Minimum Reinforcement in Concrete Members




Preface

The ESIS-Technical Committee 9 on Concrete was established in 1990 and has met seven times (Noordwijk 1991, Vienna 1992, Brisbane 1993, Torino 1994, Zurich 1995, Poitiers 1996, Torino

1997). A round robin on "Scale effects and transitional failure phenomena of reinforced concrete beams in flexure" was proposed to European and extra-European laboratories and the following ones answered positively: Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (Spain), University of Sydney (Australia), Universitat Stuttgart (Germany), Universitet Aalborg (Denmark), Universita di Parma (Italy), Politecnico di Torino (Italy).


The central topic discussed in the committee is that of the minimum reinforcement in concrete members. The minimum amount of reinforcement is defined as that for which "peak load at first concrete cracking" and "ultimate load after steel yielding" are equal. In this way, any brittle behaviour is avoided as well as any localized failure, if the member is not over-reinforced. In other words, there is a reinforcement percentage range, depending on the size-scale, within which the plastic limit analysis may be applied with its static and kinematic theorems.


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