Concrete is one of the most common construction materials for a reason. It’s a sturdy material that can hold a lot of weight without failing. However, concrete does have a weakness that builders need to be aware of. This is where rebar pipe comes into play. This video explains the weaknesses of concrete and the benefits of using rebar as concrete support.
There are two main types of stresses that concrete can be put under. The first is compression; think of pushing down on the top of a soda can to crush it flat. Concrete is great at not being crushed under a lot of weight. It’s extremely resistant to compression.
The second is tension. Tension is the force that pulls something apart. Think of pulling back a rubber band to shoot across the room. Concrete is not good at resisting tensile force. It will break and then fail under much less tensile weight than compressive weight. Rebar pipes are used to provide support against tension.
When rebar is added to setting concrete, the concrete will be able to withstand great amounts of compression and tension. Rebar will slow failures if there is too much tensile force on the concrete, allowing people to see fractures and get repairs done before the concrete fails completely.
For more information, check out the video in the link above.