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4/13/2018 Reinforced Concrete Design: Chapter 16.

4 - Bars for landings in stairs

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Reinforced Concrete Design


Detailed description of the steps involved in the design of reinforced concrete members and
structures, according to the Limit state method.

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Chapter 16.4 - Bars for landings in stairs


In the previous section we designed a stair and saw it's reinforcement details. In this section we will
discuss more details about the arrangement of bars.

In the fig.16.22 which shows flight AB, the bottom layer bar (bar type 'a') in the sloping portion becomes
the top layer in the landing portion. For the bottom layer of landing, extra bars are given. Similar
arrangement can be seen in flight CD (fig.16.23) also. We will now discuss the reason for giving such an
arrangement. Consider fig. 16.24 below:

Fig.16.24
Stair bars without embedment

In the fig.16.24, the bottom bar from the sloping portion continues into the landing in such a way that it is
the bottom bar in the landing also. When the loads are applied on the slab, the bar will be in tension, and
it will try to straighten up. Only the concrete cover is present there to resist this tendency of the bar to
straighten up. This concrete cover does not have enough thickness to adequately resist this tendency, and
cracks may develop. So we must extend this bar to embed it into a 'mass of concrete'. To achieve this
embedment, the bar is taken up to near the top surface of the landing, and then a bend is given to make it
horizontal. The measurements required for this embedment is shown in the fig.16.25 below:

Fig.16.25
Length of embedment required by the bars

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We can see that, when the type 'a' bars become the top bars of the landing, the bottom portion of the
landing is left with out any bars. So some extra bars (denoted as bar type 'b') are given at the bottom
layer of the landing. These bars should have the same diameter and spacing as 'a' type bars. The 'b' bars
also should have sufficient embedment. So they are taken upto near the top surface of the sloping slab,
and then given a bend, to make them parallel to the slope.

The point of intersection of 'a' and 'b' is taken as the 'critical' point. The specified embedment should be
measured from this point. In the fig., the length required is specified as 'Ld(min)'. Why is it specially

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4/13/2018 Reinforced Concrete Design: Chapter 16.4 - Bars for landings in stairs
mentioned as 'min'? The explanation is as follows: The bars we are considering are 'top bars'. Their main
purpose is to resist the hogging moment (that can possibly arise even at a simple support due to partial
fixity). So they must have the specified length which is more than the length over which the hogging
moment can possibly act. Thus we have two lengths to consider:
• The length required for resisting the hogging moment. Which is taken as 0.25l for general cases
• The length required for the embedment to prevent straightening up. Which is Ld
The largest of the above two lengths should be used. This will satisfy both the requirements. So the
mention of 'min' tells us to take both criteria into consideration. It may be noted that in Limit state design,
Ld is the unique value that we saw in a previous chapter. Also, Ld should be provided on both sides of the
critical point.

Now we consider the landing portion at ‘C’ (the intermediate landing) for the flight CD in fig.16.23. Here
the bar type ‘a’ will not try to straighten up. So it does not require any extra embedment. So these bars
continue as bottom bars into the landing. But at the support at this intermediate landing, hogging
moments can occur if a wall is constructed above the landing (causing partial fixity), as shown in the fig.
below:

Fig.16.25 (a)
Hogging moment at support

We can give top bars in the landing which will continue as top bar in the sloping portion also. But when the
hogging moment occurs, these bars will be in tension, and will try to straighten up. So we must give two
Ads sets of bars (types ‘c’ and ‘d’) as shown in fig.16.25(a) above.
It must be noted that in fig.16.23, the different sets of bars are shown in separate layers only for clarity.
In the actual structure, they will be in same layer as shown in the fig. below:

Fig.16.25(b)
Types of bars in same layers

Stairs with overhanging Landings


Now, we can discuss the arrangement of bars in another type of longitudinal stairs. In this type, the
supports are at the ends of the sloping slab as shown in the fig.16.26 below:

Fig.16.26
Supports at the ends of sloping slab
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4/13/2018 Reinforced Concrete Design: Chapter 16.4 - Bars for landings in stairs

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From the fig., we can see that the supports are at the ends of the sloping slabs. The intermediate landing
and the top landing are overhanging beyond the supports. In other words, the landings are cantilevers.
This type of stairs are more economical. Let us see how this economy is achieved: As shown earlier, the
thickness of the waist slab is taken as 1/20 of the effective span. In the fig. above, the effective span is
reduced because, the supports are now nearer to each other. So the waist slab thickness can be reduced.
The bending moment will also be reduced because of the reduced effective span.
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A cantilever structure will produce more bending moment than a simply supported structure. So at a
glance, we may feel that more steel will be required for resisting the bending moment from the
cantilevers. But here, the cantilevering span is small when compared to the simply supported span
between the supports. Also the load on the cantilever landings is less than the load on the sloping portion.
However, it is important to note that hogging moments will be produced at the supports because of the
cantilever action. This is shown in the figs. below:

Fig.16.27
Bending moment diagram for flight AB

Fig.16.27
Bending moment diagram for flight CD

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4/13/2018 Reinforced Concrete Design: Chapter 16.4 - Bars for landings in stairs

From the above figs., it is clear that hogging moments will be present at the supports in this type of stairs.
The values of maximum hogging moments and sagging moments can be easily calculated from basic
principles. Then we can determine the steel required to resist these moments. The steel required to resist
the hogging moments should be given as top steel at the supports. The arrangement of bars for this type
of stairs is shown in the figs. below:

Fig.16.28
Arrangement of bars for flight AB

Fig.16.29
Arrangement of bars for flight CD

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4/13/2018 Reinforced Concrete Design: Chapter 16.4 - Bars for landings in stairs

In the above figs., a new type of bar denoted as 'd' is given as top bars at all supports where overhang is
present. These are the bars which resist the hogging moment. They must have sufficient embedment as
indicated by 'y' in the figs. Also note that these bars are taken to the farther face of the sloping slab, and
then bent to make them parallel to the slope. This is to give maximum embedment inside concrete.

In the next section, we will discuss about another type of longitudinal stairs in which, the second flight
takes a right angled turn from the first flight.

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Posted by Nikhil Kumar at 4:54 AM

Labels: cantilever, Development length, hogging moments at supports, opening corners

11 comments:

joney G March 25, 2017 at 2:23 AM


In fig 16.25(a) tension will be at top of landing slab. Why steel bars numbered 'd' is not shown on top
landing?
Can we use steel design for fig 16.28,16.29 for partially fixed support or simply supported for both AB,CD.
Reply

Replies

Nikhil Kumar March 25, 2017 at 8:58 PM


In fig.16.25(a), the bar type 'd' comes down from near the top surface of the sloping slab and
becomes horizontal in the landing. It cannot be made horizontal at the exact junction between the
sloping slab and landing. Because, when it try to straighten up due to the hogging moment, cracks
will develop. This is because, only the concrete cover will be available to resist the tendency to
straighten up. So, the bar type 'd' is taken down upto near the bottom surface of the landing slab,
and then, it is made horizontal. This gives sufficient embedment inside a 'mass of concrete' rather
than just a 'concrete cover'. Similar is the case with bar type 'c'. The types 'c' and 'd' together resist
the tension at top.

Nikhil Kumar March 25, 2017 at 9:01 PM


In fig.16.28 and fig.16.29, a partial fixity can not arise. Because, if we construct a wall above the
supporting wall, passage of pedestrians will be obstructed.

Reply

joney G March 26, 2017 at 8:26 AM


Why For AB flight in fig.16.22 bar d is not provided?
If it is provided then how?
For fig 16.28 why 'd'bar is straight in landing and sloping portion and in 16.29 why c and d bars are straight
in landing and sloping area.
It will not try to straighten up due to hogging at top of landing?

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Reply

Replies

Nikhil Kumar March 26, 2017 at 8:54 AM


Flight AB in fig.16.22 is the first flight. It is resting on the ground on a foundation. So it's bar
arrangement is different. In it, the type 'c' will serve the purpose of taking up any possible hogging
moment.Type 'd' has a different shape.

Nikhil Kumar March 26, 2017 at 9:09 AM

In fig.16.28, the landing will be bending downwards. So the 'd' bar, instead of straightening up, will
be bending more and more inwards.

Nikhil Kumar March 26, 2017 at 9:14 AM


In fig. 16.29, 'c' and 'd' will try to straighten up. Type 'd' is having the required embedment. But 'c'
should have been brought down upto near the bottom surface of the landing, and then made
horizontal. Thanks for bringing it to my notice. I will make the correction soon.

Reply

Nikhil Kumar March 26, 2017 at 11:51 PM


Fig.16.29 is now corrected.
Reply

joney G April 29, 2017 at 7:04 AM


sir. fig.16.25 is valid for both simply supported span and partial fixity at intermediate support c.
why fig.16.22 does not have d bar(extra bar) at b support.
Reply

Nikhil Kumar May 2, 2017 at 3:04 AM


You have a point. d bars have to be provided at the lower support in fig.16.23
Reply

Replies

Nikhil Kumar May 2, 2017 at 3:05 AM


Fig.16.23 is now corrected

Reply

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Chapter 16.9 - Analysis and design of Transverse s...
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Chapter 16.5 - Right angled stairs
Chapter 16.4 - Bars for landings in stairs
Chapter 16.3 - Reinforcement details of staircase
Chapter 16.2 - Loads coming on the stairs
Chapter 16.1 - Effective span of stairs
Chapter 16 - Introduction to Staircases

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