Where is steel reinforcement used?

Steel is used almost everywhere concrete is placed. It is used as a tension device in reinforced concrete to strengthen and hold the concrete in tension. The surface of these kinds of steel is usually ribbed or contoured to form a strong bond with the concrete.

Examples of structures which required steel are waffle slabs, raft slabs & retaining walls

Common Type of Steel 1 - SL Mesh (Square-Mesh)

Sqaure mesh is prefixed with SL

Square mesh is designated in terms of the diameter of each bar and the spacing of consecutive bars. For example, SL62 consists of 6 mm bar at 200 mm spacings.

Common Type of Steel 2 - RL Mesh (Rectangular Mesh)

Rectangular mesh is prefixed with RL

Rectangular mesh is designated in terms of the diameter of each bar and the spacing of consecutive bars.

For example, RL1218 consists of 12mm main wire mm bar, at 100 mm spacings, 8mm cross wire, at 200mm spacings

Common Type of Steel 3 - Trench Mesh

Trench mesh is prefixed as with TM

Trench mesh is designated in terms of the number of longitudinal bars and the diameter of each bar. For example, 3-L11TM consists of 3 longitudinal bars each of which are 11 mm in diameter.

Common Type of Steel 3 - Reinforcing Bars

Reinforcing bars are commonly prefixed with N

Reinforcing bars are designated in terms of the number of bars and the diameter of each bar. For example, 6-N12 consists of 6 bars each of which are 12 mm in diameter.

How to identify the size of the reinforcement?

It is easy to identify the different types of mesh but how do you identify the size of the reinforcement?

SL92 vs SL82, is only a 10mm difference.

Below is a tool called a steel gauge which can be used to identify the different diameters of reinforcement


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