5/14/2018 Typical Detailing of Reinforcements in Beams and Slabs

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Typical Detailing of Reinforcements in Beams and Slabs

Detailing of reinforcements in beams and slabs plays an important role in providing strength, durability and cost
optimization. Reinforcement details of concrete beams and slabs should specify clearly about cover to
reinforcement, length of reinforcement, curtailment of reinforcement, number and diameter of reinforcement to be
provided.

For a simply supported beam and slab, the maximum bending moment occurs at the center of the span and shear
force at a distance of d/2 from the face of the support, where d is the effective depth of beam or slab. Considering
this, the bending reinforcement is necessary at the center of the span and not required at the support where as
shear reinforcements are required at the support.

So, it is not necessary to provide full length bending (tension) reinforcement and 50% of the reinforcement can be
curtailed at suitable locations as shown in images below or can be bent upwards to provide as shear
reinforcements.

Reinforcement Detailing of Simple Beams and Slabs

1. Reinforcement Details of Simply Supported Beam and Slab
As seen in figure-1 below, for a simply supported beam and slab, 100% reinforcement as per the design is
provided as tension reinforcement at the mid span of the beam and slab, and 50% is curtailed at the distance of
0.08L from the center support.

Fig.1: Curtailment of tension steel in simply supported beam and slab

2. Reinforcement Details of Continuous Beams and Slabs

For a continuous beams and slabs, the shear force and bending moment diagrams are drawn and reinforcement
details are provided based on the value of the shear force and bending moment.

As can be seen from the figure-2 below, the tension reinforcement are 100% at the mid-span of the beam and
slab, while it is curtailed at the distance of 0.1 L from the center of the support at end support and 0.2L at the
intermediate support. L is the effective length of the beam and slab.

The shear reinforcements are provided from the support to the distance of 0.1L from the face of support on end
support and at a distance of 0.3L from the center of support at intermediate support.

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5/14/2018 Typical Detailing of Reinforcements in Beams and Slabs

Fig.2: Curtailment of reinforcement in beam and slab construction

3. Typical reinforcement detail for concrete beam

The typical reinforcement details of a concrete beam shall indicate the number of reinforcements, diameter and
length of reinforcement for both top and bottom reinforcements.

Fig.3: Typical reinforcement detail for concrete beam

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