BOND AND

DEVELOPMENT LENGTH

BOND AND DEVELOPMENT LENGTH

GENERAL
In reinforced concrete beams, the flexural
compressive forces are resisted by concrete, while the
flexural tensile forces are provided by reinforcement.
For equilibrium of these two forces, a force transfer or
bond must exist between the two materials. In case of
no bond, the bar will be pulled out of the concrete and
the tensile force, T will drop to zero.
Bond strength is defined as the resistive stress,
against the pulling out of a steel bar from concrete
mass, developed per unit surface area of reinforcing
bar. The bond stress balances the force present in the

BOND AND DEVELOPMENT LENGTH

bar.
Development length is the embedded length of bar
that is sufficient to develop maximum expected force
in the bar after strain hardening (generally taken as
1.15 fy.Ab). Greater bond strength would mean smaller
required development length. Development length of a
larger diameter bar increases more rapidly due to
smaller surface area compared with area of cross
section.
Splice length is defined as the lap length required to
safely transfer the force from one bar to the
surrounding concrete and then back in the other

BOND AND DEVELOPMENT LENGTH

overlapped bar. It is used to extend the length of bar;
although bars of different diameter may also be
spliced.
FUNDAMENTAL OF FLEXURAL BOND
Consider a reinforced concrete beam that were cast
using plain round bars, and furthermore if these bars
were greased or otherwise lubricated before concrete
were poured, the beam will show almost the same
strength as that of plain concrete. In addition, the basic
assumption that strain in an embedded bar is same
as that of surrounding concrete, would not be valid.
For the reinforced concrete beam to behave as
intended, it is essential that bond forces be developed

on the interface between concrete and steel, to

prevent significant slip from occurring.
Some years ago, when plain bars without surface
deformations were used, initial bond strength was
provided by relatively WEAK chemical adhesion and
mechanical friction between steel and concrete
which was soon overcome when some load was
applied. Such beam will collapse as the bar is
pulled through the concrete. To prevent this, end
anchorage was provided, in the form of hooks. Such
beam will not fail even when bond is broken over
the entire length of bar. It is because the member
behaves as a tied arch as shown in fig. the
uncracked concrete acting as arch and the
anchored bar as tie rod.

(a). Beam before loading

(b). Unrestrained slip

between concrete and steel

( c). Bond forces on concrete

(d). Bond forces on steel

Fig. tied arch action in a beam with little or no bond

 To improve the situation, deformed bars are now

universally used. With such bars, the shoulders of
projecting ribs bear on the surrounding concrete
and result in greatly increased bond strength. In
addition, cracks and deflections are also reduced.
Two types of bond failure have been observed in
reinforcing bars. The first is direct pull out of bars
which occur with relatively small dia bars with
sufficiently large concrete cover and bar spacing.
The second type of failure is splitting of the concrete
along the bar when cover, confinement or bar
spacing is insufficient to resist lateral concrete
tension resulting from the wedging effect of the bar
deformations.

 Bond failure is immediate, without warning and very

catastrophic and must be avoided.

Fig. Splitting of concrete along reinforcement

PROVISIONS OF ACI CODE- CHAPTER 12.

Development Length of deformed Bars in Tension
ACI Code 12.2
Development length of Deformed bars in
Compression. ACI Code 12.3
Development of Bundled Bars. ACI Code 12.4
Development of Standard Hooks in tension ACI
Code 12.5
Development of flexural reinforcement. ACI Code
12.10,11 and 12
Splices of Reinforcement. ACI Code 12.14,15 and
16.
EXAMPLES

ANY QUESTION ?

Thanks