الكلية التقنية بجدة
DESIGN OF Reinforced
Concrete
Class 1
اعداد المهندس أحمد قيسي
Ch.1
1) Introduction
Many structures are built of reinforced concrete: bridges, viaducts, buildings, retaining
walls, tunnels, tanks, conduits, and others. Reinforced concrete is a logical union of two
materials: plain concrete, which possesses high compressive strength but little tensile
strength, and steel bars embedded in the concrete, which can provide the needed
strength in tension. First practical use of reinforced concrete was known in the mid-
1800s. In the first decade of the 20th century, progress in reinforced concrete was rapid.
Since the mid-1950s, reinforced concrete design practice has made the
transition from that based on elastic methods to one based on strength.
Understanding of reinforced concrete behavior is still far from complete;
building codes and specifications that give design procedures are continually
changing to reflect latest knowledge.
2) REINFORCED CONCRETE MEMBERS
Every structure is proportioned as to both architecture and engineering to serve a
particular function. Form and function go hand in hand, and the beat structural system is
the one that fulfills most of the needs of the user while being serviceable, attractive, and
economically cost efficient. Although most structures are designed for a life span of 50
years, the durability performance record indicates that properly proportioned concrete
structures have generally had longer useful lives.
Reinforced concrete structures consist of a series of “members” (components) that
interact to support the loads placed on the structures. The components can be broadly
classified into:
1. Floor Slabs
Floor slabs are the main horizontal elements that transmit the moving live loads as
well as the stationary dead loads to the vertical framing supports of a structure. They
can be:
o Slabs on beams,
o Waffle slabs,
o Slabs without beams (Flat Plates) resting directly on columns,
o Composite slabs on joists.
They can be proportioned such that they act in one direction (one-way slabs) or
proportioned so that they act in two perpendicular directions (two-way slabs and flat
plates).
2. Beams
Beams are the structural elements that transmit the tributary loads from floor
slabs to vertical supporting columns. They are normally cast monolithically
with the slabs and are structurally reinforced on one face, the lower tension
side, or both the top and bottom faces. As they are cast monolithically with the
slab, they form a T-beam section for interior beams or an L beam at the
building exterior. The plan dimensions of a slab panel determine whether the
floor slab behaves essentially as a one-way or two-way slab.
3. Columns
The vertical elements support the structural floor system. They are
compression members subjected in most cases to both bending and axial
load and are of major importance in the safety considerations of any structure.
If a structural system is also composed of horizontal compression members,
such members would be considered as beam-columns.
4. Walls
Walls are the vertical enclosures for building frames. They are not usually or
necessarily made of concrete but of any material that esthetically fulfills the
form and functional needs of the structural system. Additionally, structural
concrete walls are often necessary as foundation walls, stairwell walls, and
shear walls that resist horizontal wind loads and earthquake-induced loads.
5. Foundations
Foundations are the structural concrete elements that transmit the weight of the
superstructure to the supporting soil. They could be in many forms:
o Isolated footing - the simplest one. It can be viewed as an inverted slab transmitting
a distributed load from the soil to the column.
o Combined footings supporting more than one column.
o Mat foundations, and rafts which are basically inverted slab and beam construction.
o Strip footing or wall footing supporting walls.
o Piles driven to rock.
