steel-concrete bridges - 2004

12. Control of cracking

Reinforced concrete without prestressing

Checking takes place in accordance with art. 5.3.3 of ENV 1994-2:1997.
The bridge or specific parts of it shall be classified into environmental classes A-E, For verification of crack
width, see also table 4.118 of ENV 1992-2, the following relation between environmental class and load model
used exist:
A not relevant
B infrequent
C frequent
D frequent
E quasi-permanent

Class A is seldom applied, because here the concrete is pretensioned both in longitudinal and in transverse
direction. Usually, class C requires an imposed displacement. For steel-concrete bridges usually a class between
B and E is taken.

For reinforced concrete, the following procedure holds (the procedure for pretensioned concrete deviates).
First of all, the tension se in the reinforcement is calculated, based on the elasticity theory.
Because tension stiffening increases the tensile strain, the reinforcing steel stress is calculated according to:

0,4 f ctm
s = se +
st s

se = the stress in the reinforcement, calculated neglecting concrete in tension

fctm = the mean tensile strength of the concrete, e.g. C35/45 fctm is 3,2 N/mm2 .

AI
st =
Aa I a

A = area of the composite section neglecting concrete in tension

I = second moment of area neglecting concrete in tension
Aa = area of the structural steel section
Ia = second moment of area of the structural steel section.

As
s =
Act

As = total area of all layers of longitudinal reinforcement within the effective area Act
Act = area of the tensile zone immediately prior to cracking of the cross section.

By complying one of the following two requirements, the demand regarding crack width is met.
The two demands are related to crack width w = 0.30 mm (ENV 1992-1-1:1991, art. 4.4.2.1).

Limitation center distance reinforcement according to table 19.

Steel stress s [N/mm2 ] 160 200 240 280

Maximum bar spacing [mm] 200 150 125 75
Table 19. Maximum bar spacing of high bond bars.

Limitation of maximum diameter reinforcement according to table 20.

Steel stress s [N/mm2 ] 140 160 200 240 280 320 360 400 450
Maximum bar diameterr [mm] 40 32 25 20 16 12 10 8 6
Table 20. Maximum bar diameter.

Dr. A. Romeijn 63
 steel-concrete bridges - 2004

Calculation example
Suppose that, based on reinforcement ?16-150, a tensile stress is calculated for the upper layer of reinforcement:
se is 191 N/mm2 .

In case of a cross section configuration with:

fctm = 4,1 N/mm2
As = 13400 mm2 (reinforcement 2 16 150 mm: upper and lower layer) and b eff = 5 m
A ct = 1250000 mm2
Aa = 140600 mm2
Ia = 8.35E10 mm4
A = 154000 mm2 (cross section reinforcement and cross section structural steel)
I2,ts = 1.27E11 mm4

AI 1540001.27 E 11
st = = = 1,66
Aa I a 140600 8.35 E10

As 13400
s = = = 0,011
Act 125000

0,4 4,1
s = 191 + = 280 N / mm
2

1,660,011

According to table 19 the condition is made: maximum center width is 75 mm.

According to table 20 the condition is: maximum bar diameter is 16 mm.
When using tables 19 and 20, for inbetween values a linear interpolation is allowed.
The requirement is met, namely 16 16 mm.

Dr. A. Romeijn 64