Doubly reinforced beams

Concrete has very good compressive strength and almost negligible tensile
strength. Hence, steel reinforcement is used on the tensile side of concrete. Thus,
singly reinforced beams reinforced on the tensile face are good both in compression
and tension. However, these beams have their respective limiting moments of
resistance with specified width, depth and grades of concrete and steel. The amount of
steel reinforcement needed is known as Ast,lim. Problem will arise, therefore, if such
a section is subjected to bending moment greater than its limiting moment of
resistance as a singly reinforced section.
There are two ways to solve the problem. First, we may increase the depth of the
beam, which may not be feasible in many situations. In those cases, it is possible to
increase both the compressive and tensile forces of the beam by providing steel
reinforcement in compression face and additional reinforcement in tension face of the
beam without increasing the depth (Fig1). The total compressive force of such beams
comprises (i) force due to concrete in compression and (ii) force due to steel in
compression. The tensile force also has two components: (i) the first provided by
Ast,lim which is equal to the compressive force of concrete in compression. The second
part is due to the additional steel in tension - its force will be equal to the compressive
force of steel in compression. Such reinforced concrete beams having steel
reinforcement both on tensile and compressive faces are known as doubly reinforced
beams.
Doubly reinforced beams, therefore, have moment of resistance more than the
singly reinforced beams of the same depth for particular grades of steel and concrete.
In many practical situations, architectural or functional requirements may restrict
the overall depth of the beams.
It may be noted that even in so called singly reinforced beams there would be
longitudinal hanger bars (or stirrup holders) in compression zone for locating and fixing
stirrups.

Fig 1

Reinforced concrete beams with compression reinforcement is required in cases where the depth
of the beam is restricted and the singly reinforced section is insufficient to resist the moment of
the section. It can be considered as a combination of:
a- A singly reinforced beam with limiting value of moment of resistance
b- A steel beam without any concrete but reinforced with tension and compression steel
Moment of resistance of a doubly reinforced section is the sum of moments of resistance
of (a) and (b)
Mu,1 = limiting moment of resistance of the singly reinforced section = K bd 2
Where K = 0.149 for Fe 250
= 0.138 for Fe 415 and 0.133 for Fe 500
Mu,2 = Moment capacity of the steel beam section, neglecting the effect of concrete
=

(fsc- fcc )x Asc (d-d)Where

fsc stress in compression steel when strain in topmost compression fibres of concrete
reaches a maximum value of 0.0035 (Table F in SP 16 reproduced below as table 1)

fcc stress in concrete at a distance d from the top fibres = 0.447 fck
Asc
d-

Area of compression steel

Effective depth of beam

top surface

and

d-

depth of compression reinforcement from the

Table 1 Values of fsc for different values of d'/d

fy
2
(N/mm )
250
415
500

d'/d
0.05
217.4
355
412

0.10
217.4
353
412

0.15
217.4
342
395

0.20
217.4
329
370

Strain at
yield
0.0010869
0.0038043
0.0041739

(ref. table F of SP-16)

Design type of problems
In the design type of problems, the given data are b, d, D, grades of concrete and steel. The
designer has to determine Asc and Ast of the beam from the given factored moment. These
problems can be solved by two ways: (i) use of the equations developed for the doubly
reinforced beams, named here as direct computation method, (ii) use of charts and tables of SP16.
(a) Direct computation method
Step 1: To determine Mu, lim and Ast, lim from Eqs. 1 and 2respectively.
Mu,1 = limiting moment of resistance of the singly reinforced section = K bd 2.1

Where K = 0.149 for Fe 250

= 0.138 for Fe 415 and 0.133 for Fe 500
Ast1 = Mu,lim / 0.87 fy (d-0.42 Xu,max)

Step 2: To determine Mu2, Asc, Ast2 and Ast from Eqs.

Mu2 or Mad = Md Mu,lim

This additional moment needs to be resisted by Ast1 and Asc.
Ast2 =

Mad/ 0.87 fy (d-d)

Ast = Ast1+ Ast2

Compression Steel Asc =

Mad/ (fsc- fcc ) (d-d)

Steel in the compression zone replaces concrete of equal area. Hence

(fsc- fcc ) instead of just fsc.

Example:
A concrete beam of rectangular cross section 250mm x 550 mm
(overall) is to be designed for resisting a factored moment of 225 kNm.
Determine the steel area required. Assume effective cover of 50mm)
Use M20 concrete and HYSD bars of grade 415.
Data: b=250mm; d= D- eff.cover= 550-50=500; d=50mm; Md=
225x106 Nmm
Assuming a balance section of size 250mmX 550mm,
Mu,lim = 0.138 fck bd2 = 0.138 x 20 x 5002 = 173.5 x 106 N.mm =
173.5kNm < Md
Ast1 (corrosponding to Mu,lim) = Mu,lim/ 0.87fy (d-0.42Xu,max)
Xu,max= 0.48 d = 0.48 x 500 = 240mm
Ast1= 173.5 x 106/ 0.87 x 415 (500- 0.42x 240)

= 1200.3mm2
Ast2 is calculated from additional moment.
Md Mu,lim = 225-173.5 = 51.5kNm = Mad
Additional tension steel Ast2 = Mad/ 0.87 fy (d-d) *
here is d-d]
=

[* lever arm

51.5x 106 / 0.87 x 415 x (500-50)

= 316.9mm2
Ast = Ast1+ Ast2 = 1200 +316.9 = 1517 mm2
( provide four numbers of 22 mm dia bars , Ast= 1520 mm2)
Asc = Mad/ (fsc- fcc ) (d-d)
fsc is found from from Table F of SP16 (reproduced above as Table 1).
D/d = 50/500 = 0.1 ; for Fe 415 and d/d= 0.1 , fsc = 353 MPa [ Table
gives d/d values of 0.05,0.1, 0.15 and 0.20. For intermediate values
interpolation may be done)
fcc = 0.446 fck = 0.446x 20 = 8.94 MPa
Substituting these values in eqn for Asc = Mad/ (fsc- fcc ) (d-d)
= 51.5x 106 / (353-8.94) (500-50)
=332.6 mm2
Provide 3 no. 12mm dia bars Asc = 339 mm2
(Draw a section of the beam marking dimensions and labeling the
bars)

Method 2: Using SP 16
1. Calculate Mu,lim assuming singly reinforced balanced section.
Mu,lim = 0.138 fck bd2 = 0.138 x 20 x 5002 = 173.5 x 106 N.mm =
173.5kNm
This is less than Md, which is equal to 225 kNm

Hence beam shall be designed as doubly reinforced beam.

Doubly reinforced sections % steel is given in Table 45 onwards in SP
16 for various values of M/bd2, d/d, fy and fck.
M/bd2 = 225x106/ 250 x 500 x 500 = 3.6 N/ mm2
Reading from Table 50 for Fe 415 and fck=20, for d/d = 0.1
Tension steel % Pt =1.214 = Ast = Pt x b x d /100
= 1.214 x 250 x 500/100 = 1517 mm2
Compression Pc = 0.271 = Asc = Pc X bxd/100
= 0.271 x 250x500/100 =338.75 mm2