Technical Report 59 Influence of tension stiffening on deflection of reinforced concrete structures

Publication Year

2004

Document Status

Current

Abstract

Loss of tension stiffening is one of three basic phenomena of concrete behaviour which leads to deflections increasing with time. It is related to the interaction of the reinforcement and the concrete. No formulae have been developed to predict how tension stiffening changes over time. In the long term, it reduces to about half its initial value. How rapidly this reduction occurs has not been studied. This makes it difficult to calculate the development of the deflections of slab structures with time. The research programme described in this report was mainly set up to solve this problem. It compares the methods of predicting deformations in BS 8110 and other design codes, including the forthcoming Eurocode 2. On the basis of the experimental work undertaken, simple modifications to the Codes are proposed to take account of the improved understanding of the behaviour of the concrete tension zone. Guidance is also given on the application of the improved understanding to non-linear programs for the serviceability limit state.

Document History

Accompanying CD ROM not available on The Construction Information Service.

ISBN

9781904482086

Publisher Information