STUDY ON THE BEHAVIOR OF RCC PEDESTALS UNDER UNIAXIAL LOADS

When large concentrated loads are acting over limited area of concrete, the bearing strength of concrete is known to be increasing due to the confining pressure of the enveloping concrete in the surroundings of the contact area. At the same time, the high contact pressure may be many fold of the compressive strength of the concrete. There are lots of examples in engineering applications of better utilization of bearing capacity such as steel base plates of steel columns and trusses over pedestals, anchorages in post-tensioned pre-stressed concrete beams, beams at bearings and supports, pile head and capping slab, concrete hinges, rockers, supports for huge street light structures etc. Present study concentrates mainly on the effect of the geometry of the pedestal on the bearing strength of Reinforced cement concrete pedestal under concentric and uniaxial loading conditions. Also, the effect of deformation and crack patterns are investigated. RC pedestals of different crosssection are considered in the study