Optimal design of reinforced concrete T-sections in bending

The optimisation of the steel area and the steel localisation in a T-beam under bending is carried out in the present work. The expressions giving the equilibrium of a singly or doubly reinforced T-section in the different stages defined by the non-linear behaviour of steel and concrete are derived ones. The ultimate material behaviour is defined according to the design codes such as EC2 and Model Code 1990. The purpose of this work is to obtain the analytical optimal design of the reinforcement of a T-section, in terms of the ultimate design. In the last section the expressions developed are applied to examples and design abacus are delivered. A comparison is made with current practice method as indicated in CEB.