15M Rebar

Reference

The workhorse of Canadian reinforcing: footings, walls and slabs run on 15M, and most bar lists carry more of it than everything else combined.

16.0 mm diameter, 200 mm2, 1.570 kg per meter
Nominal diameter16.0 mm
Cross section area200 mm2
Mass per meter1.570 kg
Standard grade400W, 400 MPa yield
6 m stock barabout 9.4 kg
Bars per tonne, 6 m lengthsabout 106
US equivalent#5, the same 200 mm2 area

Notes for design and site

Its 200 mm2 area is a convenient unit: five bars make 1000 mm2, and 15M at 300 mm centres provides 667 mm2 per meter of wall or slab, which satisfies a lot of minimum steel requirements in one pass. The US #5 shares the identical area, one of the few places the two systems land on the same number, so details translate across the border without rework.

A 40 diameter rough lap is about 640 mm. The real number moves with concrete strength, cover, spacing and casting position, and top bars in deep pours develop more slowly, so treat 640 as a planning figure and run the development length check before the cutting list is issued.

Related Calculators and Reference