Reinforced Cement Concrete (commonly known as RCC) is concrete that has reinforcement bars. Civil and structural consultants in industrial projects decide RCC buildings based on the project requirements.
What is RCC?
RCC is a composite construction material and is simple to manufacture at the site. Civil and structural consultants have chosen RCC for a long time. Concrete is a strong material but has low tensile strength and cracks when bent. When steel bars reinforce the concrete, this gets resolved.
However, an RCC Building requires a lot of manpower. The preparation for the structuring of the building happens onsite, and hence, a significant workforce is needed. Moreover, the civil and structural consultants cannot customize when compared to a PEB Building. Additionally, modifications to an existing RCC building is tedious and expensive. This difficulty in modification necessitates proper planning before the start of construction.
Advantages and disadvantages of RCC Buildings that Civil and structural consultants consider
Another disadvantage of an RCC building is the difficulty in maintaining the consistency of the work. The materials used for construction is not consistent. The construction of an RCC building is too time-consuming. Curing takes a long time.
As far as RCC being a sustainable building is concerned, they create a lot of non-environment friendly rubbish. However, a lot of material is local, and that brings down the transportation cost.
The load-bearing capacity of the building is almost equal to the building weight. Also, RCCs are highly fire-resistant without losing their structural traits and hence at an advantage here. That is another reason why structural consultants for industrial projects choose RCC buildings.
RCC structures can endure high wind speeds and can withstand flying debris too. Concrete structure ingredients are easy to source locally and hence save transportation costs too.
Components of RCC building
- Beams: these are horizontal members of the structure
- Columns are vertical members of the structure
- Slabs are what form the floor
Design Mix Concrete
Design Mix Concrete is a concrete prepared by mixing a specific proportion of cement, fine aggregate (sand), coarse aggregate, water mix ratio, admixtures and reinforcement to achieve specified results. Many factors influence the mix. Some of them are workability of concrete, durability, compaction equipment available at the site, curing methods etc.
The ingredients ( cement, fine and coarse aggregates, Admixtures, soil, reinforcement etc.) undergo testing. The test results form the basis of all design considerations of the mix.
Loads
The civil and structural consultants consider the following loads while designing as per IS 875:
- Dead Loads: like the weight of the structure and other components of a building like a wall, facade etc. This is covered under IS875 part I
- Live Loads: building occupants, furniture, equipment etc. IS covers live loads in IS875 part II
- Wind Load: IS covers this in IS875 Part III
- Seismic Load is covered under IS1893
- Special & combination Load is mentioned in IS under IS875 part V
To conclude, civil and structural consultants have to consider many factors while deciding whether to design an RCC or a PEB building in an industrial project.
