LAYOUTS: Plate Concrete Reinforcement (RC)

Description

Defines concrete reinforcement layouts that can be assigned to plate elements as attributes for reinforcement design calculations.

The LAYOUTS: Plate RC sub-tab is divided into two panes: reinforcement layout list on the left, and reinforcement data on the right.

Reinforcement Layout List

Situated on the left of the window, it lists the available reinforcement layouts.

Data and Capacity Pane

Situated on the right of the window, it consists of two tabs:

Toolbar Functions

See LAYOUTS: Common Controls.

In addition to the common controls, the following functions are available:

Import RC layout data

Imports design, material and geometry parameters from the reinforcement layout library into the current reinforcement layout. The function can also be executed on multiple reinforcement layouts at once by multi-selecting the layout names in the list: the same data will then be imported into all the selected layouts.

See Plate RC: Import/Export RC Layout Data.

Export RC layout data

Exports the design, material and geometry parameters from the current reinforcement layout into the reinforcement layout library.

See Plate RC: Import/Export RC Layout Data.

Show legend

Shows or hides the graph legend when viewing the interaction diagram in the Diagram tab.

Copy graph image to clipboard

Copies the diagram to the clipboard as an image, when viewing the interaction diagram in the Diagram tab.

Copy data points

Copies to the clipboard as text, the force and moment values used to define the interaction diagram in the Diagram tab.

Graph Options

Opens the Plate RC: Graph Options dialog where graph display parameters (colours, fonts, scale, etc.) can be set when viewing the interaction diagram in the Diagram tab.

Layout tab

DESIGN

Code

Three options are offered:

  1. AS3600 (Australian code);
  2. EC2 (EN1992-1-1 Eurocode); and
  3. ACI 318 (American code).

The main difference between these is in the way some of the parameters are specified and the nomenclature used. Ultimately the calculation is the same due to the general method used by Straus7. This means that it is possible to use the functionality for most other national codes by using analogous parameters.

Method

Wood-Armer Force

Three calculation options are available:

See Wood-Armer Forces in Straus7 for more information.

Thickness

As plate/shell elements in Straus7 can have different membrane and bending thickness, this option selects the thickness to use in the reinforcement calculations. Two options are offered:

Diagram nomenclature

MATERIAL

Concrete material data

Defines the material and stress block limits for the concrete.

Steel material data

Defines the material properties and area limits for the reinforcement.

Reduction factor

Quick functions

Clicking the MATERIAL header shows a popup menu enabling the selection of typical code-specific concrete and steel data for quick assignment to the reinforcement layout. The options to clear the concrete and/or steel data are also given.

GEOMETRY

Layout

If Symmetric is set, layer 1 is positioned closer to the -z surface than layer 2.

If Anti-symmetric is set, layer 2 is positioned closer to the -z surface than layer 1.

Bar diameters

Up to four bar diameters may be entered to define the cross section diameters of steel bars from layer 1 to layer 4, illustrated as d1 to d4 , respectively. Layers with a bar diameter of zero are excluded from the calculations.

Bar spacings

Up to four bar spacings may be entered. These define the spacing between steel bars in each individual layer, as illustrated in the figures above. Bar spacing of zero will predict a diameter of zero.

Cover

c1 is the cover on the -z surface and c2 is the cover on the +z surface, as shown in the figures above.

Colours

For checking and identification purposes, the bar directions may be drawn on the plate elements using these colours.

Two colours may be selected, one colour for the bars in layers 1 and 3, and another for the bars in layers 2 and 4.

As_b (base)

The steel reinforcement is represented as a smeared uniform layer of constant thickness, sandwiched between concrete layers. The minimum area of the reinforcement per unit width of slab, usually specified by various concrete codes, is defined as the ratio of equivalent thickness of smeared steel bars, ts, to the concrete slab thickness, t.

Diagram tab

Calculates the bending moment capacity of the defined reinforcement layout for a given concrete thickness as a function of its axial force. The result is a force-moment interaction diagram for interaction in each of the two directions: layers 1-2 and layers 2-3.

Calculate

If set, the capacity in the particular direction of steel reinforcement is calculated.

Include

If set, the particular layer of steel reinforcement is considered for the calculation of capacity.

Thickness

The thickness of the concrete slab that is reinforced according to the current reinforcement layout.

Recalculate

Recalculates and updates the interaction diagram.

See Also