Review of design philosophy:

A design philosophy is a set of assumptions and procedures which are used to meet the
conditions of serviceability, safety, economy and functionality of the structure. Several design
philosophies have been introduced from different parts of the world. Some of the design
philosophies that has been used by engineers are

1. Working Stress Method(WSM)/ Allowable Stress Design (ASD)

2. Ultimate Load Method (ULM)
3. Limit State Method(LSM)

The earliest one is working stress method, which was introduced in 20th century. This is based
on linear elastic theory. This method was used in IS 456 till revision IS 456:2000. In 1950s
Ultimate Load method was introduced which is based on the ultimate load which can be carried
out by material. Its acceptance can be seen in ACI code in 1956 and British codes in 1957 and
Indian codes in 1964. The most recently accepted code of practice is based on Limit State
method. This is used in IS 456 from revision IS 456:2000, British code CP 110(1973) (now BS
8110(1997)) and ACI 318-71 (now ACI 318-95).

Working Stress Method/ Allowable Stress Design

Working stress method is used for the design of Reinforced concrete, Steel and Timber
structures. The main assumption in the WSM is that the behaviour of structural material is
restricted with in linear-elastic region and the safety of it is ensured by restricting the stresses
coming on the members by working loads. Thus the allowable stresses will come in the linear
portion (i.e., initial phase) of the stress-strain curve. Thus a factor of safety was introduced to
the design

“Factor of safety is the ratio of strength of material to the permissible stress”

Yielding of Steel – Stress Strain Curve

When we consider the effect of creep, shrinkage, stress concentrations and others secondary
effects the assumption of material behavior in the elastic range will not hold. These will lead
to increase of stresses into the inelastic range. WSM cannot account for loads acting
simultaneously, but has different degrees of uncertainty. It cannot account for the loads having
counteracting effects, such as dead load and wind load. The above will lead to non-conservative
design. Working Stress method will lead to large FOS and over-sized sections, thus reducing
the design economy.

WSM is still being using in special structures such as water tanks, chimneys in India. Elastic
regions holds good in serviceability checks such as crack width, deflection etc.

Ultimate Load Method

This is also known as load factor method or ultimate strength method. In this we make use of
the nonlinear region of stress strain curves of steel and concrete. The safety is ensured by
introducing load factor.

“Load factor is the ratio of ultimate strength to the service loads”

The ULM makes it possible to consider the effects of different loads acting simultaneously thus
solving the shortcomings of WSM. As the ultimate strength of the material is considered we
will get much slender sections for columns and beams compared to WSM method. But the
serviceability criteria is not met because of large deflections and cracks in the sections. The
fall-back in the method was that even though the nonlinear stress strain behaviour of was
considered sections but the nonlinear analysis of the structural was not carried out for the load
effects. Thus the stress distribution at ultimate load was just the magnification of service load
by load factor following the linear elastic theory.

Limit State Method

This philosophy is an advancement over the traditional design philosophies. It considers the
safety at the ultimate load and serviceability at the working load, sort of extension of the WSM
and ULM.

“Limit state is the state of impending failure, beyond which a structure ceases to perform its
intended function satisfactorily, in terms of either safety or serviceability.”

There are 2 types of limit states

1. Ultimate Limit State: It considers strength, overturning, fatigue, sliding etc.

2. Serviceability Limit State: It considers crack width, deflection, vibration etc.
Spalling of Concrete slab due to corrosion

It uses multiple safety factors for the required safety and serviceability at the ultimate load and
working load respectively by considering all limit states. These are called “partial safety
factors”.

Partial safety factor for materials:

The strength of concrete in actual structure is taken as (0.67 *characteristic strength), i.e. 0.67
fck. The partial safety factor (for ultimate limit state) for concrete is 1.5 and that for steel is 1.15.
The value is higher for concrete as it is expected to have more variability compared to steel. The
partial safety factor (for serviceability limit state) for concrete and that for steel is taken as 1.0.
This is taken as unity as we are interested in estimating the actual deflections are crack width
during service loads.

Partial safety factor for loads:

Various load combinations is specified in IS 456 are

For Ultimate limit states

 UL = 1.5(DL+LL)
 UL = 1.5(DL+QL) OR 0.9DL+1.5QL
 UL = 1.2(DL+LL+QL)

The load factor of 1.2 is considered for the combination of three because the probability of the
three loads reaching its peak together are less.

For serviceability limit states

 SL = 1.0 (DL+LL)
 SL = 1.0 (DL+QL)
 SL = 1.0DL+ 0.8LL+ 0.8 QL

The load factor is taken as 0.8 in the third case as the probability of wind load or earthquake
load acting with the peak of live load is less. For all cases the safety factor is taken as 1.0 as
we are considering the serviceability of structure here.

Where DL is dead load, LL is live load and QL is earthquake/wind load.

Properties of structural concrete:

Properties of Hardened Concrete

Flexural Strength Test Arrangement

The following are the properties of concrete in its hardened state, used by the designer during
design process of reinforced concrete structure.

1. Compressive Strength

The characteristics strength is defined as the strength of concrete below which not more than
5% of the test results are expected to fall. As per IS: 456 concrete mix always designed for the
target strength computed as,

Target strength: Characteristics strength + (1.65 x standard deviation)

M20 is the minimum grade of concrete for use in RCC work.

2. Tensile Strength

Flexural strength is one measure of the Tensile strength of concrete. In concrete structure one
set of visible cracks occur under flexure to compute load factor against cracking .According to
IS: 456 the tensile strength of concrete can be computed from the compressive strength using
empirical relation given by:

Flexural strength: fcr=0.7√fck N/mm2

3. Modulus Elasticity

Modulus of elasticity of concrete which is significantly influenced by the following factors.

 Type of the aggregates used,

 Type of cement and
 Mix proportions

This property is required for the computations of deflections of structural concrete members
which forms an important limit state in the design of concrete members. In the absence of test
data, the modulus of elasticity of concrete is normally related to the compressive strength and
is computed by the empirical relation recommended by IS: 456-2000 code and is expressed as,
Ec=5000√fck

Where Ec is the short term static modulus of elasticity of concrete expressed in N/mm2

fck is the characteristic compressive strength of concrete expressed in N/mm2.

4. Shrinkage of Concrete

The ingredients of concrete and environmental conditions like temperature and humidity
influence the total shrinkage of concrete. Water content in concrete significantly affects the
shrinkage. The IS: 456-2000 recommends the total shrinkage strain as 0.0003 in the absence
of test data. Drying shrinkage in plain concrete may result in surface cracks. Shrinkage of
concrete also influences the deflections of reinforced concrete members.

5. Creep of Concrete

The inelastic time dependent strain developed in a concrete emeber under sustained loading is
refered to as creep of concrete. Creep of concrete is influenced by following factors.

 Cement content,
 W/C ratio,
 Temperature and humidity,
 Size of structural element,
 Type of loading and period of loading.

In the absence of reliable experimental data, the creep coefficient is expressed as the ratio of
ultimate creep strain/elastic strain at various ages of loading as recommended by IS: 456-2000
are given below.

Age at Loading Creep Coefficient

7 days 2.2

28 days 1.6

1 year 1.1

Creep of concrete significantly affects the deflections of reinforced concrete flexural members.
Higher creep coefficient results in large deflections. The value of creep coefficient is useful in
the computation of time dependent deflections in reinforced concrete members.

6. Coefficient of Thermal Expansion

The coefficient of thermal expansion of concrete, influenced mainly by the type of aggregate
used in concrete is required for the design of structures like chimneys, water tanks, silos etc.
the values recommended in IS:456-2000 are compiled below.
 Coefficient of Thermal Expansion for
Type of Aggregate
Concrete

Quartzite 1.2 to 1.3 x 10-5

Sandstone 0.9 to 1.2 x 10-5

Granite 0.7 to 0.95 x 10-5

Basalt 0.8 to 0.95 x 10-5

Lime stone 0.6 to 0.9 x 10-5