Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

Dr. NAGY‐GYÖRGY Tamás
Professor

E‐mail: 
tamas.nagy‐gyorgy@upt.ro

Tel:
+40 256 403 935

Web:
http://www.ct.upt.ro/users/TamasNagyGyorgy/index.htm 

Office:
A219

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

2.2 BEHAVIOR FOR TORSION

2.3 DESIGN MODEL

2.4 CALCULATION FOR TORSION

2.5 DETAILING OF REINFORCEMENT

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 2

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

BASIC LOADS IN A RC CROSS SECTION

AXIAL FORCES TANGENTIAL FORCES

NORMAL STRESSES TANGENTIAL STRESSES
⁄ ⁄

CENTRIC COMPRESSION/TENSION SHEAR FORCE

BENDING MOMENT TORSION

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 3

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

COMPLEX LOADS IN A RC CROSS SECTION

AXIAL FORCES TANGENTIAL FORCES

COMPRESSION/TENSION  SHEAR COMBINED WITH 
WITH ECCENTRICITY TORSION

Causes of torsion a) structural continuity 
b) space configuration of structures

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 4

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

Examples when torsion arise

 RUNWAY GIRDER FOR CRANE BRIDGE

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 5

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

Examples when torsion arise

 RUNWAY GIRDER FOR CRANE BRIDGE

P
H P
H
e

P
H
Applied torque = H x e
(cuplu)

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 6

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

Examples when torsion arise

 CAST‐IN‐PLACE EDGE BEAMS (FLOOR OF THE AUDITORIUM)
Cast‐in‐situ girder

Precast girder
SECTION
Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 7
Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

Examples when torsion arise

 BEAMS WITH SLAB IN CANTILEVER

Direcții de descărcare Load resultant

Beams with torsion

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 8

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

Examples when torsion arise

 BEAMS WITH SLAB IN CANTILEVER

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 9

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

Examples when torsion arise

 CURVED BEAMS  INTZE WATER TANK

Only vertical forces are  (1843 – 1902)

transmitted to the tower

Circular beam

Line of supports

Maximum 
eccentricity

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 10

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

EQUILIBRIUM (PRIMARY) TORSION

‐ static equilibrium of a structure depends on the torsional resistance 
‐ full torsional design shall be made

Canopy

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 11

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

COMPATIBILITY (SECONDARY) TORSION

‐ torsion arises from consideration of compatibility
‐ the structure is not dependent on the torsional resistance
‐ it will normally be unnecessary to consider torsion at the ultimate limit state
‐ a minimum reinforcement should be provided

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 12

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

COMPATIBILITY (SECONDARY) TORSION

Secondary beam

Torsional stiffness of the girder is very low compared with 
the secondary beam  Redistribution of stresses

Secondary beam: 
‐ Torsional stiffness could be neglected
‐ Design in ULS is not necessary GIRDER
‐ Supplementary longitudinal reinforcement will be placed 
in zone with negative moment

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 13

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

COMPATIBILITY & EQUILIBRIUM TORSION

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 14

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

PLAIN CONCRETE TORSION

Failure of plain concrete for torsion

elastic stage  plastic stage
failure     
failure 
section
section
cracks 

cracks 

concrete prism
concrete cylinder

Cross sections before and after torsion remains plain  Due to torsion the cross sections do not remain plain 
 the principle of plain cross sections is valid  the principle of plain cross sections does not 
applicable, it is not valid
(Prof. Clipii T.)

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 15

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

PLAIN CONCRETE TORSION

, →
2  2 
2

Trajectories of principal stresses

1

45

1 45
2 45

SKEWED SECTION  (Prof. Clipii T.)

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 16

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

PLAIN CONCRETE TORSION

If it is accepted that in the moment of failure the concrete is fully plasticized:

→
 

and

1
3
6 

where
‐ section modulus for torsion
‐ the smallest dimension of the section whichever the section orientation is
‐ the greatest dimension of the section

(Prof. Clipii T.)

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 17

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

2.2 BEHAVIOR FOR TORSION

2.3 DESIGN MODEL

2.4 CALCULATION FOR TORSION

2.5 DETAILING OF REINFORCEMENT

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 18

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

FAILURE IN TORSION

a) PLAIN CONCRETE

b) REINFORCED CONCRETE 
 longitudinal reinforcements in the corners of the cross section + closed stirrups

Failure of elements subjected to 
 yielding of reinforcements in skewed section (longitudinal and/or 
transversal) followed by crushing of compression concrete

OR

 crushing of compression concrete (for over‐reinforced elements) ↔ 
brittle failure  must be avoided

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 19

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

relation

Tangential  Principal 
stresses stresses
(kNm) crack
Torsional stiffness
before cracking

Crack track
C

A
B

Torsional stiffness
after cracking

0 (grade)
Torsional angle
Depending on the correlation 
between  ,  ,  the 
compressed concrete position 
could be changed.

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 20

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

Experimental tests on RC elements were demonstrated that:
 Differences in capacity for torsion of rectangular solid and tubular cross sections 
are not important, thus the contribution of the core concrete could be neglected for 
torsion calculations.
(kNm)

(grade)

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 21

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

Experimental tests on RC elements were demonstrated that:
 Crack pattern of a RC beam subjected to torsion is very similar with an element 
subjected to shear

(Prof. Kovács I, DE)

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 22

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

Experimental tests on RC elements were demonstrated that:
 Cracks resulting from torsion are forming coherent and continues crack pattern 
peripherally to the beam

unfolded mantle

(Prof. Kovács I, DE)

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 23

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

Experimental tests on RC elements were demonstrated that:
 Concrete zones between torsional cracks could be considered compressed 
concrete bars 

unfolded mantle

(Prof. Kovács I, DE)

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 24

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

 Tensile stresses perpendicular to torsional cracks are taken by the longitudinal 
and transversal reinforcements from the cross section

unfolded mantle
unfolded mantle with 
stirrup vertical  longitudinal and transversal 
branch reinforcement
stirrup 
horizontal 
longitudinal bar
branch

Limit equilibrium model

(Prof. Kovács I, DE)

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 25

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

 Tensile stresses perpendicular to torsional cracks are taken by the longitudinal 
and transversal reinforcements from the cross section

Limit equilibrium model

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 26

Slide 26

TNG1 collins and mitchel - Shear and Torsion Design of Prestressed and Non-Prestressed Concrete Beams, PCI J 1980
Tamas Nagy Gyorgy, 28-Feb-17
Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

 Tensile stresses perpendicular to torsional cracks are taken by the longitudinal 
and transversal reinforcements from the cross section

Space truss model

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 27

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

2.2 BEHAVIOR FOR TORSION

2.3 DESIGN MODEL

2.4 CALCULATION FOR TORSION

2.5 DETAILING OF REINFORCEMENT

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 28

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

The torsional resistance of a section may be calculated on the basis of a thin‐walled 
closed section.
A – center‐line, enclosing area Ak
Ak Ak – area enclosed by the center‐
line, including inner hollow areas
uk – perimeter of area Ak
u  u – outer perimeter
zi ‐ side length of wall i
t – torsional shear stress
teft c – concrete cover
tef – effective wall thickness
uk

Equilibrium is satisfied by a closed shear flow teft

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 29

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

The torsional resistance of a section may be calculated on the basis of a thin‐walled 
closed section.

2
Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 30
Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

The torsional resistance of a section may be calculated on the basis of a thin‐walled 
closed section.
Center axis

Center axis

2 2
Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 31
Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

The torsional resistance of a section may be calculated on the basis of a thin‐walled 
closed section.
Center axis

Center axis

uk

2 2
Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 32
Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

The torsional resistance of a section may be calculated on the basis of a thin‐walled 
closed section.

Center axis

, 2

Why equivalent thin‐walled 
sections?
The greatest shear stresses are at 
edge of the cross section

Center axis

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 33

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

For complex shapes:

‐ may be divided into a series of sub‐sections
‐ every sub‐sections is modeled as an equivalent thin‐walled section
‐ for non‐solid sections the equivalent wall thickness should not exceed the actual wall 
thickness
‐ each sub‐section may be designed separately
‐ the distribution of the acting torsional moment over the sub‐sections should be in 
proportion to their uncracked torsional stiffnesses

I ti
TEd,i  TEd
 I ti
I t  hb 3

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 34

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

For complex shapes:

‐ may be divided into a series of sub‐sections
‐ every sub‐sections is modeled as an equivalent thin‐walled section
‐ for non‐solid sections the equivalent wall thickness should not exceed the actual wall 
thickness
‐ each sub‐section may be designed separately
‐ the distribution of the acting torsional moment over the sub‐sections should be in 
proportion to their uncracked torsional stiffnesses

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 35

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

Every wall includes a truss  3D truss

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 36

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

Every wall includes a truss  3D truss

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 37

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

Every wall includes a truss  3D truss

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 38

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

Every wall includes a truss  3D truss

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 39

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

Every wall includes a truss  3D truss

1) The effects of torsion and shear may be superimposed, assuming the same value 
for the strut inclination ; the same angle  in every wall.
2) The distribution of stirrups is constant along the element.
3) Longitudinal bars are distributed around the section; for calculation reasons
longitudinal reinforcement is concentrated in the four corners.
4) TEd is replace by a flow of shear ttef

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 40

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

2.2 BEHAVIOR FOR TORSION

2.3 DESIGN MODEL

2.4 CALCULATION FOR TORSION

2.5 DETAILING OF REINFORCEMENT

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 41

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

Σ 0
· · ·2 · · ·2
2 2

shear force  shear force 
for wall “ ” for wall “ ”

 shear force for a wall:
2

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 42

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

CAPACITY OF COMPRESSION STRUTS 
Structural elements are subjected to 

 shear stresses are induced

 should take account superposition of the effects of torsion and shear

V T
M+ T

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 43

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

CAPACITY OF COMPRESSION STRUTS 
FOR APPROXIMATELY RECTANGULAR SOLID SECTIONS

Calculation for combined   NO 1 YES  no reinforcement 

shear and torsion is required , , calculation required

Where
, 2 ‐ torsional cracking moment, with 

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 44

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

CAPACITY OF COMPRESSION STRUTS 
THE MAXIMUM RESISTANCE OF A MEMBER SUBJECTED TO TORSION AND SHEAR 
IS LIMITED BY THE CAPACITY OF THE CONCRETE STRUTS

reconsider of   NO 1 YES  next step = reinforcement

the cross section , , calculation

Notes about  ,
‐ in solid cross sections the full width of the web may be used
‐ for non‐solid sections replace  by 

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 45

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

CAPACITY OF COMPRESSED STRUTS 
THE MAXIMUM RESISTANCE OF A MEMBER SUBJECTED TO TORSION AND SHEAR 
IS LIMITED BY THE CAPACITY OF THE CONCRETE STRUTS
Σ 0

/

 2

resisting torque by 
compression strut 
for 
EC2: , 2
Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 46
Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

LONGITUDINAL REINFORCEMENT CALCULATION

‐ longitudinal reinforcement uniformly distributed on perimeter 

‐ longitudinal reinforcement for a wall

‐ corresponding tensile force in the wall

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 47

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

LONGITUDINAL REINFORCEMENT CALCULATION

Σ 0

But  


2

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 48

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

LONGITUDINAL REINFORCEMENT CALCULATION
and
2

resisting torque by longitudinal bars for 

 , 2

Required area of the longitudinal bars is obtained from  ,


2
Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 49
Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

STIRRUP CALCULATION

‐ stirrup area distributed on unit length

‐ area of all stirrups on length 

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 50

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

STIRRUP CALCULATION

Σ 0


 

for  the resisting torque is obtained 
2
,

Required stirrups are obtained from  ,


2
Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 51
Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

2.2 BEHAVIOR FOR TORSION

2.3 DESIGN MODEL

2.4 CALCULATION FOR TORSION

2.5 DETAILING OF REINFORCEMENT

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 52

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

Structural elements are subjected to 
 should take account of  superposition of the effects of all the effects


‐
‐ / / /

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 53

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

2 A

M+V A
2 s
4
A
A
4 A
T
1 s
2 A
+T

2 M+V+T
+ 
2
2 s ·s
s s

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 54

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

The torsion links should be closed and be anchored by means of laps or hooked 
ends and should form an angle of 90° with the axis of the structural element.

hook

bend

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 55

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

To anchor corner bars special shape reinforcements are used.

 l0

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 56

Reinforced Concrete II. / Beton Armat II.

Dr. NAGY‐GYÖRGY Tamás
Professor

E‐mail:  tamas.nagy‐gyorgy@upt.ro
Tel: +40 256 403 935
Web: http://www.ct.upt.ro/users/TamasNagyGyorgy/index.htm 
400 Office: A219

50

50

Dr.ing. Nagy‐György T.   Faculty of Civil Engineering 57