11

Design of Singly Reinforced Rectangular Sections

According to ACI 9.1.1 and ACI 9.1.2, structural members are to be designed to satisfy strength and
serviceability requirements. The strength requirement provides safety against possible failure, while
the serviceability requirement ensures adequate performance at service load without excessive
deflection and cracking.
The Strength Requirement
The strength requirement is satisfied by ensuring that the design strength of the member is larger than
or equal to the required strength.
u n
M M
The Serviceability Requirement
Two methods are given by ACI 9.5 for controlling deflections. The first of which is by providing a
member thickness not less than given code minimum values, shown in Table 2. The second method is
by calculating the deflection and comparing it with code specified values.
The first method is easier to deal with as it eliminates unnecessary time consuming calculations.
Table 2: Minimum Thickness of Beams
Restraint Simply
supported
One end
continuous
Both ends
continuous
Cantilever
* Minimum
Thickness
**
16
l

5 . 18
l

21
l

8
l

* The values given above are only valid for
2
/ 4200 cm kg f
y
. For reinforcement
having
y
f other than
2
/ 4200 cm kg , the values listed in the table are to be
multiplied by

,
_

+
7000
40 . 0
y
f

** l = span length measured center-to-center

The Design Equation
The design equation is obtained by substituting d b A
s
into Eqn. (19), or

,
_

b f
f d b
d f d b M
c
y
y n
70 . 1

,
_

c
y
y n
f
f
f d b M
70 . 1
1
2

(21)
But
n d
M M , and

,
_

'
c
y
y
2
u d
f 7 . 1
f
1 f d b M M

(22)

12
The reinforcement ratio is given in terms of
u
M , cross section dimensions and material
properties by solving for the roots of a quadratic equation, or
1
1
]
1

c
u
y
c
f d b
M
f
f
2
5
10 353 . 2
1 1
85 . 0
(23)
Summary of Design Procedure
In this section, a procedure for designing singly reinforced rectangular sections is presented. With one
equation available at his disposal, the structural engineer has to make decisions in choosing two of the
three which are unknown. Added to this, he has to specify design values for
c
f and
y
f .
When both of b and h are unknown
1. Specify
c
f and
y
f .values:
The structural designer is to specify design values for
c
f and
y
f . Concrete with 101010 cm cube
compressive strength
c
f of 250 kg/cm
2
is used for members designed for flexure and 300 kg/cm
2
for
members designed for axial compression. Higher
c
f values are used when concrete is exposed to harsh
environments or in case of relatively long spans. For main reinforcement, steel of yield stress
y
f = 4200
kg/cm
2
is the most common stress value, with reinforcement of yield stress
y
f equals to 2800 kg/cm
2

used in case of secondary reinforcement.
2. Compute the factored bending moment
u
M :
Service dead and live loads are to be estimated. Own weight of the beam, which is part of the dead
load, needs to be evaluated. Unfortunately, beam dimensions are unknown at this particular stage.
Thus, preliminary values of b and d are to be assumed as h has to be larger than the minimum height
required in order to satisfy the deflection requirement specified by the ACI Code. The height h and the
width b are rounded to the nearest 5 cm to satisfy framework requirements. The factored loads are
evaluated by multiplying the service load values by their corresponding load factors. Structural
analysis is done assuming full elastic behavior.
3. Compute b and d:
An economic reinforcement ratio is selected. Two methods are possible, the first is by assuming b
and finding d from the design equation. The height of the section h is then evaluated, rounded to the
nearest 5cm, and checked to ensure that it is larger than the minimum height specified by the code.
The second method is done through assuming a value for h (d is easily calculated), and b is evaluated
from the design equation and rounded to the nearest 5 cm.
4. Check own weight of beam and revise
u
M if needed:
If the evaluated dimensions of the beam are substantially larger or smaller than the assumed values,
the own weight has to be recalculated, and the factored moment
u
M is to be revised.
5. Revise the reinforcement ratio :

13
Using the revised values of b, d, and
u
M evaluate the reinforcement ratio using Eqn. (23),
where is not to be less than
min
specified by the code.
6. Calculate the area of steel reinforcement
s
A :
The area of steel reinforcement
s
A is calculated using the revised values of , b, and d. Number of
bars is to be selected, and spacing between reinforcing bars is checked against code specified values.
Larger size bars are used, or more than one layer of reinforcement is chosen when reinforcement bars
are too close to each other, thus preventing smooth flow of concrete between them.
7. Sketch the cross section and its reinforcement:
Neat sketches showing overall cross sectional dimensions and chosen reinforcement are to be
provided.
8. Check the bending capacity
u
M of the designed section:
This is an optional step done to ensure that the designed section can sustain the loading without
causing failure.
When each of b and h is known
1. Specify
c
f and
y
f values.
2. Compute the factored bending moment
u
M .
3. Compute the reinforcement ratio

using Eqn. (23).

4. Calculate the area of steel reinforcement
s
A .
5. Check the bending capacity
u
M of the designed section.