Staggered lap joints for tension reinforcement

Staggering lapped joints increases the complexity of detailing and steel fixing, and may require additional resources and slow construction on site. Major design codes encourage staggering lapped joints in tension by imposing a penalty on lap length depending on the proportion of bars lapped at the same section. There are, however, inconsistencies in the value of the coefficients to be applied, and little evidence is available for validation. A programme of 17 physical tests found no evidence of an increase in strength when laps were staggered, and when allowance is made for increases in transverse spacing, staggering was found to reduce lap strength. Differences in the distribution of bond stress through a lap joint and in the share of the tension force taken by continuous and lapped bars are demonstrated to be responsible for the reduction.