What is the function of the steel reinforcement in concrete beams and slabs?
Concrete has a tensile strength that is about 10% of its compressive strength. However, uniform section beams and slabs need to resist roughly equal tensile and compressive stresses. In effect, the concrete is used to resist the compressive stresses while the steel resists the tensile stresses. • Why is the position of the steel reinforcement in the concrete very important? Steel has good tensile strength, and so it is embedded within the concrete in that part of the beam or slab that is required to resist tensile stresses. • Why is corrosion a significant issue in reinforced concrete? If the steel reinforcement within a concrete slab or beam is subject to corrosion it will ultimately cause failure of the structure. As the steel corrodes, the corrosion product (rust) has a greater volume than the steel it forms from. This “growth” places local areas of concrete under tensile stress. Because the concrete is poor in tension and brittle, pieces begin to crack and break away. If left, the
