SAFI Sample Projects

Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure

SAFI Quality Software Inc.
3393, chemin Sainte-Foy
Ste-Foy, Quebec, G1X 1S7
Canada
Contact: Rachik Elmaraghy, P.Eng., M.A.Sc.
Tel.: 1-418-654-9454
1-800-810-9454
Fax: 1-418-653-9475
Internet Site: http://www.safi.com
E-mail: info@safi.com
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure
Introduction
This sample problem presents the design of a reinforced concrete structure based on the CAN/CSA
A23.3-1994 code. The procedures presented in this example apply to any other design code
supported by the program. The model used for this example can be found in the Samples\Concrete
sub-directory, the name of the file is RC-Ex-1.str.
Creating the model
The model is a simple 2D structure representing a building with three bays and six floors. The
exterior bays are 9m wide and the interior bay is 6m wide. The first floor 4.85m high and the
remaining floors are 3.65m high. The beams are extended outside the exterior columns by a
distance of 1.5m.
The edition of models is discussed in the User's Guide and will not be repeated here. We will
assume the following material properties for the elements of the model and the reinforcement bars.
Concrete Rebars Stirrups
Yield stress (MPa) 3.28 400.00 300.00
Ultimate stress (MPa) 30.00 600.00 450.00
Elastic modulus (MPa) 27000.00 200000.00 200000.00
Poisson ratio 0.15 0.27 0.27
Voluminal mass (kg/m
3
) 2400.00 7850.00 7850.00
Thermal expansion (1/C) 1.10e-005 1.17e-005 1.17e-005
The beams and columns of the model should be defined as physical elements to obtain a continuity
in the reinforcement bars. The physical elements consist of several connected members grouped
together as a continuous element.
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 2
Geometry
The cross sections of the elements of the structure are presented below.
Exterior columns Interior columns
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 3
First three floors
Other floors
Editing the loads
The loads acting on the structure are presented below. In this example, the self weight of the
structure is modeled by uniform and concentrated loads. It is also possible to let the program
calculate the self weight of the elements by using the Gravity Loads command. Here again, the
method for editing the loads is discussed in the User's Guide and will not be repeated here.
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 4
Analysis model with self weight loads
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 5
Analysis model with additional dead loads
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 6
Analysis model with live loads
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 7

Analysis model with positive and negative wind loads
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 8
Analysis model with seismic loads
The load combinations used to analyze the structure are created using the load combination wizard
according to the NBC-95 building code. The load combinations are summarized below.
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 9
Summary of the load combinations
The last load combination which includes the factored dead loads only is not generated by the
wizard as it is not required by the NBC-95 code. However, it is necessary to calculate the sustained
loads for the second order effects. This combination should be created manually.
Selecting the design code
The first step required to design a reinforced concrete structure is to select the desired design code.
The program allows to design a reinforced concrete structure according to the Canadian A23.3-
M94 and S6-2000 codes, the American ACI-2002 code and the Egyptian ECC-95 code.
Select the Codes command from the Analysis menu. In the dialog box displayed, activate the
Reinforced Concrete tab. In the code list, select the CAN/CSA A23.3 code and click on the OK
button to accept the changes.
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 10
Creating the design groups
In order for the program to calculate the reinforcement of the elements of the model, it is required
to specify some parameters for the reinforcement bars (Library, size, material, etc.). This is done by
creating groups of parameters and by assigning these groups of parameters to the elements of the
model.
First, we will create a design group for the beams. Select the Beam Design Groups command from
the Application-Reinforced concrete sub-menu. In the dialog box displayed, click on the button
to create a new group.
It is not required to create a design group for each beam of the model, if all beams share the same
types of reinforcement bars and stirrups, only one group is required. However, the forces acting on
the various elements are not the same for all the elements so the required reinforcement will be
different for each beam. Thus, the Design all elements in the group separately option should be
checked. For larger projects, it is often better to have the same reinforcement bars in several similar
beams. For example, we could have designed the three first floors beams to be identical and the
three last floors beams to be identical. This could have been achieved by creating two design
groups with the Design all elements in the group separately option unchecked.
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 11
Fill the data of the dialog box as shown below and click on the OK button.
The left part of the dialog box refers to the beams longitudinal reinforcement bars and the right part
refers to the stirrups.
The design group for the column is created in the same manner using the Column Design Groups
command from the Application-Reinforced concrete sub-menu.
The left part of the dialog box refers to the column longitudinal reinforcement bars and the right
part refers to the spirals and ties.
Assigning the design groups to the elements
The allow the program to design the concrete element, the design groups created above must be
attached to the appropriate elements of the model. This is done as for any other member parameters
using the Member Attributes command found in the Edit-Member sub-menu.
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 12
Select all the beams of the model using the selection tools and activate the Member Attributes
command. In the dialog box displayed, activate the Concrete tab.
Check the Change beam design group option and select the beam design group created earlier in
the list below. When this is done, click on the OK button to accept the changes. Repeat these
operations for the columns of the model.
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 13
Defining the member end offsets
The connection between a beam and a column forms a rigid joint where the real acting forces are
lower than the calculated forces. These regions must be defined for the calculated reinforcement to
be accurate.
The sketch below represents a typical beam in the model with the corresponding end offsets which
are equal to half the size of the column connected to the beam end. These offsets must be defined
for all beams of the model.
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 14
Select the left cantilever beams and activate the Member Attributes command. In the lower part of
the Concrete tab, specify an end offset for node j of 225 mm.

Specify the end offsets for the other beam elements.

Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 15


Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 16

Running the analysis
To run the analysis, select the Run command from the analysis menu. In the displayed dialog box,
select the desired type of analysis and the Design - Reinforced concrete option in the Design list. If
second order effects should be considered when designing the columns, activate the corresponding
options in the Second Order Effects section. When performing a linear first order analysis like it is
the case here, the second order effects (lateral drift and member stability) need to be accounted for
by an alternate method like the one presented in the design codes.
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 17
Viewing the reinforcement results
After the analysis is completed, various results are available. First, we can verify the reinforcement
of the beams and columns which are available as reinforcement layouts. These layouts may be
further edited and additional analyses can be performed to verify the edited reinforcement. These
results are available as input data to allow the engineer to edit the reinforcement provided or to
allow the verification of existing structures where the reinforcement bars are known.
Click on the Rebars Layouts command from the Applications-Reinforced concrete sub-menu. The
dialog box displayed should contain 6 tabs, one for each beam (physical beam element) in the
model.
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 18
To have a graphical display of the longitudinal bars in physical element 5, click on the Preview
Layout button from the PHYS-5 layout tab. In the dialog box displayed, select the physical
element P5 in the element list. For a better preview, select 3:1 in the Vertical Scale list.
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 19
PHYS-5 in Physical Member 5

6
1
.
0
5


5
3
8
.
9
5


6
1
.
0
5


5
3
8
.
9
5

(5) 2-30M 5100 (8) 1-30M 3100 (9) 1-30M 4000
(6) 2-30M 15100 (7) 2-30M 4600
(4) 2-30M 29000
(2) 2-20M 7600 (3) 2-20M 7600
(1) 4-20M 26200
S3 1500 S3 9000 S3 6000 S3 9000 S3 1500
[mm]
2250
400

1
1
0


6
0
0

S3 - T-600x400x2250x110
[mm]
In the same manner, we can verify the shear reinforcement of the beams. Click on the Stirrups
Layouts command from the Applications-Reinforced concrete sub-menu. The dialog box displayed
should contain 6 tabs, one for each beam (physical beam element) in the model.
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 20
To have a graphical display of the stirrups in physical element 10, click on the Preview Layout
button from the PHYS-10 layout tab. In the dialog box displayed, select the physical element P10
in the element list. For a better preview, select 5:1 in the Vertical Scale list.
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 21
PHYS-10 in Physical Member 10
(2) 11-10M@270
(3) 1-10M@3020
(4) 13-10M@195
(5) 1-10M@500
(6) 7-10M@315
(7) 1-10M@1090
(8) 7-10M@315
(9) 1-10M@500
(10) 12-10M@215
(11) 1-10M@2945
(12) 10-10M@300
S4 1500 S4 9000 S4 6000 S4 9000 S4 1500
[mm]
2250
400

1
1
0


5
5
0

S4 - T-550x400x2250x110
[mm]
Column reinforcement can be visualized by the Peripheral bars Layouts command from the
Applications-Reinforced concrete sub-menu. The dialog box displayed should contain 4 tabs, one
for each column (physical column element) in the model.
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 22
To have a graphical display of the column reinforcement in physical element 1, click on the
Preview Layout button from the PHYS-1 layout tab. In the dialog box displayed, select the
physical element P1 in the element list. Then, move the mouse cursor over the graphic in the left
part of the dialog box to determine the position in the column where to view the reinforcement bars.
PHYS-1 in Physical Member 1 @ 0 mm
450
Z
Y
[mm]
PHYS-1 in Physical Member 1 @ 15800 mm
450
Z
Y
[mm]
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 23
Viewing the analysis, verification and design results
The analysis results may be checked either graphically or in tables using the various results
commands from the Analysis menu. We will look at the reinforced concrete design results which
includes the bending, shear and compression-bending resistance curves as well as the interaction
diagrams for the columns.
Click on the Bending command from the Analysis-Chart-Reinforced concrete sub-menu and then
click on one of the beam of the first floor of the structure. The following dialog box should be
displayed presenting the bending resistance curves for physical member 5.
In the same manner, we can visualize the shear resistance of the beams and compression-bending
resistance of the columns.
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 24
Design of a Reinforced Concrete Structure 25
The interaction diagrams can also be visualized using the Interaction diagram command from the
Analysis-Charts-Reinforced concrete sub-menu. Activate this command and then click on one of
the member of the leftmost column.
The graphic at the left is used to determine the critical section on the column where to view the
interaction diagrams and forces acting at this critical section. When the dialog box is opened, the
critical section at which the ultimate limit state is the largest is selected by default.
Note that although the 2D analysis will give null bending moments on the weak axis, the design on
the weak axis is made using a minimum eccentricity as required by the design code. The bending
moments on the weak axis listed in the results dialog box correspond to this minimum eccentricity.