Bar Stresses and Cracking

Crack control may be considered for any load case, for all section types, by clicking the Crack Control button in the column dialog box. 

Cracking is checked according to Sec. 8.6 Crack Control of Beams. In AS 3600 crack control may be accomplished by checking the extreme bar tension stress against tabulated maximum values, or by directly calculating the crack width. In AS 5100.5 only the first method is available.

The extreme bar tension stress is shown for the selected load case. The section is shown, with the compression face at the top, together with a strain diagram. The extreme bar tension stress is checked against the maximum permitted values from the code Tables A and B.

The crack width calculation according to AS 3600 is always shown. When the design code is AS 5100.5 this calculation is informative only.