AGU Civil Engineering Department
CE382 RC, Spring 2025
Conceptual Problems
Q1. Define a) brittle material, b) ductile material and c) toughness of a material.
Q2. Define strain hardening and strain softening behavior of a material using a figure.
Q3. Show an elasto-plastic behavior for a material and give a definition to it.
Q4. How do you define ductility value for a material?
Q5. Show a compressive stress-strain curve for a concrete material. Indicate the important
points (fck, εco, εcu) in the figure.
Q6. Show a tensile stress-strain curve for a concrete material.
Q7. How do you compare the compressive strength to tensile strength of concrete?
Q8. Explain the behavior of concrete under bi-axial stress case. Draw figure, if needed.
Q9. Explain the behavior of concrete under tri-axial stress case. Draw figure, if needed.
Q10. What do you understand of the word “strength”?
Q11. Define fck (considering strength values obtained for a set of concrete specimens).
Q12. What do you understand of C20/25? Explain what the numbers refer to?
Q13. Why is the compressive strength of concrete obtained from a cubic specimen higher than
that of a cylindrical specimen?
Q14. Draw stress-strain curves for a set of concrete specimens with different strengths (for
example C16, C25, C30, C40 etc.) and indicate the differences, if any.
Q15. How do you define modulus of elasticity for concrete? Explain a) secant modulus of
elasticity, b) tangent modulus of elasticity.
AGU Civil Engineering Department
CE382 RC, Spring 2025
Q16. For a concrete element that has been loaded to almost its capacity, what is the modulus
of elasticity that needs to be used for deflection computation?
Q17. What is the equation for modulus of elasticity of concrete given in TS500 (2000)?
Accordingly, what is value for modulus of elasticity for a 28-day C25 concrete?
Q18. What is the difference of lightweight concrete and normal weight concrete in terms of
unit weight and modulus of elasticity?
Q19. Define shrinkage of concrete. List at least 4 different types of shrinkage.
Q20. Draw a shrinkage versus time curve and indicate specific/distinctive regions.
Q21. Explain briefly the effects of a) W/C ratio, b) aggregate volume, c) aggregate stiffness, d)
curing conditions (humidity, wind and temperature) and e) concrete age on shrinkage value.
Q22. Supply a definition for concrete creep.
Q23. What is/are differences between shrinkage and creep of concrete.
Q24. What are a) the internal factors and b) external factors influencing creep of concrete?
Q25. Draw creep strain versus time curve and indicate specific/salient regions.
Q26. How can the tensile strength of a concrete specimen be determined?
Q27. What is the equation for characteristic tensile strength of a concrete specimen given in
TS500 (2000)? Accordingly, what is the characteristic tensile strength for C25 concrete?
Q28. What is the durability of concrete?
Q29. What are the factors affecting durability of concrete?
Q30. What do you understand of steel reinforcements S220, S420, B420C, B500C?
Q31. There are some characteristics of steel reinforcement defined by codes such that they
could be utilized as reinforcing bars in RC concrete. What are those properties?
Q32. What is the difference between plain bar and deformed bar?
Q33. What is corrosion?
Q34. What are the factors affecting corrosion?
Q35. Draw a stress vs strain curve for a typical mild steel material and indicate specific
points/regions on the curve.
AGU Civil Engineering Department
CE382 RC, Spring 2025
Q36. Why do we need to have reinforcement bars in concrete?
Q37. Define “reinforced concrete” (RC) element?
Q38. What do you understand of the variabilities in strength of reinforced concrete elements?
Q39. What do you understand of the variabilities in loads that will affect RC structures?
Q40. How do engineers make sure of the safety in designing their RC structures?
Q41. What is the probability of failure for RC structures in most design codes?
Q42. Suppose that the RC design code of your country gives you a probability of failure of
0.001 for a school structure you plan to build. However, you do not feel right to assume such
a value of probability of failure and hence would like to lower it (e.g., to increase safety). What
are the things you can do to lower this probability?
Q43. There are in general two limit states while designing RC structures: Serviceability limit
state and Ultimate strength limit state. Describe these two in detail.
Q44. What are the assumptions employed in modelling materials and loads in Ultimate
strength limit state?
Q45. What is fcd? Indicate the difference between fcd and fck?
Q46. What is fyd? Indicate the difference between fyd and fyk?
Q47. List the load types acting on RC structures?
Q48. List at least 6 load combinations employed in the design of RC structures?
Q49. What do you understand of the bond stress developed in between reinforcing bar and
concrete materials?
Q50. What do you understand of the development length for reinforcing bars in RC members?
AGU Civil Engineering Department
CE382 RC, Spring 2025
Q51. Give the equations for development length for plain bars and deformed bars in TS500
(2000)?
Q52. Indicate the reasons for a shorter development length for deformed bars than that of
plain bars?
Q53. What do you understand of the anchorage length for reinforcing bars in RC members?
Q54. What do you understand of the splicing length for reinforcing bars in RC members?
Q55. List the splicing types for reinforcing bars in TS500 (2000)?