How do I calculate steel reinforcement and its quantity in slab, beams, columns and footing for

given dimensions?

23 Answers

Santosh Kulkarni

Santosh Kulkarni, 40 years in construction ! Vow !

169.9k Views

Dear Mohammed ,

Great question from you.

Let's start with the basics.

1.I am sure you must be quite conversant with the reading of RCC drawings so that you can find
out the following values from the drawing :

Length of the element :

Cross section:

No of bars

Type of bars

Spacing between the bars.

Lap length ( horizontal/vertical)

Development length

Covers for footing/column/beam/slab.

2. Calculate the cutting length of the bars.

( total length - covers on bothside )+ development length.

3.Formula :

W = N*CL*U

W: Weight of reinforcement

N: No of bars

CL: cutting length

U:Unit weight

You can find out Unit weight from charts or from the formula :

U= D*D/162.

Just let me know whether you are able to get these steps.

Once you confirm , I can demontrate with an actual example.

All the best !

Written 24 Apr 2015 · View Upvotes

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Kasee Sreenivas

Kasee Sreenivas, Techno Management Professional , Senior Contracts Engineer, HCC Ltd
44.5k Views

I haven’t gone through all the answers but I’d like to put my view on this question on massive
requests through inbox messages and A2A's.

Before you start calculating the steel quantities, you need to visualize the dimensions (Length,
Breadth, Depth) of the structural member. (Be it a beam,

slab, column or a footing)

Then you need to visualize the shapes of bars that needs to be used.

You get the diameter of the bar details in the working drawings. Make a note of it.

If you observe the drawings properly, they provide you with spacing details like 100 mm or 150
mm or 200 mm c/c.

Let us consider 150 mm c/c spacing.

Then you need to know how much cover to provide.

(Go through the link below to know why we provide cover for RCC structures

Kasee Sreenivas' answer to Why do we provide cover on RCC structures? )

This will be required while calculating the length of the bar.

Length of the bar will be (Total Length of the span – cover on both the sides).

For example:

Take some span shown in the figure below..

I consider cover for very severe type exposure condition. So cover is 50 mm on one side (as per
IS 456: 2000). We need to consider cover deduction for both the sides as shown in the above
figure.

So, remember 100 mm should be deducted from the total length of the span.

Now calculate the number of bottom mat bars required for 5500mm

span:

= ((Length of the span – Cover deduction) / Spacing) + 1

= ((5500-100)/150)+1

=(5400/150)+1

= 36+1

= 37 bars are required.

Now calculate the cutting length.

Cutting length = Length of the member – Deduction for bends.

(Length of the member = a+b+c in the image below.

&

Deduction for bends is twice the the diameter for one 90 degree bend)

So if there are two perpendicular bends like the figure shown above,

you need to deduct ( 2*2*dia) i.e 4 times diameter of the rod.

Once you get cutting length, you multiply it with number of bars. You’ll get the TOTAL LENGTH.
Then calculate UNIT WEIGHT.

Formula is (Diameter ^ 2) / 162

Example:

If you consider 25mm dia bars, unit weight

will be: (25*25)/162

=625/162

= 3.858

Finally,

UNIT WEIGHT X TOTAL LENGTH gives you the WEIGHT OF STEEL.

This is how steel quantity is calculated.

--------------------------------------------

If you wish to know some thumb rules,

(This is purely based on my experience.)

You need to calculate how much concrete is required to cast the member first.

Example: Consider slab area is 400 square meter, thickness of the slab is 150 mm.

Concrete quantity required to cast this slab is 400*0.15 = 60 Cubic meter.

After calculating concrete quantity, you can remember these thumb rules just for getting a basic
idea of how much quantity of steel is required in those structural members.

Steel quantity in a conventional slab (excluding its beams) will be around 60 to 65 Kg per Cubic
meter.

In beams it will be around 200 to 220 kg per cubic meter.

In columns it'll be around 200 to 250 kg per cubic meter.

For raft footings it'll be around 100 to 120 kg per cubic meter.

Hope this helps.

If you have any ambiguity, feel free to drop in a message. I would be happy to

help.

Thanks for asking me to answer.

Updated 11 Aug · View Upvotes · Answer requested by Tanushree Tandon, Rajesh Kandimalla,
and 1 more

Varun Chowdary

Varun Chowdary, Structural design engineer

51.4k Views

For an easy understanding I give you an example, which shows how to make a table for easy
calculations of reinforcement quantity in a slab.

I make a table like below for most of such calculations:

Now I elaborate how the above table works:

a) Before getting into table calculate the volume of the concrete quantity. In this case, since it is
a rectangular slab the volume = Length x Width x Thickness. This will be helpful at the end of
weight of reinforcement calculation.

b) There are total 13 column in the table. I explain one by one how I arrive at them.

i) Serial number.

ii) Face - You can keep any nomenclature you want to. Since the slab, which I considered has
both top and bottom reinforcement to avoid further confusion I gave top layer as near face and
bottom layer as far face. Again this entirely depends but this will help you to bifurcate the
reinforcement while doing complex calculations.

iii) Position - Same explanation for point no. ii) is valid for this point too. There are types of
direction in the slab I considered namely longitudinal and transverse.

iv) Layer - There can be more than a single layer of reinforcement. So, giving different names to
different layers helps you a lot.

v) Diameter of the bar as mentioned in reinforcement drawings.

vi) Spacing between the bars

vii) Length of the bar in the direction of the bar you considered. For example the length of bar in
my case is along the longitudinal direction.

vii) Extend of the bar is the distance/length for which the bar is extended with its uniform
spacing in perpendicular direction.

For more clarity refer the following image. It is a slab with a bar showing in longitudinal direction

viii) No. of bars - (Extend of bars length/Spacing)+1.

ix) Total length - No.of bars x Length of the bar.

x) Unit weight - Density x Volume of the bar.

xi) Weight (Kg) - Unit weight x Total length.

xii)Weight (Kg / m³) - Weight (Kg) / Volume of slab [ As calculated in step a)]

Note:

1)Points i) to iv) are optional. Just for clarity.

2) Length and extend of the bar can be calculated either by hand from the drawings or by the
use of Auto CAD.

Hope this helps. For further assistance regarding this topic you can contact me. You can also
receive all the information on the subject and can also ask questions from experts by visiting
Super Brand in Rebar Category (TATA Tiscon)

To read more about RCC construction : RCC Construction

Written 5 Feb · View Upvotes

Richard Guy

Richard Guy, Richard Guy is a Structural Engineer: worked all over the World.

100.1k Views

You can do it the tedious way of counting and multiplyng the bars in the slabs and then adding
lap lenghts in Slabs Columns and Beams. But I will let you in a little time saving secret I learned
way back in University. We had some real good lecturers in London. They all were working in the
various branches of sstructural engineering. The lecturer who taught us Quantities had his own
QS firm and he gave us the secret to estimating steel reinforcement in a concrete building. It is
this. Compile the number of cubic yards in the building and multiply by 125. That will give you a
close approximation of the steel that will be necessary in the building. And that is all you need
when you are doing estimation of Quaantities. So the rule is;

(Cubic Yards of Concrete X 125 pounds) = amount of reinforcement in pounds. I have been using
that formula for 40 years and its still good. Good luck

Written 1 Jun 2015 · View Upvotes

Jinal Doshi

Jinal Doshi, Structural engineer and founder of structural madness

44.2k Views

Santosh has already given quite a brilliant answer. He mentioned the very correct way of
calculating the quantity of steel required in every member. Let me shed some information from a
structural engineers perspective as how we provide information on our drawing and how you
can calculate reinforcement quantity from it.
1. Concrete beams

Structural drawing present information like number of top and bottom bars, stirrups size and
spacing along with some typical details. Typical details include bar development length or hook
length, curtailment, splice length and so on. As a person who is calculating quantity of steel,
what you should do is multiply the quantity with desired length of bars mentioned in the
drawing. So now you have the quantity of longitudinal reinforcement.

For stirrups you will be dividing the length of beam with spacing of stirrups and ad one to it.
That's how you come up with number of stirrups required. You will required beam cross section
dimensions and cover. Now subtract two sided covers from each side and you will get a number
corresponding to each breadth and depth. That is how you come up with bar length required for
stirrup and you again add some hook lengths as mentioned in drawings. Multiply this is number
of stirrups required and you get the quantity of steel required in stirrups.

2. Concrete column

Everything is the same as concrete beams, except for the fact that column ties go into the joints
not face to face.

3. Slabs

In structural drawing it is generally shown the bar size and spacing required. You already have
the dimensions of slab and typical details provided by structural engineer. Again follow the same
principle of splice length and development length and hook lengths. Same fundamental as
beam. But to come up with number of bars, you divide the dimension (perpendicular to the bar
direction you are looking at) by the spacing of bar and you have the number of bars required.
This is how you can calculate the bars required in slabs.

Now once you calculate the bar size, length and quantity paste the data in a spreadsheet.
Multiply each type of bar with it's diameter and length to get the volume. And do this for every
entry in your excel column. Multiply the total volume with density of steel and there you go, you
have the weight of rebar too. You don't have to do anything for that.

The most important thing is to look at typical details in structural drawings and follow that
correctly. You will quite easily and quickly calculate the steel quantity required in every member.
I would recommend you to use spreadsheet and formulate it so that it can calculate everything
for you and you will make your work much easier.

Written 6 Nov 2015 · View Upvotes · Answer requested by Tijo K Thomas

Dinesh Kumar

Dinesh Kumar, 10 years as an civil engineer

2.8k Views

The BBS is required for two major reasons

Detailed scheduled required to be given to the labours for cutting and bending

To calculate the steel requirement for the procurement.

Today there are various template available in the internet ( both free and paid), in which u have
to select the shape of the bar, dia and the dimension details, automatically all the other details
will be calculated.

The below sheet is extracted from the internet source: Welcome to ENSOFT INDIA

Technically you have refer the shuttering detail for the length of the elements and the
reinforcement drawing for the details of the bar, the total length of the bar will be calculated and
the correction factor to be added for the bending of the bar for various shapes.

The total length required for the particular dia bar will be summarized multiplied by the unit
weight will give you the total quantity of the steel required.

Written Aug 16 · View Upvotes · Answer requested by Saifee Bootwala and Hemant Kumar

Orock Jackson

Orock Jackson, 4 year civil engineering students

15.5k Views

Welcome
 with out any sense of contracdiction, the steel in any structure say for a beam, is calculated by
first knowing the moment diagram for that section (Mesd) for the design of the longitudinal
reinforcement and also knowing the shear diagram, for teh design of stirrups. And a further
check up must be made by calculating the limit moment(Mrd limit) to see if steel will be needed
both in tension and compresion.

if

Mesd >Mrd limit steel is needed only in tension.

Mesd <Mrd limit steel is needed both in tension and compresion.

there still exist more, but all cannot be fully posted, will do so subsiquently

Written Mar 22

Juzer Shaikh

Juzer Shaikh, Civil engineers = creators

48k Views

In columns the reinforcement can be calculated by assuming reinforcement percentage in

concrete. Below is an example for column reinforement,

In slabs and beams the reinforcements are calculated as below

The reinforcement calculations depend on number of factors like type of columns axially loaded
or eccentrically loaded and type of slab one way - two way or types of beams. Above shown
formulae are for a particular axial column and two way slab.

Written Apr 24, 2015 · View Upvotes

Ahmad Rashiq

Ahmad Rashiq, Inquisitive!

49.8k Views

To calculate the steel reinforcement required, you need to find out the maximum moment that
structural part will be subjected to. Steel is provided to resist the moment that would develop
and render the structure unstable.

You can follow the IS code for finding out the moment generated in these structural parts,
multiply it by a suitable factor of safety, get the maximum moment and then provide
reinforcement based on this maximum moment. There is a simple formula for calculating the
percentage of steel or the area of steel by the limit state method,

Mu = 0.87 fyAst d (1- Ast fy/bdfck)

where Ast is the area of steel.

You must follow the code for determining the minimum reinforcement that is to be provided and
this acts as a check on the Ast calculated.

Ast > Ast (minimum)

The process of calculating moment for beams, columns, slabs and footings is different.

Similarly the minimum reinforcement to be provided is also different as given in IS code ( IS

456:2000).
The diameter of the steel bars to be chosen is upto the designer.

If the number of the steel bars is say n, then

n*(area of one steel bar)=Ast

So u get the value of n.

I hope the answer somewhat helped you.

Written May 16, 2015 · View Upvotes

Harshit Jain

Harshit Jain, Civil engineer by profession ,not well versed in it, But still ...

57.9k Views

To calculate the quantity of steel reinforcement i recommend you to use the Respective
Standards of different country.

However Generalizing the procedure , it can be described in following Steps:

1) Find the basic dimension of the Beam Slabs and columns. In beam Cross Section is assumed
and Depth is checked with the help of moment resisting capacity of the beam , In slab Length is
assumed as 1 m and depth is assumed and check for different shear failures.

2) Calculate the load acting on the Structural Member.

3) Depending on the load conditions Calculate the amount of reinforcement by Different IS code.

For Indian condition IS 456 is recommended.

For Further Reference Please watch the videos in NPTEl to give a better insight.

Calculating Weight of steel for 1 m of steel bar whose diameter is 'D' is calculated with the help
of Formula
Standard weight= [DxD/162]

D= Diameter of bar (in mm)

EDIT 1

For Example:

To calculate the weight of 8 mm dia. bar of 1 meter length.

={(D^2)/(162)*L}

={(8^2)/(162)*1}

={(64)/(162)*1}

={0.4*1}

=0.4 kg

Similarly calculate the weight of bar of any Diameter.

Derivation of Constant 162:

dead weight of steel is 7850 kg/cum

formula

(area of bar) x (1 meter of bar) = volume of bar

(3.14/4 x d/1000 x d/1000) x 1 meter = volume of bar

(0.000000785 x d x d)cum (dia. convert to meter)

1 cum of steel is 7850 kg

so (0.0000007845 x d x d) cum of steel bar is

(0.000000785 x d x d) x 7850 =0.006162 x d x d = d x d /162 (1/0.006162 = 162)

Updated Dec 2, 2015 · View Upvotes

Abhishek Madhusudan

Abhishek Madhusudan, The art of creating drawing in real 3D

45.6k Views

Please specify whther you want to calculate from estimation point of view or design point of
view?

Estimation- you will be having the drawings for the variuos components such as
slab,beam,footing,column etc so the quantity can be found. same for steel the reinforcement
details will be provided in the drawing.

Design- You need to refer IS code 456:2000 and SP16 design aid for IS 456:2000. The design and
reinforcement details will differ for:-

1] different elements slab,beam,column,footing as forces acting on them are different.

2] the types i.e for slab- one way or two way, beams- rectangular, t-beam, l-beam etc

3] their sizes i.e length,breadth,height,depth and their end conditions etc.

there are intricacies involved in design of each component.

Please refer any RCC book.

PS: B.C Punmai was preffered by me.

Written May 29, 2015 · View Upvotes

Atmaram Melepat
Atmaram Melepat, There is Engineering in everything and I am proud of being an Engineer

33.8k Views

Pls refer to this Table for approx calculation. Exact bar bending schedule needs to be individually
prepared for each work.

Im giving here general steel requirement for different RCC members in kilogram per cubicmeter.

Column footings 75 kg/m3

Grade beams 100 kg/m3

Plinth beams 125 kg/m3

Main beams above 6m 250 kg/m3

Columns 225 kg/m3

Lintel beam 125 kg/m3

Sunshades 60 kg/m3

Canopy slab upto 2.0 m span 125 kg/m3

Staircase waist slab 150 kg/m3

Roof slab

(a) One way slab 80 kg/m3

(b) Two way slab 100 kg/m3

(c) Square slab – 4m to 6m size 150 kg/m3

Courtesy:- The Constructor - Civil Engineering Home

Written Jul 13, 2015 · View Upvotes

Prithvi Sangani

Prithvi Sangani, A Civil engineer

2.9k Views

Once your able to read the concrete formation and detailed drawings, you can be easily able to
find

1. Span

2. Spacing

3. No's of bar

No's of bar for slabs and stirrups is indirectly related to the span and Spacing.

No's of bar = ((Span - 2*clear cover)/ spacing)+1 rounded off to next whole number

For the stirrups, you are required to give an extra portions for hooks. Usually 10d is adopted for
it, but to know it precisely, one can follow the code book for bar bending schedule IS : 2502,
specifies the Anchorage length ( it even has the lengths to be deducted when the re-bar is bent)

Development length is usually specified in the drawings and necessary additions must be
incorporated.

After finding out the total cut Length of the bar, we generally make a table which more or less
looks like below.

1. Dia. 2.Cut length 3.No's 4.Unit Wt.

5.Total Wt.
Unit Weight can be found easily by taking steel density as 7850kg/cum.

Total Wt = Unit Wt * No's * Cut length

cheers!

Written Aug 6 · View Upvotes

Saket Kumar Singh

Saket Kumar Singh, Expat in Europe

41k Views

Look it's quite simple

We can't just start constructing anything out of a sudden at first their engineering designs and
drawings had to be made then when they get approved then only we can proceed with the
construction thing.An engineering drawing consists of the Bar Bending schedule which gives a
complete detail of the type no n other specifications of the reinforcements to be used the
cement calculations regarding the volume of concreting The grade of the cement The type of
cement to be used use of admixtures plasticizers are well furnished in the drawing Plus we can
calculate the the No of cement bags required by considering the mix ratio nominal mix or design
mix then apply this rule

M20 = 1:1.5:3

Volume = 1+1.5+3=5.5

Total

volume ingredients for using =1.57

Volume of broken stone Require = (3/5.5) x 1.57 = 0.856 m3

Volume of sand Require = (1.5/5.5) x 1.57 = 0.471 m3

Volume of cement = (1/5.5) x 1.57 = 0.285 m3

= 0.285 x1440 = 411 kg

For 1m3 of M20 (1:1.5:3)

Broken stone = 0.856 m3

Sand = 0.472 m3

Cement = 8.22 bag

The estimation is done way before the construction begins to get a quick idea about the
quantity of raw materials which will be used.

Written Apr 24, 2015 · View Upvotes

Kartik Mallad

Kartik Mallad, A better Civilian around u!

12.9k Views

If you know the dimensions of the slab,beam,footing etc assuming that the structure is solid and
in the shape of a rectangle, box, or square, you can calculate the volume with the formula:

LxWxH

which is length times width times height.

This will give you the volume of the slab in cubic units (meters, feet, inches, whatever).
Depending on the type of steel, you will have a different density ratio which can be used to
calculate the weight of the slab.

The density of low grade steel is something on the order of:

7850 kg/m3

so you would multiply your volume by the density ratio to get kilograms. If you know the weight
of the slab and the type of steel, you can calculate the volume by dividing the weight by the
density ratio.
There specifically design procedure for different structures(slabs,footing,beam) this is the basic
for all these particular designs.

Hope you get it:-)

Written Mar 25 · View Upvotes · Answer requested by Amarnath Yadav

Ramesh Nadar

Ramesh Nadar, Rationalist ; Traveller;swimmer

7k Views

As per Is 456:2000 the minimum reinforcement required for slab , beams,columns are 0.12%BD
(where B-width per meter D-depth you provided) and from these values by assuming the
diameter of bars ,spacing of bars are calculated.And reinforcement is made more or less to the
values obtained.

Written Apr 23, 2015 · View Upvotes

Krishna Mohan

Krishna Mohan, Civil Engineer

9.1k Views

Reinforcement steel requirement for R.C.C Foundation / Footing, Pillar, Beam and Slab is not
same . Steel requirement of these R.C.C elements in Residential Building is not same as that of
Steel requirement in Commercial Building . So I can give the minnumm steel requirement and
maximum steel requirement .

(1) Steel requirement for an R.C.C Foundation = 56 to 89kg for one Cum of Concrete .

(2) Steel requirement for an R.C.C Pillar/ Column = 115kg to 144kg for one Cum of Concrete .
Cross section area of steel in an R.C.C Pillar should be within 0.8% to 6% of the Cross Section
area of a Pillar .

(3) Steel requirement for an R.C.C Beam = 108kg to 125 kg for one Cum of Concrete . Cross
section area of steel in a Beam should always be more than 0.15% of the total Cross Section area
of Beam

(4) Steel requirement for an R.C.C Slab = 56kg to 89kg for one Cum of Concrete .Cross section
area of steel in a Beam should always be more than 0.15% of the total Cross Section area of
Beam.

(5) Steel requirement for an R.C.C Retaining wall is based on earth / filling material to be
retained the Hight of wall , Thickness of wall will be decided . Steel requirement will also depend
on these factors .

(6) Steel requirement for an R.C.C wall of an over head Water storage tank .

Steel requirement will depending on the quantity of water to be stored and height of tank from
ground level . Wind effect to be considered to finalize e the design .

(7) Steel requirement for an R.C.C wall of a Water storage tank below ground level .

Steel requirement for this tank will be less than that of an over head tank .

All these data is derived from the Residential, Commercial and Industrial projects I executed .
When I was a Junior Engineer in execution I got some data about the consumption of steel from
my seniors including Structural Engineers, Senior Planning Engineer and Quantity surveyor . In
every project I verified and up dated it . The minimum and maximum quantity of steel
mentioned above is for Residential buildings , Commercial buildings & Industrial Buildings .

Written May 7

Vigneswar Narasimhan

Vigneswar Narasimhan, all about the open channel and fluid mechanics..

34k Views
All of these can be calculated based on the member which you are looking at. If they are beams,
columns etc. Then each of them has a percentage of reinforcement based on different
Standards such as IS, Canadian and American. If you need indian standards please further refer
IS 356 code for further details.

Written Apr 24, 2015

Debasish Padhy

Debasish Padhy, Civil engineer, applying science to life...

10.5k Views

Very simple, follow the steps.

Calculate the load.

Calculate the moments and axial forces including magnitude and nature.

Use the estimated formulas for calculation of reinforcing steel if required, based on elastic limit,
strain compatibility or plastic criteria.

Alternatively use the design handbooks developed which give reinforcement as a function of
loading and resisting section.

Written Mar 25 · Answer requested by Amarnath Yadav

Muhannad Husain

Muhannad Husain, Civil Structural Engineer

19.7k Views

Hi there !!

I used to calculate the quantity of reinforcement bars in slabs by using this conservatu=ive
method, tell me what do you think of this.

for a Flat Slab for example ; We calc the qty. in 1 squaric meters (Lx=1 and Ly=1) (or ft) for one
direction of bars :

- Calc the length of 1 bar (which is 1 m length)

- Calc the number of bars in that direction ( = Ly/spacing + 1 )

- Calc the total length of bars ( = no. of bars * 1 bar length )

- Calc the weight of that total length in kg ( = bar dia. in mm^2 * total length of bars / 162.27 )
- The last weight is per 1 squaric meter, so we can multiply it by the total area of slab with the
same RFT.

for exp. say we have a 200 squaric meters flat slab with Bottom RFT. of T 12mm@150mm c/c
(also written T12-150) placed in both directions :

*for bars in X-X direction :

- L bar = 1 m

- no. = 1000 mm / 150 mm + 1 = 8 bars

- tot. length = 8*1 = 8m

- w = (12^2 / 162.27) * 8 = 7.1 kg per 1 m square

- tot. w = 7.1*200 = 1.5 ton

*for Y-Y direction : the same steps and we get the same qty since it is the same RFT distribution,
= 1.5 ton

Fot the tob bars we follow the same thing, the only change is we put Column Zones, Column
Strips, Middle Srtips areas instead of the 200 squaric meters.

So, total qty. of 12mm bars is 3 ton, note that this is a quite conservative college-taught method,
not so accurate I guess it produces more qty. Yet, so affordable to calc. in MS EXCEL
Spreaqdsheets.

Written Nov 19, 2015 · View Upvotes

Shittu Usman Chidawa

Shittu Usman Chidawa

13k Views

To Calculate for SLAB and Beam;

1. First get the Design information such as;

a. intend use of the structure.

b. Relevant code to be used.

c. Design stresses, which is the concrete grade and the steel grade.

d. Fire resistance.

e. Exposure condition for the provision of the cover reinforcement.

d. soil condition for loading capacity.

e. material weight and thickness

f. Apply the design formulae.

2. FOR SLAB

a. Get the slab size and take the ratio to determine if the slab is 1-way or 2-ways slab by taking
the long side/short side (Ly/Lx)

b. compute the allowable depth = Basic span/ slab depth ratio * modification factor(MF)

(slap depends on which type of slab, either cantilever, simple supported or continuous. while the
MF range from 1.2 to 1.5)

c. Compute the effective depth or minimum depth require(h) = Allowable depth - cover - (main
bar size/2).
d. Get the total loading on the slab in KN/m-square by getting the load at ultimate limit state
which = (factor of safety * Dead load) + (factor of safety * Live load)

e. Get the short and long span coefficient from the chart you are using and compute the Mid
span moment(M) of the short span edge and continuous edge.

M = positive edge coefficient * total load * short span Lenght^2 (KNm)

f. Compute for K-Value lever-arm, Steel sectional Area(As), Minimum steel Area(Asmin), Area of
bar, Number of the bar, Area provide, and Bar spacing

K = M/((concrete stress * per width in meter(usual 1000mm) * h^2 )

Lever-arm(Z-value) = 0.95 * effective depth (h)

As = M/(0.95 * steel grade * lever-arm) in mm-square

Asmin = (0.13 * b * h)/ 100 in mm-square

Area of bar(Abar) = (pi * bar diameter^2)/4 in mm-square

Number of Bar (Nbar) = As/Abar

Area provide (Aprov) = Nbar * Abar

Bar spacing = (b - cover)/(Nbar)

Then provide the reinforcement Bar

We do the same for Continuous edge and provide the reinforcement

Check for the Deflection

Compute the required depth(dreq) using an average MF said 2.0 = span length /(MF * required
depth ratio said average 23 for all kind of slab)

g. Repeat the same calculation for LONG SPAN

Also for the sake of good design, we can calculate for Torsion reinforcement for each panel using
the same procedure.

3. FOR BEAM

a. Consider the type of the Beam either T-Beam, L-Beam or any other types, get an estimated
width of the beam, depth of the beam and the effective flange of the beam.

Determine the sizing

effective depth = effective flange width - cover size - (Main bar/2) - links diameter

b. Get the Beam self weight = factor of safety * concrete weight * beam depth in mm

and Compute all the loading acting upon the Beam.

c. use any appropriate method to get the Maximum moment, Span Moment, Fixed End Moment
and Shear force. example using Clapeyron's three moment equation to obtained the Maximum
moment, Span moment and the Shear Force for a given beam.

d. Design for the support reinforcement

K-value = M/((concrete stress * width of the Beam * effective depth (d))

Z-value = effective depth [0.5 + sqrt((0.25 -(k-value/0.9))] in mm

Steel Area = M / (0.95 * steel stress * Z-value) in mm-square

Provide the reinforcement bar

e. Compute for the SHEAR

shear stress = shear value obtained in KN /(width of the beam * effective depth)

and compare if shear stress < 0.8 * sqrt(concrete stress)......Ok else design for shear.

f. Compute for the Area of bar for the links and provide

g. Check for the Deflection

If Actual ratio(beam span length / effective depth) < Allowable ratio(basic span depth *
MF).....Ok else design for the deflection.
Thank you all.

I hope this help...!!!!

Written Feb 23 · View Upvotes

Yasho Vardhan

Yasho Vardhan, Practicing metallurgist

34.2k Views

Thanks for the A2A.

Although I am not an expert in civil or structural engineering. I shall try to answer this question
according to the little knowledge of engineering that I have.

The quantity of reinforcement in a structure is dependent on its volume in cubic meter. It is

different for different for different structural elements like Slabs, beams, stairs etc.

The range is normally between 1-3% of the volume. So, for example if the volume of the slab is
10 cubic metre, steel required would be (0.03*10)=0.3metre cube. Now, 1 metre cube is 7850kg
so total steel requirement will be 7850*0.3=2355kg.

However, this is an approximate calculation, I will update more when I find out.