1. Course introduction: Historical overview on the reinforced concrete use and production. Ordinary and high performance concrete: mechanical and rheological properties. Mono-axial and pluri-axial stress states.
2. Structural safety: The semi-probabilistic limit state method. Actions and resistances design values. Limit state design structural verifications.
3. Ultimate limit state (ULS) in flexure: Experimental behaviour of a reinforced concrete beam. Design assumptions, possible ranges of strain distributions, ductile and brittle behaviour, cross-section ultimate moment resistance.
4. Combined flexure and axial force ULS: Design assumptions. Construction of the axial force-moment interaction envelop.
5. ULS in Shear: Experimental behaviour. Members requiring and not requiring design shear reinforcement. Variable angle truss model. Punching Shear.
6. Serviceability Limit States (SLS): Calculation of crack widths. Deformation of cracked and uncracked beams. Stress Limits. Tension stiffening. Bonding. Methods of anchorage.
7. Design and detailing of buildings for vertical loads:
Discussion and assumption on restraints between structural elements. Structural schemes for calculation of internal action; Plate effects; Transverse flexure.
8. Design and organization of buildings for horizontal loads.
Thermal action and shrinkage; wind and seismic actions; buildings with a moment resisting frame system; buildings with shear wall system; distribution of seismic action among shear walls; determination of shear stiffness; the role and the organization of the floor diaphragm.
9. Theory of shells
Theory of open and closed shells: distribution of shear stresses and determination of shear centre. A case study: the lift shaft wall system.
10. Detailing
Beam-column joint; beam with variable cross-section (variable depth); curved shape beam; anchorages and splices;
11. Foundations
Typologies; direct foundation; multi-span deep beam; underground box structures. Statically indeterminate structures.
12. Prestressed Concrete: Historical overview. Pre-stressing levels. Pre and post-tensioning systems. Bonded and unbonded tendons. Short and long-term p/s losses. Comparison between the moment-curvature diagram of reinforced and prestressed concrete beams. Equivalent tendon. Statically indeterminate prestressed beams. Verification at prestress, after pre-stress losses, at SLS and ULS.