Singly-Reinforced Beam Analysis Example

CEE 3150 Reinforced Concrete Design

Your office is designing a simply supported beam subject to the loading shown below. The point
load is a live load with P = 15 kip, the distributed loads are wD = 0.7 kip/ft and wL = 1.2 kip/ft.
The span length is L = 30 ft. Your co-worker has given you the beam design shown below to
check. Material strengths are: fc0 = 4 kip/in2 , fy = 60 kip/in2 . Is the beam adequate?

16"

P
L/2
24"
wD , wL 26"
29"





 

 


6 #8







L

1. Factor Loads, Compute Mu

We will compute the maximum factored load, Mu , by considering the distributed and point
loads separately. The service (unfactored) distributed dead load, wD , is less than eight
times the distributed live load, wL , and there are no other load types, so equation (9-2)
of {ACI 9.2.1} controls when calculating the factored distributed load, wu :

wu = 1.2wD + 1.6wL = 1.2(0.7 kip/ft) + 1.6(1.2 kip/ft) = 2.8 kip/ft (1)

For a constant distributed load, the maximum moment occurs at midspan. We are interested
in the worst case, so this is the moment that will be used as the factored load, Mu,dist :
wu L2 2.8 kip/ft(30 ft)2
Mu,dist = = = 311 kipft (2)
8 8
Considering just the live point load, the shear and moment diagrams are:
P/2
Shear

L/2 L/2
P / 2

Moment
Mmax= PL / 4

The maximum moment occurs at midspan just as with the distributed loading and is equal to
P L/4. To get the maximum factored load, use Pu = 1.6P in place of P :
Pu L (1.6P )L 1.6(15 kip)30 ft
Mu,point = = = = 180 kipft (3)
4 4 4
1
 The total factored moment is the sum of the factored moments from the distributed loading
and the point loading in Equation 2 and Equation 3, respectively.

Mu = Mu,dist + Mu,point = 311 kipft + 180 kipft = 491 kipft (4)

2. Check minimum steel. Use a weighted average to determine d:

4(26 in) + 2(24 in)

d= = 25.3 in (5)
6
Now calculate As and ensure it is more than the minimum.

As = 6(0.79 in2 ) = 4.74 in2 (6)

p
3 fc0 3 4, 000 lb/in2
As,min = bw d = 16 in(25.3 in) = 1.28 in2 < As (7)
fy 60, 000 lb/in2
200bw d 200 lb/in2 (16 in)(25.3 in)
= = 1.35 in2 < As (8)
fy 60, 000 lb/in2

The steel area, As , is greater than both required minimums from the code.

3. Compute T , C, a, c. Assuming the steel has yielded:

T = fy As = 60 kip/in2 (4.74 in2 ) = 284 kip (9)

By equilibrium, C = T . Calculating the compressive force, C, as the equivalent force from

the concrete compressive stress:
C = 0.85fc0 ab (10)
Solving for a:
C T 284 kip
a= 0
= 0
= = 5.2 in (11)
0.85fc b 0.85fc b 0.85(4 kip/in2 )(16 in)
For 4,000 psi concrete, 1 = 0.85:
a 5.2 in
c= = = 6.2 in (12)
1 0.85

4. Check minimum steel strain.

c 6.2 in
= = 0.237 0.375 (13)
dt 26 in
Section is tension-controlled. Thus, the steel has yielded as assumed in the previous step and
the section meets minimum steel strain requirements of the code.

5. Compute Mn , check Mn Mu . For a tension-controlled section: = 0.9.

  
 a 5.2 in 1 ft
Mn = T d = 284 kip 25.3 in = 538 kipft (14)
2 2 12 in
Mn = 0.9(538 kipft) = 484 kipft < Mu = 491 kipft (15)

The beam is not adequateit should be redesigned for greater strength.