What Is Reinforced Concrete?
Reinforced Concrete is a substance similar to a stone that is obtained as a result of combining cement, sand and other aggregates along with water. After combining, it turns hard and this can take up any shape or structure depending on the structure of the building. One of the latest technologies considered by industrial civil consultants is the use of reinforced concrete.
Even though the concrete material is strong in terms of compression it is weak in tension. If the tensile strength is weak, the bottom surface of the concrete will fail. To compromise, concrete uses steel which strengthens and improves the tensile strength of concrete material. While doing this process, it is important for the steel material to have necessary deformations that can support the strong bonding of the materials and locking between two structures. When concrete mass surrounds steel, it becomes an important part of two materials thus forming Reinforced Concrete.
What Are The Advantages Of Reinforced Concrete?
Now let’s take a look at some of the advantages of using reinforced concrete. Reinforced concrete is stronger than most of the other materials used in the construction industry. Apart from providing great strength it also has good tension capabilities. The materials have a longer lifespan and the maintenance cost is also lesser. For constructing larger structures such as dams, Industrial civil consultants suggests reinforced concrete as it is very economical and can save lots of money for the builder. They can take any shape and so engineers uses it in making structural components before casting. It is also very simple to make and does not require skilled labor. This material is also fire resistant and it yields about more than 15 times its compressive strength and 100 times more tensile strength.
What Are The Design Concepts Of Used In Reinforced Concrete?
While designing a structure, choosing the right materials and their proportions are important. Consultants for industrial civil decide this based on structure, engineering, and design. If a structural design has to be good, there are certain conditions such as functionality, economy, serviceability, and safety that have to be fulfilled.
Strength Design Method
Considering a failure condition, this method takes the strength of the material into account. The failure could be either due to the concrete or due to the reinforced steel bars. As we know, reinforced concrete gives additional strength. During the analysis or the design stages, consultants don’t consider the additional strength. In the strength design method, actual loads are multiplied by a certain constant like load factor so that the design is created considering more loads. This is usually much higher than the actual load that the building will handle.
Working Stress Design
This method works based on elastic theory wherein the design is based on the stress distribution. The actual load that will be handled is calculated based on certain allowable stress factors in concrete and steel. Industrial civil consultants calculate it, considering the fraction of the crushing strength of concrete and yield strength, This method is more effective and practical. So Industrial civil consultants prefer the new method to the old method of calculating stress design.
Limit State Design
This is more advanced than the strength design method. In this method, there are three limitations of the concrete:
- The ability to carry loads
- Any deformations
- The appearance of any cracks
By analyzing the ability to carry load we understand the safety and durability factors, deformation helps us in understanding how the concrete handles deflection, vibrations and the impact of these deformations. By understanding the formation of cracks, we can analyze the strength of the concrete material. This ensures that the concrete has a long-standing ability.
Reinforced Concrete History
A French Industrialist by the name of François Coignet was an expert in the development of reinforced concrete. During the nineteenth century, he was the first person to use iron-reinforced concrete for constructing the structure of a building. In the year 1853, he built a four-story house in Paris. That was the first iron reinforced structure to be constructed and later, this method was adapted by other industrial civil consultants.
