RCC (Reinforced Cement Concrete)

RCC (Reinforced Cement Concrete) is the combination of using steel and concrete instead of using only concrete to offset some limitations. Concrete is weak in tensile stress with compared to its compressive stress. To offset this limitation, steel reinforcement is used in the concrete at the place where the section is subjected to tensile stress. Steel is very strong in tensile stress. The reinforcement is usually round in shape with approximate surface deformation is placed in the form in advance of the concrete. When the reinforcement is surrounded by the hardened concrete mass, it form an integral part of the member. The resultant combination of two materials are known as reinforced concrete. In this case the cross-sectional area of the beam or other flexural member is greatly reduced.

Advantages of RCC
Nowadays, RCC is used in most of the structures. The advantages of RCC (Reinforced Cement Concrete) are as following. Reinforced Cement Concrete has good compressive stress (because of concrete). RCC also has high tensile stress (because of steel). It has good resistance to damage by fire and weathering (because of concrete).

RCC protects steel bars from buckling and twisting at the high temperature. RCC prevents steel from rusting. Reinforced Concrete is durable. The monolithic character of reinforced concrete gives it more rigidity. Maintenance cost of RCC is practically less than steel.

It is possible to produce steel whose yield strength is 3 to 4 time more that of ordinary reinforced steel and to produce concrete 4 to 5 time more stronger in compression than the ordinary concrete. This may high strength material offer many advantages including smaller member cross-sections, reduce dead load and longer spans. But the high stress result in high strain and consequently large deflection of such member will occur under ordinary loading conditions.
Also high strength reinforcing steel would include large crack in the concrete which reduce the durability of the structure. The commonly used yield strength of high strength reinforcing steel is 60 ksi.

In some types of structures, such as dams, piers and footings, it is most economical structural material It can be cast to take the shape required , making it widely used in pre-cast structural components It yields rigid members with minimum apparent deflection Yield strength of steel is about 15 times the compressive strength of structural concrete and well over 100 times its tensile strength By using steel, cross sectional dimesions of structural members can be reduced e.g in lower floor columns

Disadvantages of reinforced concrete

It needs mixing, casting and curing, all of which affect the final strength of concrete The cost of the forms used to cast concrete is relatively high It has low compressive strength as compared to steel (the ratio is about 1:10 depending on material) which leads to large sections in columns/beams of multistory buildings Cracks develop in concrete due to shrinkage and the application of live loads

1.2 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF STEEL AS A STRUCTURAL DESIGN MATERIAL The following advantages in general may be credited to steel as a structural design material: 1. High strength/weight ratio. Steel has a high strength/weight ratio. Thus, the dead weight of steel structures is relatively small. This property makes steel a very attractive structural material for a. High-rise buildings b. Long-span bridges c. Structures located on soft ground d. Structures located in highly seismic areas where forces acting on the structure due to an earthquake are in general proportional to the weight of the structure.

2. Ductility. As discussed in the previous section, steel can undergo large plastic deformation before failure, thus providing a large reserve strength. This property is referred to as ductility. Properly designed steel structures can have high ductility, which is an important characteristic for resisting shock loading such as blasts or earthquakes. A ductile structure has energy-absorbing capacity and will not incur sudden failure. It usually shows large visible deflections before failure or collapse.

3. Predictable material properties. Properties of steel can be predicted with a high degree of certainty. Steel in fact shows elastic behavior up to a relatively high and usually well-defined stress level. Also, in contrast to reinforced concrete, steel properties do not change considerably with time.

4. Speed of erection. Steel structures can be erected quite rapidly. This normally results in quicker economic payoff.

5. Quality of construction. Steel structures can be built with high-quality workmanship and narrow tolerances.

6. Ease of repair. Steel structures in general can be repaired quickly and easily.

7. Adaptation of prefabrication. Steel is highly suitable for prefabrication and mass production.

8. Repetitive use. Steel can be reused after a structure is disassembled.

9. Expanding existing structures. Steel buildings can be easily expanded by adding new bays or wings. Steel bridges may be widened.

10. Fatigue strength. Steel structures have relatively good fatigue strength.

The following may be considered as disadvantages of steel in certain cases:

1. General cost. Steel structures may be more costly than other types of structures.

2. Fireproofing. The strength of steel is reduced substantially when heated at temperatures commonly observed in building fires. Also, steel conducts and transmits heat from a burning portion of the building quite fast. Consequently, steel frames in buildings must have adequate fireproofing.

3. Maintenance. Steel structures exposed to air and water, such as bridges, are susceptible to corrosion and should be painted regularly. Application of weathering and corrosion-resistant steels may eliminate this problem.

4. Susceptibility to buckling. Due to high strength/weight ratio, steel compression members are in general more slender and consequently more susceptible to buckling than, say, reinforced concrete compression members. As a result, considerable materials may have to be used just to improve the buckling resistance of slender steel compression member

CONCLUSION
AFTER LOOKING AT BOTH THE STRUCTURES WE PREFERABLY WOULD HAVE STEEL AS OUR PREFFERED CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL. SINCE STEEL HAS DEFINITE PROPERTY IN TERMS OF COMPRESSION AND TENSION. IT TAKES LONG SPANS AS IT IS VERY HIGH IN TENSION IT MAKES STRUCTURE LIGHT WEIGHT. IT CAN GIVE WELL AESTHETICS SINCE BEAMS AND COLUMNS ARE SLEEK AND THIN. STRUCTURALLY ITS MORE SOUND AND STABLE THAN CONCRETE WHICH IS BULKY AND HEAVY. THE SPAN THAT CONCRETE CAN TAKE DEPENDS ON THE DEPTH OF BEAM. DEPTH INCREASES WITH SPAN . USUALLY MAXIMUM SPAN IN RCC VARIES FROM 6M TO 8M IN RESIDENTIAL WORKS AND STEEL STRUCTURE VARIES FROM 10 TO 15 METERS.