• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.471-478
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• 2011

For a practical simplicity in designing of reinforced concrete structures, the indirect crack controlling method of limiting bar spacing is adopted in KCI structural design provisions. In addition, a direct method for evaluating crack width is also provided in the appendix of the code. But there may be some mismatched results between these two crack controlling methods. In this study, limit values of maximum bar spacing calculated from KCI provisions, KCI appendix, and Frosch's equation are examined as concrete strength, cross-section height, and concrete cover are varied, and the differences are analyzed. From the results, it becomes clear that the differences between maximum bar spacing calculated from KCI code text provisions and those from KCI code appendix provisions are too significant to be neglected. Therefore, rational crack models are suggested in order to get rid of the discrepancy between the direct and indirect control methods.