Flexural Analysis of Singly Reinforced Beams

1. A singly reinforced rectangular beam, 15 ft long, is simply supported, and carries a uniformly
distributed dead load of 1.2 kips/ft. and a uniformly distributed live load of 1 kip/ft. The beam has
cross sectional dimensions of b = 12 in and h = 25 in. The weight of the beam is also to be considered
as a dead load. The beam is reinforced with 3 #7 bars. The cover to reinforcing steel can be taken as
3 in so that d = 22 in. The concrete compressive strength is 3000 psi and steel has a yield strength of
60 ksi. Determine Mn and show that it is greater than Mu.

a) Factored moment calculation: First, we will need to find out what is Mu based on the given load.
Density of concrete for weight calculations can be taken as 0.15 kips/ft3

( ) = ( 2 ) ( 3 )

12 25
( ) = ( ) ( ) 0.15 ( 3 ) = . /
12 12

Total dead load = 1.2 + 0.313 = 1.513 kips/ft

= (1.4 ; 1.2 + 1.6 )

= (1.4 1.513); (1.2 1.513 + 1.6 1)
= . /
Since this is a simply supported beam with just uniformly distributed loads, factored moment

2 3.42 152
= = = .
8 8

b) Nominal moment capacity calculation:

cu = 0.003 0.85fc

c a C
d=22
h=25

3 #7 bars
s > y T
b=12

Tension steel area As = 3 #7 bars; from ACI 318-14, Appendix A, As = 3 * 0.6 = 1.8 in2

Using equilibrium, i.e., C = T; 0.85 = (since we are assuming the steel to yield).

60
=
= 1.8 2 = 3.53
0.85 0.85 3 12

For fc = 3000 psi, 1 = 0.85 from ACI 318-14


= = 4.15
1

Check whether tension steel is yielding or not from similar triangles

0.003
= ; = ; = 0.013, > ;
4.15 22 4.15
The assumption that steel yields stays correct. Also, since is greater than 0.005, the section is
tension controlled, and a of 0.90 can be used.
3.53
= ( ) = 0.9 3.02 60 (22 ) =
2 2
It was found earlier that Mu = 96.2 k-ft.

Thus, > .

For an analysis problem, you dont necessarily have to check for minimum area of steel and spacing.