Over-reinforced

I did a little bit of civil engineering today, and a few concepts came back to mind. In reinforced concrete structures, where steel rods and concrete are used as parts of composite structure, an over-reinforced structure (which contains more steel than required) is considered more dangerous than under-reinforced ones. Sounds quite unusual. Steel is a strong material, so common sense says that more of it will make a structure strong!!

Consider a person who is externally quite non-responsive, does not react much. More steel. Of course, he or she has a side which is quite receptive, wants to express but is overshadowed by the steel. That’s concrete in an over-reinforced structure.

Now put stress on this person. Steel is strong. And can bear enough stress. However, concrete also has to bear the stress. Now, what happens? Externally he or she keeps a straight face, but internally the concrete side starts to distort. And there is externally no reaction.

This continues, until and unless the concrete fails and a break down occurs. What remains are exposed rods of bent steel that is of no use.

Implosive-ness hurts!! But not much can be done about it.