REINFORCEMENT

INTRODUCTION

Plain concrete is comparatively strong in compression but weak in tension. In such cases
tensile side can be strengthened by providing steel rods as reinforcement. Any material specified
for use as reinforcement to concrete, must fulfill certain requirements if an economic structural
member is to be constructed. These basic requirements are as follows;

 Tensile strength
 Must be capable of achieving this tensile strength without undue strain.
 Should be a material that can be easily bent to any required shape.
 Its surface must be capable of developing an adequate bond between the concrete
and the reinforcement to ensure that the required designed tensile strength is
obtained.
 A similar coefficient of thermal expansion is required to prevent unwanted
stresses being developed within the member due to temperature changes.
 Availability at a reasonable cost, which must be acceptable to the overall design
concept.
In our site, three types of reinforcement are used. Those are mild steel, tore steel and TMT.

 MILD STEEL

Mild steel is generally used in places where much strength is not required. It is neither brittle
nor ductile. Mild steel has a relatively low tensile strength, but it is cheap and malleable
.Generally this type is used as the stirrups for columns, beams and secondary reinforcement in
low rise buildings. The characteristics strength is 250 N/mm2.
  TOR STEEL

This is the widely used steel in the construction work. The visible difference in mild steel and
tor steel is that, tor steel contains ribs which enhance the bonding ability between steel and
concrete; where the mild steel having a smooth surface comparing to tor steel. The characteristic
strength of tor steel is 460 N/mm2.

 TMT

TMT is used in places where much strength is required. The characteristic strength of TMT is
550N/mm2.

REINFORCEMENT ARRANGEMENT
Reinforcement is used for many kinds of structural work; such as slabs, columns, beams, pile
caps & staircase etc…When I was in this section my main job was to check the reinforcement
arrangements according to the approved drawings. There are some important factors which are to
be considered while inspecting the reinforcement arrangement.
1. Bar diameter
2. No of bars
3. Bar location
4. Lap location
5. Lap length
6. Cover
7. Cover blocks
8. Spacing
BAR NOTATION

E.g.: - 5T 10-06-150 T

5 T 10 06 150 T

Bar location

Bar spacing

Bar mark

Bar diameter

Bar type “T” or “R”

No of bars

ABREVIATIONS

 T:-High yield steel of characteristic strength of 460 N/mm2 to BS 4449

 R:-Mild steel of characteristic strength of 250 N/mm2 to BS 4449
 NF: - Near Face R/f

 BF: - Both Face R/f

 ALT: - Alternate bar R/f

 STG:-Staggered
 C/C:-Center to center

 FL:-F
Full length(1
12 m)

 T:-To
op reinforcement

 T1:-O
Outer

 T2:-In
nner

 B:-Bottom reinfo
orcement

 B1:-O
Outer

 B2:-In
nner

LAP LENGTH
L H

When the
t required length is mo
ore than the bar length, iit is necessarry to join thee steel bars. T
This
combinattion is done by overlapp
ping two barss in to an adeequate lengtth. When thee diameters aare
some of the
t two bars which are connected,
c hen the lap leength is 50 ttimes of the diameter of a
th
me, then the laap length is 50 times of diameter of the
bar. Wheen the two diiameters are not the sam
smaller bar
b .The max
ximum lengtth of a bar is 12 m .If thee length of a reinforcemeent bar exceeeds 6
m, then two
t bars sho
ould be joineed together to get the reqquired lengthh.

Assume d2 > d1 (mm))

50505
50d1
CRAN
NK LENG
GTH

It is required to craank the bars most probab

bly in both ccolumns andd beams in orrder to get thhe
cover and
d initial posiition of reinfforcement baars. After craanking, the lload should bbe transferreed to
the otherr bar axially.

Crank
C length = (d1+d2+5)) x 10 (mm)

SPACE
ER BAR
RS

Spacerr bars are pro

ovided to keeep a distance in betweenn bars to create a space aallowing to ppour
the concrrete. Minimu
um spacing should
s be 25
5mm.

STOO
OLS

Stools are used to maintain a cover betweeen top and bottom reinnforcement bbars. It is ussed in
arrangem
ment of reinfforcement bars for slabs. These stoools are preppared by ussing off- cutt bars
having a diameter off 10mm.

Sttools
STIRR
RUPS

The stiirrups are beent out of sm

maller diametter steel barss (diameter oof 6, 8, or10 mm) and
normally
y, spacing maay be 100, 125, 150, 175
5, 200 mm inn between tw
wo stirrups. T
There are
different shapes of sttirrups depen
nding on the column shaape. In our siite 10mm re--bars are useed to
make stirrrups.

Stirrups
S

BINDIING WIR
RE

This wire
w is used to bind the reinforcemeent in positiion. These w
wires shouldd be gauge 18 or
gauge 20
0. The bindin
ng wire is used
u to bind the stirrups to the mainn reinforcem
ment and maiin bar
with distrribution bar.. Gauge 18 denotes
d that the diameterr of the wiree is 1/18 inchhes.
COVE
ER BLOC
CKS

After th
he formwork
k has done, they
t tie the mortar blockks of approvved shape annd thicknesss with
the wire embedded, to get the sp
pace betweeen the shutteering and thee mesh of thhe reinforcem
ment.
They aree called coveer blocks. Th
hey are used
d it to protectt the reinforrcement from
m corrosion. Also
they will make the co
ombined actiion of the reeinforcementt and concrette very effecctive.

Cover Blocks are tied to the R/F

R before eerecting thee form work
k

PURPO
OSE OF THE
T COV
VER BLOC
CKS

 Protect the steeel from corrrosion due to atmospherric moisture & rain.
 Protect the steeel from corrrosion due to poor comppaction or seegregation.
 Support to maake a good bond.
b
 Innsulate the stteel from earrly failure inn a fire.
THICKNESS OF COVER BLOCKS

Pile caps side & bottom - 40 mm & 80mm

Ground floor beams - 40 mm

Upper floor beams -30mm

Upper floor slabs - 25 mm

Columns (Below ground floor) - 45mm

Columns (Above ground floor) - 30mm

BAR SCHEDULE

Bar schedule is a document of a structure which shows the details of the reinforcement
arrangement of it. Such as location, bar mark, bar type, the size, number of bars in each element,
total no of bars, shape code, shape (sketch), cut length, total cut length for each bar. These details
are taken to the bar schedules by referring to the structural drawings. This document is prepared
by an Engineer who is the in charge of re-bar section, to be given to the bar bender. Also this bar
schedule is required to order the steel.

ELEMENT LOCATION BAR TYPE& NO OF TOTAL SHAPE SHAPE CUT TOTAL

MARK SIZE ELEMENT NO OF CODE LENGTH CUT
BARS LENGTH

Prepared & Checked by:-…………. Checked & Approved by:-……………

Signature:-…………… Summary of Usage
Date:-…………….
Name:-……………
Designation:-…………..

Reinforcement bar schedules

 BE
ENDING
G AND CU
UTTING
G OF REINFORC
CEMENT
T

Bar beending and cutting

c take an importan
nt place in rreinforcemennt work. Thee accuracy oof the
t position of the bend are taken frrom the struuctural drawiings and bennding
length off a bar and the
schedules which enssure the corrrect size and
d placementt of the steeel in the struuctural mem
mbers.
Before cu
utting any bars, it is ofteen worth to rearrange
r th em in the orrder of lengtth. Followingg this
method, wastages an
nd off cuts caan be reuse without
w cuttiing full barss again. Thiss also helps tto cut
bars in a more econo
omical way.. Bar benderrs are alwayys advised too use a steell tape ratherr than
using thee cut bars to
o measure th
he length in
n order to reeduce the poossibility off error, especcially
when meeasuring long
g bars.

Bending a reinforceement
PLAC
CING TH
HE REIN
NFORCE
EMENT

Beforre placing baars in positio

on on the forrmwork, it iss necessary to ensure thaat the
reinforcement is cleaned from th
he loose dust, oil or otheer coatings too meet the reequirement oof a
good bo
ond between concrete and steel. Rein
nforcement m
must providee a minimum
m cover of
concretee in order to protect the steel
s from co
orrosion andd to give a ceertain degreee of fire
resistancce to structu
ural memberss. This spaciing is usuallyy 25mm.

ANCH
HORING
G
There are
a two wayss of anchorin
ng. They aree;

1. Mechaniccal anchoring
g
2. Chemicall anchoring

Mechaniical anchoriing is done using

u dowelss, ”L” bars oor “U” bars.

Mechanical
M anchoring
a

At our sitte, chemicall anchoring is used for stiffener

s coluumn starterss. Reinforcem
ment starterss for
stiffener columns aree anchored using
u HIT-HY
Y 150 chem
mical at the pllaces where reinforcemeent
starters are
a not provid
de.
The process of anchoring is as follows;

1. Four holes should be drilled per column.(depth will depend on the bar
size.e.g.12mm -110 mm)
2. Then holes should be cleaned using a brush.
3. After cleaning, depth should be measured to check whether the required depth has
been achieved or not.
4. After that, the chemical is injected using a gun according to the instructions given
by the manufacture.
5. Reinforcement bars (starters) should be inserted before the chemical get harden in
a manner such that air bubbles should not occurred.
6. Curing should be taken place after the required period of time.

BEAM REINFORCEMENT
Beams are built to carry the weight of slabs as a uniformly distributed load. The bending moment and
the sheer force are varied along the beam. Maximum bending moment is at the mid span and zero at the
supports. Maximum shear force is at support and zero at the mid span. To prevent beam failure due to the
high bending moment and high shear force, yield steel bars are laid parallel to the beam axis in
longitudinal direction. Normally in beams, double reinforcement is laid to prevent the cracks. In beams
compression occur in the top and tensile in the bottom. Therefore main bars are laid in the bottom of the
beam. Shear links are laid perpendicular to the main bars. Normally mild steel is used for shear links.

Some of the considerations maintained during the reinforcement as follows,

1) Secondary beams shall be laid through the main (Primary beams). In other words, the
secondary beams have to go inside of the primary beams.

Beam Reinforcement
 2)) The to
op reinforcement of the beaams should noot lap at the supports.

3)) The bo
ottom reinforccement of thee beams shoulld not lap at th
the mid span oof the beams in
beetween two su
upports.

4)) Shear link shall be provided

p at th
he support acccording to thee drawing.

5)) The seecondary top reinforcemen

r nt should be b ound close too the top reinfforcement andd top
reeinforcement is equal to 25
5mm and spaccer bars shoulld be provideed to maintainn this gap.

BEAM RE
EINFORCE MENT

SLAB
B REINFORCEM
MENT
In the slab
s reinforccement theree are two typ
pes of nets suuch as bottom
m and top neets which aree laid
according
g to the draw
wing.

 First of all thee main botto

om bars are laid
l (B1). Thhen the bottoom distributiion bars (B2) are
laaid and tied using
u bindin
ng wires.
 After
A finishin
ng the bottom
m layer, the top
t layer is llaid on the beams. Top m
main bars (T
T1)
arre laid and tiied with beaams in properr spacing. A
After that the distributionn bars are laidd.
 To
T keep spacing between
n top and botttom nets, toools are laid aand tied.
 After
A finishin
ng the reinforrcement worrk, cover bloocks are laidd in between bottom netss and
plywood.
 Finally beforee concreting
g, following has
h to be cheecked again..
 Spacin
ng
 Typess of bars
 Coverr blocks
 Clean
ning by waterr
 Any leeakage of th
he formwork

Slab
S reinforrcement
COLU
UMN REIINFORC
CEMENT
T

The lo
oad which co
omes to a parrticular slab,, transfers too the ground through beaams and coluumns.
It should
d be capable enough to geet the tension
n load due too lateral loadds like the looads createdd by
the wind. First the veertical bars are
a positioned according to the colum
mn structurall drawings. T
The
first vertiical bars are fixed in the ground leveel. If the coluumn rises more than the height of a slab,
always keep
k one lap without bind
ding the rein
nforcement.

Co
olumn reinfo
orcement