Concrete beam design fundamentals
Beam design settings
Prior to running beam design you should review the design settings by selecting Design > Settings > Concrete > Beam.
- Reinforcement settings, e.g.
- Minimum and maximum bar sizes
- Minimum and maximum spacing values
- Maximum short span length
- Detailing settings
- Bar patterns
- Link settings
- General parameters (depending on the regional code being designed to)
For further details, see: Beam design settings
Concrete type
While you can apply both normal and lightweight (LW) concrete in the beam properties, beam design using lightweight concrete is only available for Eurocodes.
When using other regional codes beams can only be designed using normal weight concrete.
LW density classes and grades
- For example the grade name “LWAC30/37-DC1.8” denotes; LWAC = Lightweight aggregate concrete; 30/37 = Strength class; DC1.8 = density class.
- Custom LW grades can be added for which note that new LW-specific property η1 must be specified.
Deflection control (ACI/AISC)
Tekla Structural Designer implements both a simplified, and also a more rigorous method for controlling deflection.
The actual method applied to a specific beam will depend upon whether it is required to support sensitive finishes.
When the rigorous method is applied, immediate short-term deflections, and also long-term deflections resulting from creep and shrinkage of flexural members are considered.
Structure supporting sensitive finishes
Any beam that supports or is attached to partitions or other constructions likely be damaged by large deflections should be identified as such by selecting Structure supporting sensitive finishes under the Design Control heading in the beam properties.
The deflection method applied to the beam depends on this setting as follows:
- beams not required to support sensitive finishes adopt the simplified method.
- beams required to support sensitive finishes adopt the rigorous method.
The simplified method
For those beams that have not being chosen to support sensitive finishes, deflection is controlled by the simplified method of limiting the span to depth ratio.
This check can be satisfied by providing a total beam depth which exceeds hmin, (where hmin depends on the clear span and beam end conditions).
If this check is not satisfied the beam is then rechecked by the rigorous method.
The rigorous method
For beams that do not meet minimum thickness requirements determined by the simplified method, or that support sensitive finishes, deflections should be calculated by rigorous method.
The parameters listed below directly affect the rigorous calculation method and hence require consideration:
- Does the beam support sensitive finishes?
- If the Structure supporting sensitive finishes beam property (located under the Design Control heading) is cleared the simplified method may suffice in which case rigorous calculations are not required.
- Can the beam flanges be taken into account?
- Selecting Consider flanges (located under the Design Control heading) can assist in reducing the calculated deflections.
- Does the beam contain compression steel?
- In the current release of the program it has been assumed that the beam always contains compression steel for the rigorous method deflection calculations.
- 4. Are the deflection limits appropriate?
- These limits are editable in the beam properties, the default ratios being span/360 for live load, and span/480 for total load affecting sensitive finishes.
- The default span\over limits tend to produce conservative results.
- You are also given the flexibility to specify absolute deflection limits as an alternative, or in addition to the above span\over limits.
- Is the long term deflection period correctly specified?
- The default value is 5 years, but this can be edited via Design Options > Beam > General Parameters
- Is the time at which brittle finishes are introduced correctly specified?
- The default value is 1 month, but this can be edited via Design Options > Beam > General Parameters
- Are the percentages of dead load applied prior to brittle finishes and long term live load correctly specified?
- The deflection check takes account of these percentages, (defaulting to 50% of dead load applied prior to brittle finishes and 33% of long term live load). You are able to adjust each of these by selecting the loadcase name from the left hand side of the Loadcases dialog and then adjusting the value.
Deflection control (AS 3600)
Tekla Structural Designer controls deflections either by limiting span to depth ratios, or by applying the simplified method. The choice of method being set via Design Options > Concrete > Beam > General Parameters.
The simplified method
In the simplified deflection calculation procedure actual short-term deflection is calculated using the mean value of modulus of elasticity of concrete at appropriate age (Ecj) and an effective second moment of area of member (Ief).
When the simplified method is applied, the shrinkage parameters that are required are specified on the Design Options > Concrete > Beam > General Parameters page.
Limiting span to depth ratios method
The deflection of reinforced concrete beams is not directly calculated and the serviceability of the beam is measured by comparing the calculated limiting effective span/effective depth ratio (Lef/d)
Structure supporting sensitive finishes
Any beam that supports or is attached to partitions or other constructions likely be damaged by large deflections should be identified as such by selecting Calculate deflection after installation of finishes under the Design Limits heading in the beam properties.
When this option has been selected an additional span\over or absolute limit can be specified and checked against in the beam properties.
• beams not required to support sensitive finishes adopt the simplified method.
• beams required to support sensitive finishes adopt the rigorous method.
Parameters affecting deflection
The parameters listed below directly affect the deflection calculations and hence require consideration:
- 1. Increase reinforcement if
deflection check fails
- If this beam property (located under the Design Control heading) is cleared and the check fails, then the failure is simply recorded in the results
- If it is checked, then the area of tension reinforcement provided is automatically increased until the check passes, or it becomes impossible to add more reinforcement.
- Consider flanges
- Checking this beam property (located under the Design Control heading) can assist in satisfying the deflection check.
Deflection control (Eurocode BS and IS)
Tekla Structural Designer controls deflection by comparing the calculated limiting span/effective depth ratio L/d to the maximum allowable value (L/d)max
The parameters listed below directly affect the deflection calculations and hence require consideration:
- Increase reinforcement if deflection check fails
- If this beam property (located under the Design Control heading) is cleared and the check fails, then the failure is simply recorded in the results
If it is checked, then the area of tension reinforcement provided is automatically increased until the check passes, or it becomes impossible to add more reinforcement.
- Structure supporting sensitive finishes (Eurocode
only)
- This beam property (located under the Design Control heading, and on by default) is used to control the value of the f2 parameter used in the deflection check. When unchecked f2 will be taken as 1.0.
- Consider flanges
- Checking this beam property (located under the Design Control heading) can assist in satisfying the deflection check.
Ignore lateral instability (Eurocode)
This option (located under the Design Control heading) allows you to consider or ignore lateral instability for slender spans to EC2 clause 5.9(1) (off by default). When the option is checked on the slender span check is excluded from design.
Consider flanges
Flanged beam properties are specified by selecting Consider flanges, located under Analysis & design control in the Properties window.
Typically, flanged beams can be either "T" shaped with a slab on both sides of the beam or "Γ" shaped with a slab on only one side of the beam.
The characteristic behavior of flanged beams which can be made use of in design is the fact that the major axis bending resistance of the member is enhanced by the presence of adjoining concrete slabs which serve to increase the area of the compression zone activated during major axis bending.
This effectively raises the position of the neutral axis thereby increasing the lever arm of the longitudinal tension reinforcement and reducing the quantity of reinforcement required.
Related concept
Design parameters (Eurocode only)
Located under the Design parameters heading in the beam properties, the following parameters relating to shrinkage and creep can be specified for individual members.
Permanent Load Ratio
The permanent load ratio is used in the equation for determining the service stress in the reinforcement, which is in turn used in table 7.3N to determine the maximum allowable centre to centre bar spacing. It is also used to calculate the effective creep ratio which appears in the column slenderness ratio calculations.
It is defined as the ratio of quasi-permanent load to design ultimate load.
i.e. SLS/ULS = (1.0Gk + Ψ2Qk) / (factored Gk + factored Qk*IL reduction)
If Qk is taken as 0 then:
SLS/ULS = (1 / 1.25) = 0.8
Hence, setting the permanent load ratio to 0.8 should provide a conservative upper bound for all cases.
When determining this ratio more precisely, consideration should be given to the amount of IL reduction specified, for example (assuming Gk = Qk and Ψ2 = 0.3):
For 50%IL reduction,
SLS/ULS = (1 + 0.3) / (1.25 + 1.5*0.5) = 0.65
For no IL reduction,
SLS/ULS = (1 + 0.3) / (1.25 + 1.5) = 0.47
Nominal cover
In the beam properties, the nominal concrete cover is the distance between the surface of the reinforcement closest to the nearest concrete surface (including links and surface reinforcement where relevant) and the nearest concrete surface.
Reinforcement - longitudinal bar patterns
Under the reinforcement heading in the beam properties, there are three Standard Patterns available for top reinforcement, SPT1, SPT2 and SPT3 and two Standard Patterns available for bottom reinforcement, SPB1 & SPB2 as illustrated in the figures below.
Standard Patterns of Top Reinforcement
The bars used in the Standard Top Patterns are:
(1) Straight bar extending to approximately 25% or 33% of each span (end points of this bar are determined by the design region settings)
(2) Straight bar extending to approximately 10% of each span (end points of this bar are determined by the design region settings) - if required by the design
(3) Double cranked bar lapped with bar (1)
(5) Straight bar running approximately from face to face of beam supports
(6) Single cranked bar running from center span to center span with the option to merge bars if they are the same size and number to extend the bar over several spans
(12) Bob bar
(13) Bob bar
Standard Patterns of Bottom Reinforcement
The bars used in the Standard Bottom Patterns are:
(4) Bar with a bob at each end
(7) Straight bar with a length approximately 70% of span - if required by the design
(8) Single cranked bar extending over several spans or over one span only and lapped within a support - with bob if it continues over an end span.
(9) Straight bar
(10) Straight bar running approximately from face to face of beam supports
(11) Straight bar
(14) Bob bar
Modified versions of the above standard patterns are applied for use in single spans and in cantilever spans where no backspan beam is present.
For short span beams, it becomes uneconomic and impractical to lap bars in beams. These facts coupled with the anchorage lengths that are required make the use of multiple design regions for the longitudinal reinforcement unnecessary. To cater for this a short span beam length can be defined in Design Options > Beam > Reinforcement Settings and the bar patterns adopted for such short spans are as shown below:
Standard Patterns of Reinforcement for Short Span Beams