The University of the West Indies,

St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago

Course CE12B - CIVIL ENGINEERING DRAWING

Prepared by Dr. T.M. Lewis
REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES
Like steelwork, reinforced concrete structures start off with a foundation, and the structural
elements are attached to this base. The base or pile cap is part of the reinforced concrete frame
and has to be detailed along with the columns and beams.

One of the most common types of foundation is the spread footing. Spread footings may take the
form of isolated bases supporting one column or strip foundations supporting a wall. They are
designed to spread the concentrated load of the column or wall over a larger area of soil. Exactly
how large they will have to be is determined by the structural engineer, knowing the bearing
capacity of the soil from tests previously taken.

Concrete is not nearly as strong in tension as it is in compression. Unless bases are reinforced
they are likely to fail in shear or bending, as illustrated below in the two figures (a) and (b)
respectively.

(a) (a)

The reinforcing steel should be placed where it will compensate for the low tensile strength of the
concrete, as shown in figure 1.
 Concrete Column Reinforcing
spacers steel

Base

Blinding concrete

Figure 1. Reinforcement of a concrete base

(Note: the reinforcing steel in the base would normally be bent up at the ends to avoid the steel
creating a ‘layer failure’)

The foundation is cast in a hole in the ground and bears directly on the soil. To keep the area
clean while the reinforcing steel is being placed and the formwork fixed in position, a layer of
blinding concrete, about 50 to 75 mm thick, is usually laid below the designed bottom of the
foundation. The reinforcing steel must be protected from the moisture in the soil by a minimum
thickness of concrete, known as the cover. This is ensured by the use of spacers or chairs, which
support the steel the required distance above the blinding concrete.

The columns are next built on top of the bases. These will be reinforced to counteract bending,
shearing and direct compression failures as shown in figure 2.

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 2 Failure modes of a concrete column

(a) bending, (b) shearing, (c) direct compression
A column will have at least four longitudinal bars and a series of transverse bars, known as links,
which will compensate for the weakness of the concrete (figure 3).

Longitudinal bars

Links

Figure 3 Reinforcement in a concrete column

It is necessary to tie the column to the base with reinforcement, so starter bars are cast into the
base, which project far enough above the surface for the longitudinal column bars to be fixed to
them by a process known as lapping. These are shown in figure 4. Note that the starter bars are
bent through 90°, so that they can lap with the foundation reinforcement, thus ensuring continuity
from base through to column.

Longitudinal bars
Starter
bars
Lap
75 mm kicker
length

Figure 4 Junction of column with base

It might be thought that the column bars could be placed straight away, doing away with the
starter bars, but this would involve the use of very long bars that would be cumbersome to handle
and difficult to support.
The column is formed by pouring the concrete within a wooden or steel box, called formwork or
shuttering. This stands on the base and is strutted with props to keep it vertical while it is
concreted. In order to locate the lower end of the box it is usual when casting the foundation to
construct a very short length of column (about 75 mm), known as a kicker. Not only does this
hold the bottom of the box firmly in position, but it also prevents the loss of fines from the
concrete, which might otherwise force their way under the box and lead to honeycombing of the
concrete and consequent structural weakness. The depth of the kicker has to be taken into
account by the detailer when determining the length of the starter bars.

The column is normally concreted up to the underside of the first intersecting beam or floor. The
joints, between different days' pours of concrete, are known as construction joints and there are
recognised places where these should occur, so as not to weaken the structure or make it more
difficult to build. The detailer should be aware of these rules, which are summarised in figure 5
below.

The column bars have to be made long enough to extend sufficiently far above the top of the
column to allow for the depth of the beam and floor, the kicker for the next column and the
necessary lap.

The beams and floor slab can often be cast in a single operation, but it is usual to cast larger
beams up to the underside of the floor slab first, casting the floor slab on another day. From a
strength point of view, the structural engineer has included the full depth of the beam in his
calculations, but a horizontal construction joint is permissible here. The vertical construction joints
in beams and slabs are best located between the one-third points, but they do not affect the
detailing of the reinforcement, other than the general point that the use of excessively long bars,
spanning more than one bay, add to the builder's difficulties.

cj cj

cj cj

cj cj
cj cj

cj cj
cj cj

Figure 5 Siting of construction joints (CJ)

Staircases span from floor to floor and are virtually sloping slabs with steps cast on to them. They
are usually built after the floors and starter bars have to be left projecting from the floors at the
top and the bottom, to lap with the longitudinal bars in the flight. It is a good idea to precast the
flights of stairs and drop them in after the floors have been built.

There are many things the detailer should take into account that will facilitate the construction
process. He should know the order in which the bars will be fixed and number them accordingly
on the drawings and schedules. He must specify the minimum cover in every situation, so that
the builder uses the right spacers and the steel is protected from the elements. He must leave
room for the concrete to be placed around the reinforcement; too many bars too close together
can prevent this. Most importantly, he must ensure that bars do not occupy the same position.
This is particularly liable to happen where floors meet beams and beams meet columns. It must
be clear to the steelfixer which bars are outside of which, which bars are over which, and the
shape of the bent bars must allow them to be fixed correctly.

It is not unusual to see a completed building where there has been a pile of reinforcing steel that
did not get fixed in the structure. The consequences could be very serious. Good detailing
practice can help the builder to stop this from happening.

STEEL REINFORCEMENT
Steel for reinforced concrete can be ordinary mild steel or high tensile steel. The bars may be
plain round or deformed to bond with the surrounding concrete and they may be straight or bent
to various shapes. Often the ends are provided with a hook or 90° bend to help anchor the ends
in the concrete. All these variations are covered by building codes like the British Standards.

It used to be the practice to send to site loads of uncut steel bars of different sizes and of
maximum rolled length. The builder then employed steel benders, whose job it was to cut and
bend the bars to the required length and shape, using a simple bar bending machine on a bench.
Today, high tensile steel bars are common and these require the use of power benders. Current
practice, particularly on larger jobs, is to order the reinforcing steel required for a job already cut,
bent, bundled and labelled, from a specialist supplier. The labelling is important, as it ensures
that the bars required for the bases are delivered first, the columns next and so on. The supplier
should load the lorry so that, when the bars are off-loaded on site, the bars required first are on
the top of the pile.

The processing of orders for reinforcing steel is now largely computerised. When the bars are
scheduled, instead of drawing little diagrams to show the steel benders what is required, the
shapes are coded and the dimensions are given as a set of standard measurements.