thickness, whichever is less.

Reinforcement Cover in Beam

 Minimum cover in beams must be 25 mm or shall not be less
than the larger diameter of bar for all steel reinforcement
including links.
  Nominal cover specified in Table 16 and 16A of IS456-2000
should be used to satisfy the durability criteria.

Stirrups
this type of reinforcement act against shear force. Following are the types
of stirrups provided in beams:

Fig.3: Types of stirrups in beams

Standard hooks and bends

Commonly, the provision of steel bar anchorage is in form of bends and
hooks provided that straight length insufficient to develop bars.
Moreover, the anchorage value of bend of bar is taken as 4 times the
diameter of bar for every 450 bend subjected to maximum of 16 times the
diameter of bar.

Added to that, The specification for detailing of reinforcement in beams

are given in cl.26.5.1 of IS 456 – 2000. Lastly, standard bends and hooks
required for reinforcing bars are shown in figure below.

Fig.4: Standard bends and hooks in beams

Curtailment of Reinforcement in Beams

Generally, curtailment of reinforcements performed along beam span
based on the bending moment at the section. Moreover, anchorage or
development length required at support is provided during curtailment of
reinforcement.

Furthermore, cl.26.2 of IS 456 – 2000 gives the anchorage length

required for main reinforcement in tension and compression.
Lastly, figure 5 shows typical details of curtailment of reinforcement in
cantilever and continuous beams.

Fig.5: Typical Details of Reinforcement curtailment in beams

Development length (Ld)

Figure 6 provides details of necessary anchorage length for main
reinforcement in tension and compression:
 Fig.6: Typical
Details of anchorage length of reinforcement in beams

Figure 7 illustrates specifications for reinforcements of beams in

accordance with SP34:
Fig.7:Reinforcement detailing based on IS 456-2000

Bar Bending Schedule

 Drawings generally include a bar bending schedule
 bending schedule shall specify bar length and number, position
and the shape of the bar