Friday, July 18, 2014
Reinforced Concrete Buildings
In recent times, reinforced concrete buildings have become common in Nepal, particularly in towns and cities. Reinforced concrete (or simply RC) consists of two primary materials, namely concrete with reinforcing steel bars. Concrete is made of sand, crushed stone (called aggregates) and cement, all mixed with pre-determined amount of water. Concrete can be molded into any desired shape, and steel bars can be bent into many shapes. Thus, structures of complex shapes are possible with RC.
A typical RC building is made of horizontal members (beams and slabs) and vertical members (columns and walls), and supported by foundations that rest on ground. The system comprising of RC columns and connecting beams is called a RC Frame. The forces travel downwards – through slab and beams to columns and walls, and then to the foundations from where they are dispersed to the ground. As inertia forces accumulate downwards from the top of the building, the columns and walls at lower storeys experience higher earthquake-induced forces and are therefore designed to be stronger than those in storeys above.
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