10/7/2017 Economical Design of Reinforced Concrete Columns to Reduce Cost

Economical Design of Reinforced Concrete

Columns to Reduce Cost
How to Design Reinforced Concrete Columns for Economical Construction?

Economical design of reinforced concrete columns and its construction practices and
recommendations to reduce its cost of construction is discussed. Columns are the major elements
in reinforced concrete structures and the safety and stability of the structure greatly depends on it.

The cost of a column per linear meter per MPa of load carrying capacity substantially varies due to
several factors, for example, the location of the column in the structure (exterior column and
interior column) and the configuration of the loads imposed on the column and others.

However, there are number of recommendations and measure by which a cost effective reinforced
concrete column can be designed and constructed. These recommendations will be discussed in
the following sections.

Fig.1: Reinforced Concrete Column Construction

Recommendations for Economical Design of Reinforced

Concrete Columns
Recommendation provided for economical design of reinforced concrete columns are as follow:

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Strength of concrete employed for reinforced concrete column

Formwork used for casting reinforced concrete column
Steel reinforcements used in the reinforced concrete column construction
Details of reinforcement of concrete column

Strength of Concrete for Reinforced Concrete Column

A valuable recommendation provided regarding concrete strength is the use of maximum concrete
compressive strength needed to carry factored loads and lowest permissible reinforcement ratio.
This is because the lowest price would be reached if such measure is practiced as the cost of
reinforcement reduces.

It is claimed that, the use of minimum reinforcement ratio for a given column would reduce total
column cost significantly (around 32% for concrete strength of 56MPa and 57% for concrete
strength of 100MPa) compared with the case where maximum reinforcement ratio is utilized.

The smallest size of columns in multi storey structures is specified based on the maximum
concrete compressive strength and a limit on the maximum reinforcement ratio.

If the size of column is smaller than the minimum allowable size at the base of the structure, then
reinforcement ratio can be decreased.

Finally, both reinforcement ratio and concrete compressive strength can be decreased as the
imposed factored loads decline in the upper storeys.

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Fig.2: Dimension and Reinforcements of Columns

Formwork Used for Casting Reinforced Concrete Column

It is recommended to use the same size and shape for reinforced concrete column for the all floors
and from footing to the roof.

Not only does this strategy would allow to construction large number of columns (mass
production) but also the formwork of columns can be reused again.

One may argue that, using the same size for all columns would lead to utilize large quantity of
additional concrete and hence it would be uneconomical.

However, it is proven that, savings achieved from formwork cost and fast construction would be
much greater than the cost of extra material used for smaller columns of storeys above. Added to
that, this strategy is claimed to be applicable for maximum building height of 188.2m

Fig.3: Column Formwork

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10/7/2017 Economical Design of Reinforced Concrete Columns to Reduce Cost

Fig.4: The Same Size and Shape of Column used in the Construction of Multi Storey
Building

Steel Reinforcements used in the Reinforced Concrete Column

Construction
It is advised to conduct cost comparison between various combination of concrete compressive
strength and steel yield strength to specify combination that provides lowest cost.

It is reported that, the use of high strength concrete with 520MPa yield strength would need lowest
cost.

Another measure to decrease cost of reinforcements is to utilize minimum tie bars without the
violation of code specifications.

Minimum tie requirement would be reached if a longitudinal steel bar is installed at each corner of
the column.

If minimum tie requirement is realized, then it would not be necessary to use interior ties.

Consequently, not only can low slump concrete be poured and properly compacted but also the
time and cost required to install column reinforcement would be reduced.

Detailing of Reinforcement of Concrete Column

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It is possible to make savings in splices subjected to compression only (in another word, end
bearing mechanical splices). Added to that, it is advised to employ staggering in order to make the
mechanical end bearing to resist certain amount of bending.

Fig.5: Compression Only Mechanical Splices

Commonly, tensile splice of steel bar with 32mm size is required to be employed if the column
subjected to large bending force. In this case, it is recommended to use mechanical splice
because it is more economical.

However, if the size of the bar is smaller than 32mm, then it is more economical to consider lap
splice rather than mechanical splice.

Fig.6: Lap Splice in Column

Read More:

Types of RCC Columns and its Construction Methods

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