Beams may be designed to be larger than required for strength consideration owing to aesthetics or other reasons. As such, the corresponding steel ratio is very low and the moment capacity of pure concrete section based on the modulus of rupture is higher than its ultimate moment of resistance. As a result, reinforcement yields first and extremely wide cracks will be formed. A minimum area of reinforcement is specified to avoid the formation of wide cracks.
On the other hand, a maximum area of reinforcement is specified to enable the placing and compaction of fresh concrete to take place easily.
