Reinforced Concrete Section Design to Bending According to EN 1992-1-1/2004–EUROCODE2

In the next decades the design of the civil structures will be ruled by Eurocodes. For reinforced concrete structures the Eurocode2 will became of paramount importance to the design of the structural members. An important aspect of designing represents the relation between stress and strain to the design of the section for structural members. In this respect the EC2 defines 14 classes of concrete with different stress–strain relationships. The first stress–strain relation mentioned of EC2 for design is the parabola–rectangle stress distribution on concrete section, and further the simplified rectangle stress–strain shape is mentioned. Therefore, an aspect of the design, poorly emphasized in the national rule, is the design considering parabola–rectangle stress distribution on concrete section. The exposed issues in this paper concern with the design of the reinforced concrete section subjected to bending using two stress–strain relationships mentioned by EC2, and the differences are underlined. The design to bending using parabola–rectangle stress distribution for rectangular section is largely presented, and also the reliability for a fast designing is emphasized. Design relations for a parabola–rectangle stress distribution on section are mentioned. Also, aspects about the boundary between the single reinforcing domain and the double reinforcing domain are emphasized.