6.

5 REINFORCEMENT
Reinforcement is the essential material in reinforced concrete structures. Therefore
special care should be given while preparing r/f for several types of work. Steel has a very large
strain capacity. This allows the steel bars to be bent into desired shapes.
At NIVASIEPURA housing scheme project, two types of r/f were available.
Mild steel (MS)
High yield steel (HYS)
The range of sizes of diameter available for deformed bars of HYS was 6, 10, 12, 16, 20,
& 25 mm with maximum length of 12 m.
The entire r/f requirement was supplied by external supplier and imported from India or
Malaysia depending on the requirement. The characteristic feature of the project was the
excessive quantity of r/f used for columns and beams in the base of NIVASIEPURA housing
scheme project. (E.g. bars of dia.25 mm) This was mainly done because of the structure had
designed to resist the possible coming from Earthquakes.
Usually 3 sets of drawings are provided for clear detailing.
General Arrangement of beams
Detail Drawings of beams & columns
Detail drawing for slab
The manner of referring to a particular type of bar is shown below.
20 T 16 73 150 B 1
20
T
16
73
150
B

No. of bars
Type of r/f
Diameter of the bar (in mm)
Bar Mark
Spacing, center to center
Position (Bottom outer layer)
Type of r/f

Notation

HYS

MS

6.6 BAR SCHEDULING

This is prepared in a standard manner. Variable factors such as position, bar No., shape
(mm), Piece and weight include on a bar schedule. We can reduce the wastage of bars by making
bar schedule before cutting and bending bar
The necessary r/f to be used should be prepared as a schedule in order to cut & made to the
required shapes. A particular format was used at the site to indicate the calculated cut length of
each Bar Mark & No. Of bars. The provided drawings for the reinforcement arrangement were
first referred & extracted necessary details.
In preparing bar schedules, chart was prepared and then the prepared bar schedules were
sent to the bar bending yard.
Using bar schedules it is easy to;
Cut & bent the bars in required length at the yard
Select bars at the site
Place them at correct place
Get quantities to prepare bills
6.7 FIXING THE STEEL R/F
Well trained bar benders was employed by the Subcontractors to fix the r/f. They had to
short out, carry, lift, support, position, and tie & secure this steel so that the concrete can be
poured & vibrated around it.
BEAM R/F
To ensure continuity from bottom to top bars, Stirrups & tie hooks were provided. Those
were bending out from small dia. Bars. No. of stirrups used for a job depends on the strength
which that element must be bare.
When depth was much greater, cracking should be well controlled. For this, longitudinal bars
were provided at the side faces.
Hogging bars were provided in a staggered fashion to increase the moment carrying capacity
of the beams.
SLAB R/F
At bottom, r/f was provided to resist tensile forces.
Generally when the slab is not expected to expose directly to the environment, it was
provided only with distribution bars at top inner layer. They were provided in the direction
perpendicular to the hogging bars of beam.

At the exposed area, a top net was also used throughout the slab, together with the bottom
net.
COLUMN R/F
To take high bending stresses at the ends of the column, lapping cranked bars extended
the starter bars. Shear links were provided using T10 & R6 bars.
There were three shapes of columns,

Square:
Usual size
= 225 mm x 225 mm
Minimum no. of r/f
=4
At beam, column joint, beam r/f were cranked to
Another plane.
Circular:
Usual size
Minimum no. of r/f

= 200 mm Diameter
=4

TYING OF BARS
The bars crossing one another were tied together at every intersection. Binding wires
were used for this purpose. They were twisted tightly to make the steelwork rigid. It prevents the
displacement of r/f during the time of concreting as well as vibrating.
To comply with the design requirements and the shape of the structure, bars are bend in to
different shapes and cut into specified lengths. Manual operations are carried out for bars with
smaller diameters and machinery is used for the others.
In manual operations, Laborers use a bench where strong nail are fixed, or hollow bars
with suitable lengths to bend bars with smaller diameters.

All the reinforcement bars are cut and bend in the site yard and lifted to the required level
by the tower crane or mobile crane. All the reinforcement bundles are clearly marked so that the
still fixers will not face any difficulty in selecting the correct bar.
LAP LENGTH
If the required length of bar was in the size, which is directly available, in no case it is
necessary to lap the bars. When offcut bars are to be used, lapping of bars is the way to
extend the bars to fit with the required length. Then proper lap length has to be maintained.
Lap length

= 45 x Bar diameter.

When a smaller bar is lapped with a larger bar, the lap length should always consider for
the smaller bar.
SPACERS AND COVER BLOCKS
The bars shall be kept in position by using spacers chairs or stools. Spacers shall be of
such material and designed as will be durable, not lead to corrosion of reinforcement nor cause
spalling of the concrete cover.
The following method shall be followed.
1. In the cause of beam and slab construction, pre cast cover blocks in cement mortar 1: 1
about 40 x 40mm section and of thickness equal to the specified cover shall be placed
between the bras and shuttering, so as to secure and maintain the requisite cover of
concrete over reinforcement.
2. In the case of cantilevered and doubly reinforced beams or slabs the verticals distance
between the horizontal bars shall be maintain by introducing chair spacers or support bars
of steel at 1.0 meter or at shorter spacing to avoid sagging.
In the case of columns and walls, the vertical bars shall be kept in positioned by means of
removable timber templates with slots accurately cut in then of cement mortar 1: 1 suitably
tied to the reinforcement
The quality of the reinforced concrete structures always depends on the clear cover
maintained at each place.
By providing cover in necessary amount, it is expected to protect steel from corrosion
due to contact with moisture. It also provides a fire resistance for few hours to the steel structure.
Cover blocks were prepared at site using 1:2(cement: sand) mixture.
The required amount of cover was given in the structural drawings.

ELEMENT

COVER (mm)

Beam -bottom
Sides

25
25

Slab

25

Column

25

PLACING OF REINFORECEMENT
The principal factors in placing bars are precision and convenience. The bars should be
placed accurately in the positions indicated in the detail drawing. Certain precautions are taken to
prevent displacement of reinforced bars during concreting there as follows.
The provision of cover blocks to maintain the correct positions of the bars in columns,
beams, slabs and walls for the sump.
CHAIRS OR STOOLS
Normally stools and chairs are placed between top and bottom slab layers to prevent them
touching when concreting. These stools are bent from tore steel to the desired height and need to
be of sufficient strength to support the bad impose. The load includes the weight of peoples,
wheelbarrows, Vibrators and etc. the standard shape of the stool is given in the following figure.