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

cracked concrete

jd

cracked concrete

c
Stress

fs

c=0.003
fs=fy

fs
cracked concrete

cracked concrete

fc
M = Tjd = Cjd

s> y

fc

fc=fc

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
a

As f y
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

bw d
A's
'

bw d

Reinforcement ratio for beams

Compression reinforcement ratio

Design Equations
As

Mu
0.85 f y d

Mu
As
0.75 f y d

As

Mu
0.80 f y d

For positive moment sections of T-shaped beams,

and for negative moment sections of beams or
slabs where b.
For negative moment sections where b and
for positive moment sections without a T flange
and with b.
For intermediate cases where b < < b
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
fy

For rectangular compression zones (negative bending)

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
joists

l /16

l /18.5

l /21

l /8

one way
slabs

l /20

l /24

l /28

l /10

Preliminary Design Values

5/3 b

practical maximum reinforcement ratio

For typical d/bw ratios:

2.5M u
d
f y b
3

Beam Analysis
ACI 318 Approximate Moments and Shears

Compression Reinforcement
If > b must add compression reinforcement to prevent
failure due to crushing of concrete

A's ( As bw d b )

8d '
f 'sb 87 1

3d

fy
f 'sb

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

24 ft
24 ft
24 ft

30 ft

30 ft

30 ft

Reinforcing Steel