Backbone

Concrete = Need For Steel Reinforcement

In construction terms, steel reinforcement is the backbone of most concrete structures of today. The reason for using steel as reinforcement is due to its size:strength ratio, but mostly due to the very similar expansion rates of steel and concrete. Concrete is very strong in a compressive load situation, but very weak in a tensile load situation. This is where the steel comes into play, giving the concrete much more strength in a tensile load situation.
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Por Rusell Hall