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DESIGN OF TRIANGULAR REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAM IN USD

Conference Paper · March 2011

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 International Conference on Environmental Technology
and Construction Engineering for Sustainable Development
ICETCESD-2011, March 10-12, 2011, SUST, Sylhet, Bangladesh 
 
 

DESIGN OF TRIANGULAR REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAM IN

USD
H.M.A.MAHZUZ, MD. MONIRUJAMAN, K.W.ASIF
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Shahjalal University Of science and
Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

In construction works use of rectangular reinforced concrete beam section is a common

practice. Different scale of architectural benefits may be achieved if beam shape can be
changed. In this paper the mathematical equations of triangular reinforced beam section are
formulated. Considering the beam as single reinforced the entire research is done in Ultimate
Strength Design (USD) method. It is also assumed that tensile stress and compression stress
act at below and above the neutral axis respectively. That is mid section of a beam is only
taken into account. As bending moment and shear force are the two main factors of design of
a beam therefore attention has been given to discover the equations relating to them. At the
end of the study it is seen that relatively lower amount of material is needed by triangular
beams than that of the conventional rectangular beam.

Key words: Reinforcement, Bending moment, Shear force, volume, economy.

1.0 INTRODUCTION
In any kind of building Beam is one of the most important structural components. A
reinforced concrete (RCC) beam can be designed using both Ultimate Strength Design (USD)
and Working Stress Design (WSD). In WSD a structural member is so designed that the
stress resulting form the action of service loads and computed by the mechanics of elastic
members do not exceed some pre-designated allowable values [1]. In USD ultimate stress of
materials is used for design. The general shape of an RCC beam is rectangular and it may be
single, double reinforced. Single reinforced beam is the preliminary type of beam from which
other types of beams are developed. In such a beam the main reinforcement is provided near
the face of the beam subjected to tension [2]. Beams sizes are usually governed by the
negative moments and the shear at the supports, where the effective section is rectangular.
Alternatively many designers prefer to estimate the depth of beams at about ¾ inch per foot
of span, with the width equal to about one-half the depth [3]. In most cases stresses produced
by shears are much smaller than those produced by moment. Therefore most beams are
routinely proportioned for moment rather than shear. Once the beam has been sized, shear is
checked to determine whether and at which amount shear reinforcement is required [4]. The
purpose of all types of shear reinforcement is to increase shear capacity of members and to
add ductility to their post-peak load behavior [5]. Fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) composites
can be effectively used as an external reinforcement to upgrade the strength of reinforced
concrete structures [6]. Strengthening the RC flexural and shear beams with external bonded
FRP laminates and fabrics has been studied b several investigators [7,8,9,10]. Evidently,
deflections are highly sensitive to length of beam (or even slab). Also end condition as well
_________________________________
Corresponding Author: H M A Mahzuz 
Email: mahzuz_211@yahoo.com
as loading pattern contributes in deflection. In designing beams, controlling the magnitude of
deflection is always a major problem. A common empirical criterion used for dead plus live
load deflections is typically limited to L/240 of the span [11]. Material property is an
important factor for beam design. The modulus of elasticity E s for bar reinforcement is taken
as 29,000,000 psi [12]. For normal weight concrete the modulus of elasticity is
E c  57000 f c' [13]. Sometimes bundle bars are also provided in beams as well as columns.
Such bars are placed especially when the steel area becomes comparatively high. But it has
some considerations. No. 14 and No. 18 cannot be bundled in beams. A maximum of four
bars may be bundled [14]. The two most common shapes of beams are I and T. The analysis
and design of an I-beam is similar to that of a T-beam [15]. In this paper another new section
i.e. triangular section is discussed.
3.0 REVIEW OF EQUATIONS FOR RECTANGULAR SINGLE REINFORCED
BEAM
3.1. Equation for flexure:
In USD the moment capacity of a rectangular concrete portion of a single reinforced beam
having a width ‘b’ and depth ‘d’ is:
f y
M c  f y bd 2 (1  0.59 )
f c'

Mc
 d rec  ………….(1)
f y
f y b(1  0.59 )
f c'

In USD The moment capacity of the steel portion of a single reinforced rectangular beam is
As f y
M s  As f s (d  a ), where a  ……………(2)
2 0.85 f c' b

3.2. Equation for shear:

Fig 1: Stirrup shapes in triangular section Fig.2: A Simple supported single

reinforced beam

In USD method the mathematical equation for determining spacing of shear reinforcement
for a rectangular RCC beam section is s   dAv f v ,
(V  Vc )

884
where V is the imposed shear force, Vc = 2 f c' bd is the shear force of the concrete section, d
is the depth of the rectangular section, Av is the steel area, f v is the allowable steel stress. It is
known that some extent of clear cover is provided in beams. Taking this in account the length
of steel as the shear reinforcement needed per ft of beam,
(V   Vc )  12
L   perimeter of the steel used
 dAv f v

(V   Vc )  12
For beams of rectangle shape (Fig: 1), LR   2{(b  3)  (d  1.5)} …………(3)
 dAv f y

4.0 METHODOLOGY
The entire work is based on theatrical framework. No experimental work is done to judge the
newly developed equations. At first related equations are developed. Then comparisons are
made with the related existing equations. All the results are plotted in tabular form.
Calculations are made for different material properties ( f c' and f y ) as well. Necessary
comparisons for the different concrete area and steel area are made. It is to be noted that the
beam is considered singly reinforced and the mid section of the beam is considered for this
study. That is in such section compression and tensile stress will act at top and bottom of
neutral axis respectively.
4.1. Equation for flexure:

fc c
b C fc' bavgc

c fc' cb(1 c )
b’ d 2d
h 

T= Asfy
fy
Fig. 3: Stress distribution at the maximum load in USD
For USD approach the simple supported beam of Fig.2 is considered. The empirical
equations are varied due to the variation in compressive and tensile stress of the concrete and
steel respectively. From the geometry at Fig 3 it can be said that:
c c
bavg  b(1  ), considering h  d , bavg  b(1  )
2h 2d

Tension, T  stress  area  A s f s and compression, C  stress  area  f c' bavg c  f c' cb(1 
c
)
2d

Steel area A 1
Steel ratio,   s  As  bd
Concrete area 1 2
bd
2

At equilibrium moment of both the compression and tensile forces will be equal. That is,
C T

c
 f c' cb(1  )  As f y
2d

885
 c 1
 f c' cb(1  )  bdf y , after simplification
2d 2

f y
 c  d (1  1  )
f c'

Now let us simplify:

c
M c  Force  dis tan ce  f c' cb(1  )( d  c ) putting the value of ‘c’ and after simplification
2d

1 f y
 M c  f y bd 2 (1   (1  1  ' )) , Considering   0.425 and   0.72
2 f c

1 f y
 M c  f y bd 2 (1  0.425(1  1  )) ………….(4)
2 0.72 f c'

This is the equation for moment of concrete area in USD. Considering the effective depth of
triangular section as dtri from equation (4) it can be said that,

Mc
 d tri  ……………(5)
1 f y
f y b(1  0.425(1  1  ))
2 0.72 f c'

Similarly to identify the steel area from Fig 3,

M s  Force  dis tan ce  As f s (d  c) Putting the value of ‘c’

f y
 M s  As f y (d  d (1  1  )) Considering   0.425 and   0.72 for f c  4 Ksi and after
f c'
simplification

f y
 M s  As f y d (1  0.425(1  1  )) ………………..(6)
0.72 f c'

This is the equation for moment of Steel area in USD.

4.2 Equation for shear:

Fig. 4: Stirrup shapes in triangular section

A little consideration will reveal that in USD method the mathematical expression for
determining spacing of shear reinforcement for a triangular section is the same as that of
rectangular RCC beam. That is if ‘d’ is the depth of the triangular section: s  dAv f v
(V  Vc )

886
At same cross sectional area (i.e, AR  b  d and AT  1 b  2d
2
) and width ‘b’ the depth of
triangular section will be just twice of that of the rectangular section. Therefore for such
triangular RCC beam section the equation for determining spacing of shear reinforcement is,
2 dAv f v
s . It means that the spacing will be just the twice of that of rectangular section.
(V   Vc )

(V  Vc )  12
Steel Length needed per ft of beam, LT   perimeter of the steel used
2dAv f v

(V   Vc )  12 (b  3) 2
For triangle, LT   {2 {2(d  1.5)}2  )  (b  3)} …………..(7)
2 dAv f y 4

Dividing equation 7 by equation 3:

(b  3) 2
2 4(d  1.5) 2   (b  3)
L 4
 T  ………………(8)
LR 4{(b  3)  (d  1.5)}

5.0 RESULT
5.1 Concrete area
It is evident from the above discussion that some reasonable comparison can be made
between equations (1) and (5). This case is also true for the equations (2) and (6) as well. In
USD more generalized comparison between the triangular and rectangular section is
presented below. At the same external moment dividing equation (5) by equation (1) we get
Table 1.

 max f y
2(1  0.59 )
d tri f c'
 (Putting  max in place of  )
d rec  max f y
(1  0.425(1  1  ))
0.72 f c'

Table 1: % Saving of concrete area

d tri
f c' psi fy psi 1 b  max = 0.75  b d rec Saving of concrete area in %

3000 60000 0.85 0.02138 0.016035 1.348677 32.56616

3000 40000 0.85 0.037121 0.02784 1.339296 33.0352

3500 60000 0.85 0.024943 0.018708 1.348677 32.56616

3500 40000 0.85 0.043307 0.03248 1.339296 33.0352

4000 60000 0.825 0.027668 0.020751 1.350485 32.47573

4000 40000 0.825 0.048038 0.036029 1.341275 32.93627

4500 60000 0.825 0.031127 0.023345 1.350485 32.47573

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4500 40000 0.825 0.054043 0.040532 1.341275 32.93627

5000 60000 0.8 0.033537 0.025153 1.352309 32.38456

5000 40000 0.8 0.058228 0.043671 1.343282 32.83588

Now to make it clear let us do it clearly. Let’s think about the first row of the Table 01 where
d tri
 1.348677 ,  d tri  1.348677 d rec
d rec

At same beam width ‘b’ that saving of concrete area with respect to the rectangular beam
bd rec  1  bd tri bd rec  1  b  1.348677 d rec
section becomes: 2 100  2  100  32.566% .
bd rec bd rec

5.2 Steel area:

Now let us make a comparison between the steel area. Let the material property is
f c'  3 ksi, f y  60 ksi . In Table 02 for a common beam width of 12" at different moments the
respective steel areas are calculated using equation (2) and (6).
Table 02: % Saving of steel area

Moment (Kip-inch) d tri As tri d rec As rec Saving

100 4.412257 0.423577 3.27122 0.627494 32.4971

200 6.239874 0.599028 4.626204 0.887411 32.4971

300 7.642253 0.733656 5.66592 1.086852 32.4971

400 8.824514 0.847153 6.542441 1.254988 32.4971

500 9.866106 0.947146 7.314671 1.403119 32.4971

600 10.80778 1.037547 8.012821 1.53704 32.4971

700 11.67373 1.120679 8.654835 1.660193 32.4971

800 12.47975 1.198056 9.252408 1.774821 32.4971

900 13.23677 1.27073 9.813661 1.882482 32.4971

1000 13.95278 1.339467 10.34451 1.98431 32.4971

1100 14.6338 1.404845 10.84941 2.081162 32.4971

1200 15.28451 1.467313 11.33184 2.173703 32.4971

To make easy to understand the calculation of Table 02 let us see an example. If the imposed
moment is 1200 kip-inch using equations (1) and (5) the effective depths are 11.33" (for

888
rectangular beam) and 15.28" (for triangular beam) respectively. Using equation (2) and (6)
the steel areas are 2.173703 in2 (for rectangular beam) and 1.467313 in2 (for triangular beam)
respectively. That means that saving of steel area
2.173703  1.467313
becomes:  100  32.4971%  32.5% .
2.173703

5.3 Shear reinfoecement:

A little investigation will make it clear that at the same concrete area, beam width, steel area
L
and allowable stress for any value of‘d’ and ‘V’ using equation (8) it can be seen that T  1 .
LR
It means that for shear the usage of steel in a triangular section is comparatively lower than
that of rectangular one. Therefore saving is also ensured. Table 3 shows that in all cases less
steel is used in triangular section per linear ft in a beam that that of rectangular ones.
LT
Table: 03: Relative values of (considering d'= 38 mm)
LR

Beam depth LT
d LR

b = 10 b = 12 b = 15 b = 18

6 0.572 0.539 0.510 0.493

7 0.602 0.565 0.529 0.508

8 0.652 0.611 0.568 0.539

9 0.708 0.666 0.619 0.584

10 0.761 0.720 0.672 0.635

11 0.805 0.768 0.722 0.684

12 0.840 0.807 0.765 0.729

13 0.868 0.839 0.801 0.768

14 0.890 0.865 0.831 0.800

15 0.908 0.885 0.855 0.828

16 0.921 0.902 0.875 0.851

17 0.933 0.916 0.892 0.870

18 0.942 0.927 0.905 0.885

19 0.949 0.936 0.917 0.899

20 0.955 0.943 0.926 0.910

21 0.961 0.950 0.934 0.920

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6.0 RESULT AND DISCUSSION
After the formulation of the basic equations in this section they are applied for comparison. It
is seen from Table 01 that for the same imposed moment the resulting concrete area of
triangular beam save more than 32 % of concrete material at the different combination of f c'
and f y . Saving of steel area is also ensured for steel area as well. For f c'  3 ksi, f y  60 ksi and
b = 12 inch for different value of moment steel areas are calculated. In all cases it is assumed
that compression and tensile stresses act at the above and below respectively. This calculation
is made both for rectangular and triangular section. It is clear from the Table 02 that in each
case there occur some saving in steel area (32.5%). Such variation will also occur at the
different combination of f c' and f y . Finally encouraging result is also seen from Table 3
LT
where each value of is less than 1.
LR

7.0 CONCLUSION
In construction work the construction of triangular sections will not be a great problem. Only
the forms are needed to be changed. As beams may also be subjected to negative moments
therefore scope is there to study the effectiveness of triangular RCC sections on this respect.
Yet regarding the limit of this paper it can evidently be said that for simple supported beams
having one span as well triangular sections are superior to the rectangular ones. Such beams
may be effectively used as the girder of bridges. The efficiency of triangular section may be
increased introducing the prestressed and FRP concept. Moreover from aesthetic point of
view triangular beams are indeed a good option.
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