As to the possible danger of the bars in the concrete slipping or buckling, to which Mr. Godfrey also refers, again must tests be cited. If the ends are securely held—and this is always the case when bars are properly butted or are lapped for a sufficient length—they cannot slip. With reference to buckling, tests have proved conclusively that vertical bars such as are used in columns, when embedded in concrete, will not buckle until the elastic limit of the steel is reached, or until the concrete actually crushes. Beyond these points, of course, neither steel nor concrete nor any other material is expected to do service.
As proof of this statement, it will be seen, by reference to tests at the Watertown Arsenal, as recorded in "Tests of Metals," that many of the columns were made with vertical bar reinforcement having absolutely no hoops or horizontal steel placed around them. That is, the bars, 8 ft. long, were placed in the four corners of the column—in some tests only 2 in. from the surface—and held in place simply by the concrete itself.[S] There was no sign whatever of buckling until the compression was so great that the elastic limit of the steel was passed, when, of course, no further strength could be expected from it.
To recapitulate the conclusions reached as a result of a study of the tests: It is evident that, not only does theory permit the use of longitudinal bar reinforcement for increasing the strength of concrete columns, whenever such reinforcement is considered advisable, but that all the important series of column tests made in the United States to date show a decisive increase in strength of columns reinforced with longitudinal steel bars over those which are not reinforced. Furthermore, as has already been mentioned, without treating the details of the proof, it can be shown that the tests bear out conclusively the conservatism of computing the value of the vertical steel bars in compression by the ordinary formulas based on the ratio of the moduli of elasticity of steel to concrete.
Edward Godfrey, M. Am. Soc. C. E. (by letter).—As was to be expected, this paper has brought out discussion, some of which is favorable and flattering; some is in the nature of dust-throwing to obscure the force of the points made; some would attempt to belittle the importance of these points; and some simply brings out the old and over-worked argument which can be paraphrased about as follows: "The structures stand up and perform their duty, is this not enough?"
The last-mentioned argument is as old as Engineering; it is the "practical man's" mainstay, his "unanswerable argument." The so-called practical man will construct a building, and test it either with loads or by practical use. Then he will modify the design somewhere, and the resulting construction will be tested. If it passes through this modifying process and still does service, he has something which, in his mind, is unassailable. Imagine the freaks which would be erected in the iron bridge line, if the capacity to stand up were all the designer had to guide him, analysis of stresses being unknown. Tests are essential, but analysis is just as essential. The fact that a structure carries the bare load for which it is computed, is in no sense a test of its correct design; it is not even a test of its safety. In Pittsburg, some years ago, a plate-girder span collapsed under the weight of a locomotive which it had carried many times. This bridge was, perhaps, thirty years old. Some reinforced concrete bridges have failed under loads which they have carried many times. Others have fallen under no extraneous load, and after being in service many months. If a large number of the columns of a structure fall shortly after the forms are removed, what is the factor of safety of the remainder, which are identical, but have not quite reached their limit of strength? Or what is the factor of safety of columns in other buildings in which the concrete was a little better or the forms have been left in a little longer, both sets of columns being similarly designed?
There are highway bridges of moderately long spans standing and doing service, which have 2-in. chord pins; laterals attached to swinging floor-beams in such a way that they could not possibly receive their full stress; eye-bars with welded-on heads; and many other equally absurd and foolish details, some of which were no doubt patented in their day. Would any engineer with any knowledge whatever of bridge design accept such details? They often stand the test of actual service for years; in pins, particularly, the calculated stress is sometimes very great. These details do not stand the test of analysis and of common sense, and, therefore, no reputable engineer would accept them.
Mr. Turner, in the first and second paragraphs of his discussion, would convey the impression that the writer was in doubt as to his "personal opinions" and wanted some free advice. He intimates that he is too busy to go fully into a treatise in order to set them right. He further tries to throw discredit on the paper by saying that the writer has adduced no clean-cut statement of fact or tests in support of his views. If Mr. Turner had read the paper carefully, he would not have had the idea that in it the hooped column is condemned. As to this more will be said later. The paper is simply and solely a collection of statements of facts and tests, whereas his discussion teems with his "personal opinion," and such statements as "These values * * * are regarded by the writer as having at least double the factor of safety used in ordinary designs of structural steel"; "On a basis not far from that which the writer considers reasonable practice." Do these sound like clean-cut statements of fact, or are they personal opinions? It is a fact, pure and simple, that a sharp bend in a reinforcing rod in concrete violates the simplest principles of mechanics; also that the queen-post and Pratt and Howe truss analogies applied to reinforcing steel in concrete are fallacies; that a few inches of embedment will not anchor a rod for its value; that concrete shrinks in setting in air and puts initial stress in both the concrete and the steel, making assumed unstressed initial conditions non-existent. It is a fact that longitudinal rods alone cannot be relied on to reinforce a concrete column. Contrary to Mr. Turner's statement, tests have been adduced to demonstrate this fact. Further, it is a fact that the faults and errors in reinforced concrete design to which attention is called, are very common in current design, and are held up as models in nearly all books on the subject.
The writer has not asked any one to believe a single thing because he thinks it is so, or to change a single feature of design because in his judgment that feature is faulty. The facts given are exemplifications of elementary mechanical principles overlooked by other writers, just as early bridge designers and writers on bridge design overlooked the importance of calculating bridge pins and other details which would carry the stress of the members.
A careful reading of the paper will show that the writer does not accept the opinions of others, when they are not backed by sound reason, and does not urge his own opinion.
Instead of being a statement of personal opinion for which confirmation is desired, the paper is a simple statement of facts and tests which demonstrate the error of practices exhibited in a large majority of reinforced concrete work and held up in the literature on the subject as examples to follow. Mr. Turner has made no attempt to deny or refute any one of these facts, but he speaks of the burden of proof resting on the writer. Further, he makes statements which show that he fails entirely to understand the facts given or to grasp their meaning. He says that the writer's idea is "that the entire pull of the main reinforcing rod should be taken up apparently at the end." He adds that the soundness of this position may be questioned, because, in slabs, the steel frequently breaks at the center. Compare this with the writer's statement, as follows: