Concrete is said to be reinforced when steel is being used along with concrete for support against tensile cracking. Concrete is very weak in tension but very strong in compression. In a beam cross-section, there are two separate areas which are separated by a line known as neutral axis line.
Neutral axis is a line where there is neither compression nor tension, above neutral axis is the compression area and below the neutral axis is the tensile area. when reinforced is provided than it will always be in tension zone, because concrete needs aids for tension support.
Reasons Behind the Choice Of Concrete
Constructors always prefer concrete than any other material in constructions. There are many reasons stand behind their choice.
- Some important characteristics of reinforced concrete are given below;
- Concrete is preferred because it is economical than any other material, like steel, aluminum etc…
- As concrete is weak in tension, so to overcome this effect steel is being used in along with concrete. This becomes economical than by using totally steel.
- Concrete and steel combination gives much higher strength than alone.
- Reinforced concrete is also preferred, because of its durability.
- Maintenance cost of reinforced concrete is very less than using steel alone. In case when only steel is totally used than there is giant cost on its paint, because steel corrodes with the change of environment like rain, snow, fog and by temperature rise.
- Replacement of parts of steel structures will become necessary after passing some time, when steel corrodes and not able to serve more.
- Concrete is not very much affected by fire, but in case of steel it melts with the rise of temperature
- Concrete can be mold in any shape very easily, but in case of steel it is not an easy task.
- In concrete where beams and columns met, here a monolithic joint (continuous joint) form, in case of steel separate plate is required for joining column and beam.
