CONCRETE Advice

CONCRETE ADVICE No. 04

Congested reinforcement:
effects on placing and
compacting concrete
Dick Roberts BSc CEng MICE FCS

Congested reinforcement can lead to many problems of placing and compacting

concrete. The result is poorly compacted areas into which no concrete has penetrated, and, in certain cases, areas where the coarse aggregate has been strained
out of the concrete by the reinforcement, resulting in the cover being a pure
cement/sand grout. Due to the lack of coarse aggregate this material has a higher
drying shrinkage, resulting in surface cracking and crazing and the consequent
loss of durability of the structure.
Typically, heavily congested reinforcement occurs at beam/beam and
beam/column junctions and in bridge deck slabs. In these cases the congested
reinforcement is often seen to be a problem prior to placing the concrete. In other
cases, such as heavily reinforced walls and columns, access for placing and compacting the concrete down the centre of the wall or column is easy but getting the
concrete through the congested reinforcement into the cover area can be difficult.
This document is intended to provide appropriate advice to designers and contractors.

General

Concrete can be placed and fully compacted in areas of heavily congested reinforcement, but this requires both good
detailing on the part of the designer and
good planning and control on the part of
the contractor to ensure that there are no
problems. Advice for designers and contractors is given in the following Sections.
2

Advice to designers

Designers and detailers should be aware

of and follow the rules given in BS 8110:
Part 1 for the maximum amounts and
minimum spacing of reinforcement in a
section. The reinforcement should be

detailed so that concrete can be placed

and compacted using normal methods.
Consideration should be given to the
cover in congested areas as too little may
prevent the concrete flowing around the
bars into the cover zone.
Remember that a line on a drawing representing, say, a 25 mm bar is not to scale
and that a nominal 25 mm diameter bar is
in practice nearly 30 mm in diameter on
site due to the deformations and the use of
tying wires.
Where it is believed that the reinforcement is congested, i.e. at a beam/beam
junction, draw out the junction to scale,
putting in the bars to the overall
dimensions given by the steel suppliers.
Check this sketch to see if a 75 mm or
50 mm diameter poker vibrator can pass
through the congested reinforcement.

Allow for the fact in this exercise

that bars vertically above each other
will be slightly displaced in plan,
and therefore three layers of 25 mm
(nominal) diameter bars at 150 mm
pitch vertically above each other
will not result in a 120(150 - 30) mm
gap but may result in a gap of 75 mm
or less in some instances.
Do not forget that where bars are
lapped the amount of steel is
doubled. In such cases consider staggering the laps so that they do not all
occur at the same position.
Remember also that a beam stirrup
shape code 61 is lapped on one top
corner, resulting in double the
amount of reinforcement transversely across part or the whole of
the top of the beam, depending upon
the beam width and the bar diameter.
3

Advice to
contractors

When examining reinforcement

drawings, remember that lines on
drawings do not represent the
diameter of a bar when actually in
position.
Prior to concreting, discuss with the
concrete supplier the type of concrete
to be used, including size of
aggregate and consistence. The use
of 10 mm maximum sized aggregate
is not a cure all and can often lead
to other problems such as a stickier
mix that is more difficult to place and
one that may not give a good finish.
In situations where aggregate
straining occurs it may be the only
option. However, the cement content

will increase, therefore increasing the

risk of early thermal contraction and
all its associated problems. Remember that even so called flowing
concrete needs some compaction.

the pour can be suitably compacted.

Match the pokers diameter to the

congested
reinforcement,
but
remember that the smaller the
diameter of the vibrator the smaller
its radius of action, and therefore the
less concrete it will be able to
compact.

Even if the pour is to be carried out

during daylight, ensure that once the
reinforcement is fixed all nooks and
crannies in the pour can be seen. Arc
lights suspended above the pour may
not penetrate through a heavily congested top mat of a deep slab, and it
may be necessary to obtain protected
lights that can be placed through the
top mat to enable the concreting gang
to see below it. In large heavily congested slabs during placing concrete
can build up on the top reinforcement
so causing problems with placing
and the ability to see below the top
mat. This problem can be overcome
by having an operative with a stiff
brush removing this build-up as it
forms.

In conjunction with the above, move

and adjust the reinforcement to allow
access through the reinforcement for
pokers. (NOTE: This should only be
done after agreeing the moves with
the design engineers.) If necessary,
mark these access points so that the
poker operators do not have to search
for them during the placing of the
concrete. Carry out a trial run with the
pokers to ensure that all sections of

Remember that the rate of placing the

concrete must be controlled by the
rate of compaction, which will be
reduced in heavily congested areas.

FURTHER READING AND ADVICE

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Contacts
The Concrete Society
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01276 607140
technical@concrete.org.uk

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References
1. BRITISH STANDARDS INSTITUTION, BS 8110, Structural use of concrete, Part 1:
Code of practice for design and construction, BSI, London, 1997.

Issued: July 2003

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