Reinforced Concrete is a structural material, is widely used in many types of structures. It is competitive with steel if economically designed and executed.
Advantages of reinforced concrete
- It has relatively high compressive strength
- It has better resistance to fire than steel
- It has long service life with low maintenance cost
- In some types of structures, such as dams, piers and footings, it is most economical structural material.
- It can be cast to take the shape required , making it widely used in pre-cast structural components.
- It yields rigid members with minimum apparent deflection.
- Yield strength of steel is about 15 times the compressive strength of structural concrete and well over 100 times its tensile strength
- By using steel, cross sectional dimesions of structural members can b ereduced e.g in lower floor columns.
Disadvantages of reinforced concrete
- It needs mixing, casting and curing, all of which affect the final strength of concrete.
- The cost of the forms used to cast concrete is relatively high.
- It has low compressive strength as compared to steel (the ratio is about 1:10 depending on material) which leads to large sections in columns/beams of multistory buildings Cracks develop in concrete due to shrinkage and the application of live loads
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