B(ENG) CIVIL

ENGINEERING
(TOP-UP)
STRUCTURAL DESIGN OF CONCRETE

STRUCTURES (BS 8110)

CIV 3104

M. Irfaan Mungroo

Civil Engineering Lecturer

Dept. of Civil Engineering

JSS ATE, Mauritius

 UNIT 1:

INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN

OF CONCRETE STRUCTURES
 UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN OF CONCRETE STRUCTURES

INTRODUCTION
A structure refers to a system of connected parts used to support forces (loads).
Buildings, bridges and towers are examples for structures in civil engineering. In
buildings, structure consists of walls floors, roofs and foundation. In bridges, the
structure consists of deck, supporting systems and foundations. In towers the
structure consists of vertical, horizontal and diagonal members along with
foundation.

A structure can be broadly classified as sub-structure and super-structure. The

portion of building below ground level is known as sub-structure and portion
above the ground is called as super structure. Foundation is sub structure and
plinth, walls, columns, floor slabs with or without beams, stairs, roof slabs with or
without beams etc are super-structures.

Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, sand, wood, rocks natural
fibers are used to construct buildings. Apart from this many man-made products
are in use for building construction. Bricks, tiles, cement concrete, concrete
blocks, plastic, steel & glass etc are man-made building materials.

Reinforced concrete is a composite material comprising of concrete and steel

reinforcements. The successful use of these materials is attributed to the bond
between steel and concrete which ensures strain compatibility so that the loads
on the structural elements is shared by both the steel and concrete without
disrupting the composite material.

In flexural members, since concrete being weak in tension, the steel

reinforcement will resist the tensile forces while concrete being strong in
compression takes care of the compressive forces. In the case of compression
members like columns, the reinforcement can also supplement concrete in
bearing compressive forces.
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 UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN OF CONCRETE STRUCTURES

DESIGN LOADS
For the analysis and design of structure, the forces are considered as the
Loads on the structure.

Dead Load
In a structure all components which are stationary, like wall, slab etc., exert
forces due to gravity, which are called as Dead Loads.

Live Load
Moving bodies like furniture, humans etc exert forces due to gravity which are
called as "Live Loads

Wind Load
Dead loads and live loads are gravity forces which act vertically down ward.
Wind load is basically a horizontal force due to wind pressure exerted on the
structure. These are specified in the Indian Standard Code IS 875: (part 3) 1987.
The values of this table depend on the location of the structure.

Wind loading should be considered for multi storey buildings, water tank towers,
chimneys and other types of tall structures. Wind load acting on the structure is
influenced by the plan dimensions and height of the structure above ground and
location of the structure.

Others
Earthquake load is primarily a horizontal pressure exerted due to movement of
the soil on the foundations of a structure. Vertical earthquake force is about 5% to
10% of horizontal earthquake force.

BASIS OF DESIGN OF STRUCTURES

As far as the design of structures for safety is concerned, it is seen as the process
of ensuring that stresses due to loading at all critical points in a structure have a
very low chance of exceeding the strength of materials used at these critical
points.
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 UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN OF CONCRETE STRUCTURES

In design there exist within the structure a number of critical points (e.g. beam
mid-spans) where the design process is concentrated. The normal distribution
curve represents the actual maximum material stresses at these critical points
due to the loading.

Because loading varies according to occupancy and environmental conditions,

and because design is an imperfect process, the material stresses will vary about
a modal value the peak of the curve. Similarly the normal distribution curve
below represents material strengths at these critical points, which are also not
constant due to the variability of manufacturing conditions.

The overlap between the two curves represents a possibility that failure may take
place at one of the critical points, as stress due to loading exceeds the strength of
the material. In order for the structure to be safe the overlapping area must be
kept to a minimum.
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 UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN OF CONCRETE STRUCTURES

ULTIMATE AND SERVICEABILITY LIMIT STATES

The aim of limit state design is to achieve acceptable probabilities that a structure
will not become unfit for its intended use during its design life, that is, the
structure will not reach a limit state.

There are many ways in which a structure could become unfit for use, including
excessive conditions of bending, shear, compression, deflection and cracking.

Some of the above limit states, e.g. deflection and cracking, principally affect the
appearance of the structure. Others, e.g. bending, shear and compression, may
lead to partial or complete collapse of the structure.

Those limit states which can cause failure of the structure are termed ultimate
limit states. The others are categorized as serviceability limit states.

The ultimate limit states enable the designer to calculate the strength of the
structure. Serviceability limit states model the behaviour of the structure at
working loads.

In addition, there may be other limit states which may adversely affect the
performance of the structure, e.g. durability and fire resistance, and which must
therefore also be considered in design.

In assessing the effect of a particular limit state on the structure, the designer will
need to assume certain values for the loading on the structure and the strength of
the materials composing the structure.

CHARACTERISTIC AND DESIGN VALUES

When checking whether a particular member is safe, the designer cannot be
certain about either the strength of the material composing the member or,
indeed, the load which the member must carry.
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 UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN OF CONCRETE STRUCTURES

The material strength may be less than intended because of:

(a) its variable composition, and

(b) the variability of manufacturing conditions during construction, and other effects
such as corrosion.

Similarly the load in the member may be greater than anticipated because of:

(a) the variability of the occupancy or environmental loading, and

(b) unforeseen circumstances which may lead to an increase in the general level of
loading, errors in the analysis, errors during construction, etc.

The item reason (a) is allowed for by using a characteristic value.

The characteristic strength is the value below which the strength lies in only a
small number of cases.

Similarly the characteristic load is the value above which the load lies in only a
small percentage of cases.

In the case of strength the characteristic value is determined from test results
using statistical principles, and is normally defined as the value below which not
more than 5% of the test results fall.

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 UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN OF CONCRETE STRUCTURES

The overall effect of items under (b) is allowed for using a partial safety factor: m
for strength and f for load.

Design Strength:
The design strength is obtained by dividing the characteristic strength by the
partial safety factor for strength:

Characteristics strength
Design strength =

The value of m will depend upon the properties of the actual construction
material being used

Design Load:
The design load is obtained by multiplying the characteristic load by the partial
safety factor for load:

Design load = characteristic load x f

The values for f depend on other factors.

In general, once a preliminary assessment of the design loads has been made it is
then possible to calculate the maximum bending moments, shear forces and
deflections in the structure.

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