Formulation of interaction chart for RC column: Uni-Axial :

Formulation of uni-axial bending is straight forward. Following steps are involved in generating the interaction curve: 1. Assume a percent of steel say 1%. 2. The internal resisting forces for the given neutral axis position needs to be calculated using stress-strain relationship of concrete and steel i.e. formulation of P and M for any given neutral axis is required. The force P calculated from concrete is nothing but volume of concrete area under the stress-strain curve if the stress-strain curve is put like a roof. The P calculated from steel is the (algebraic) sum of the forces in all bars. Similarly the moment M is the moment of all such forces with reference to C.G. 3. Now keep the neutral axis outside the column say at a distance of 1.5 * D where D is the maximum dimension of the column. Calculate the P and M for this neutral axis position. Now plot this P and M (you might calculate non dimensional form of this like SP 16). 4. Now move the neutral axis about 0.1*D toward the column and find P and M. Now plot this P and M. 5. Once the neutral axis reaches inner portion of the column, the P gets reduced and at one point, P becomes negative. Stop the iteration. 6. Now increase the percent of steel to 2 % and repeat the step. Bi-Axial : Formulation of Bi-axial bending is bit complicated as the formulation of forces become difficult.

alpha

There are two kinds of interaction curve in bi-axial, a) Load contour b) P-M interaction curve The bi-axial case can be imagined as a quadrant of an onion as shown below. If a horizontal plane cuts this surface for the given force say p1, the curve obtained is called load contour (for various percent of steel). Similarly if the P-M interaction curve for the given ratio of M/My, it is shown. P My P

P1

My Mn M2 Mx M1 Mx Ma

Following steps are involved in generating the Load contour curve : 1. Assume a percent of steel say 1%. 2. The internal resisting forces for the given neutral axis position needs to be calculated as explained earlier but the neutral axis is kept at an angle alpha and at a distance from the edge of the column. Formulation of direct equation may be difficult and lot of cases can arise (if the shape of column

is other than rectangle, it adds further complication) if bi-linear stress curve is considered (some code suggests the use of rectangular stress block). I have used numerical technique to make it more generic but it may increase the overall time required for the calculation. 3. Now keep the neutral axis outside the column edge say at a distance of 1.5 * D where D is the maximum dimension of the column. Keep the angle as zero. a. Move the neutral axis toward column and calculate P for each position. Move this until the calculated value of P matches P1. You might use method of bisection to make the search faster (method of bisection or binary search is a common numerical method used to pick the given value from an ordered table). Now the calculate the corresponding M which is nothing but M1 shown in the load contour. b. Now change the angle as 5 deg and start from 1.5 D distance to move toward column as per previous step. Continue the same procedure to find M2. c. Continue the steps for various angles. When the angle is 90 deg, the point Mn is found (if the shape is not rectangular, this condition is not true i.e. the angle can be more than 90 deg). d. Plotting these values gives load contour for 1% of steel. 4. Now increase the percent of steel to 2% and repeat the step 3. Following steps are involved in generating the P-M interaction curve : 1. Assume a percent of steel say 1%. 2. For the given Mx and My , find the ratio. Now keep the N.A outside the column at a distance of 1.5 D and keep the angle changed using binary search to find the internal forces ratio Mx/ My to match the given ratio. Now calculate the P. Plot the P and Sqrt(Mx2 + My2). 3. Now reduce the distance and do the step 2.