About SENSE 600®
Developed by InfraBuild, SENSE 600® is a new reinforcing product range, optimising high strength steel, innovative bar design and recycled steel content to deliver improved sustainability credentials.
- Using up to 16.7% less raw material, yet with the same Load Capacity as 500N product, SENSE 600® will deliver a lower embodied carbon solution of up to 39% than our standard grade reinforcing steel
- With its improved sustainability credentials, SENSE 600® is recognised by Australia's peak sustainability bodies for construction: the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) and the Infrastructure Sustainability Council (ISC)
SENSE 600® reinforcing bar is Ductility Class N (normal ductility), as required by AS/NZS 4671: 2019, the same as 500N reinforcing bar.
For design to AS 3600 2018 it meets the requirement to be Ductility Class N.
Click the button below to see the table (per AS/NZS 4671) highlights key ductility ratios and elongation properties required under the standard.
View mechanical propertiesSENSE 600® can be used in all reinforced concrete elements designed to comply with AS 3600.
SENSE 600® is available in bar diameters that have the Equivalent Load Capacity to standard 500N bars, making the designer's job simple.
View the full product range hereWe've made SENSE 600® easy to identify.
SENSE 600® has a unique bar profile distinguished by 4 longitudinal ribs and a square core. We have also included rolled-in marks indicating the Grade & Ductility Class, Mill identifier and SENSE 600® Designation.
Learn more about identification of SENSE 600®SENSE 600® can be welded in accordance with AS/NZS 1554.3 : 2014 - Structural steel welding Part 3: Welding of reinforcing steel (similar to our 500N material)
A Guide to Welding Sense 600® Reinforcing Steels has been jointly produced with Weld Australia.
Download the welding guideSENSE 600® is no more difficult to process than 500N.
Generally, the same processing pins and mandrels as equivalent 500N product can be used, however, AS3600 allows for smaller pins and mandrels to be utilised when processing SENSE 600®.
InfraBuild is supporting our preferred coupler suppliers with the development of a range of couplers for SENSE 600® bars. We expect couplers to be available in early 2024.
It is a Column Design Guide for engineers to maximise efficiency when using SENSE 600® reinforcing bars in columns
The Design Guide has been reviewed and endorsed by Professor Stephen Foster, Professor and Dean, Faculty of Engineering, University of New South Wales
Download Design Guide for Reinforced Concrete ColumnsSENSE 600® is available in equivalent load capacity diameters to our standard 500N bars, therefore the strength of the bar is the same, even though the cross-sectional area and mass of the bar is reduced by up to 16.7%. It is therefore ideally used in applications where strength is the governing design criteria.
Below provides some examples of concrete elements which are ideally suited to the use of SENSE 600® reinforcing bars.
Columns - Design is governed predominantly by compression of the steel
Piles - Design is governed predominantly by compression or tension in the steel
Deep Beams (including footing beams) - Design is governed predominantly by tension in the steel
Retaining walls - Design of the concrete element is governed predominantly by tension in the steel
Substitute the existing note on the General Notes Drawing with following:
Reinforcement:
Material is indicated by the following symbols:
N - Deformed Bar Grade 500 MPa (Normal Ductility)
R - Plain Round Bar 250 MPa
S - SENSE 600® Deformed Bar Grade 600 MPa (Normal Ductility)
W - Plain Wire Grade 450 MPa
SL - Square Fabric Grade 500 MPa
RL - Rectangular Fabric Grade 500 MPa
L - TM Low Ductility Grade 500 MPa (Welded Trench Mesh)
S - TM SENSE 600® TrenchMesh™ (600 MPa Normal Ductility Welded Trench Mesh)
Download table to add to column schedule on the drawing when applicableConformity
SENSE 600®, like our existing 500N product is:
- Compliant for designs to AS 3600:2018
- Manufactured to AS/NZS 4671:2019
- JAS-ANZ accredited (ACRS)
- Compliant with National Construction Code (NCC) when designed to Australian Standards
SENSE 600® is CodeMark certified for specific applications for ease of substitution for 500N
Download the SENSE 600® brochureCodeMark Certification (CodeMark) is a voluntary third-party building product certification scheme administered by the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB)
It supports the use of new or innovative building products in specified circumstances in Australia, by providing a nationally accepted process for demonstrating compliance with the National Construction Code (NCC).
CodeMark Certification means the product meets the mandatory building code compliance requirements.
Download CodeMark Certificate of Conformity Guide - ColumnsAustralian Building Codes Board (ABCB) website provides a step by step guide on how the CodeMark Certificate should be used. The below link takes you to the appropriate page on the ABCB website.
It is clear from the ABCB webpage that the performance solution for each CodeMark Certificate has been assessed and does not need to be assessed again.
The SENSE 600® CodeMark Certificates of Conformity should only be used to meet the Structural Reliability requirements of B1P1 and Structural Resistance of B1P2 as stated on the certificate.
If this is the case, designers just need to follow the provisions of the certificate as they would an Australian Standard, then provide a certificate that they have designed the element using the provisions of the CodeMark Certificate of Conformity Number, again just as they would do with an Australian Standard.
ABCB websiteSENSE 600® is ACRS certified.
SENSE 600® Test Certificates are available from InfraBuild and comply with AS/NZS 4671.
It provides calculations to AS 3600 to verify SENSE 600® fitments can be directly substituted for equivalent 500N fitments
Calculations have been reviewed and endorsed by Professor Stephen Foster, Professor and Dean, Faculty of Engineering, University of New South Wales
Download SENSE 600® Column FitmentsSENSE 600® is produced to meet the requirements of AS/NZS 4671: 2018 Steel for the reinforcement of concrete Grade 600N.
InfraBuild is actively working with Standards Australia through their Technical Committees to revise Standards to recognise the benefits of SENSE 600® reinforcing steels.
Below provides a summary of current status of Standards referencing AS/NZS 4671 with a comment on their reference to 600N grades of reinforcing steel.
Current status of Standards referencing AS/NZS 4671
A check is not required for crack widths when using 500 MPa steels but was added as a requirement for 600 MPa steels. This is because the R&D work to confirm that a check was also not necessary for SENSE 600® steels, had not been completed in time for the amendment release date, therefore the conservative approach was taken to include it as a requirement for the designer.
A paper titled - A Model for the Calculation of Shear Crack Widths for Beams Constructed using High Strength Steel Stirrups by Prof Stephen Foster, et alia, presented at the Concrete 2023 CIA conference, outlines a method to enable the requirement in the Standard to be checked. Prof. Foster is also developing a calculator based on the method proposed in this paper to simplify the shear crack width calculation.
The software will be published on the SENSE 600® webpage as soon as it is complete.
Should a designer want to avoid the manual calculations in line with those proposed on the paper, then they could satisfied AS5100.5 cl 8.2.5.2 by utilising the SENSE 600® range of diameters and limiting the design strength fsy.f to 500 MPa to determine the required steel area.
The SENSE 600® diameters may still maintain fitment spacing based on grade 500 bar diameters. This option makes the supply process simpler by providing site a single material grade rather than mixing grades on specific elements.
SENSE Solutions® Software
SENSE Solutions Software® - Columns, allows a designer/engineer to quickly and easily check and verify that SENSE 600® can be substituted for 500N
Access the software- SENSE Solutions Software® - Columns follows the design methods of the SENSE 600® Design Guide: Reinforced Concrete Columns as reviewed and endorsed by Professor Stephen Foster, Professor and Dean, Faculty of Engineering, University of New South Wales
- SENSE Solutions Software® - Columns has been verified against other commercially available design software
Yes, Rapt enables users to input custom Yield Strengths and diameters of our SENSE 600® range of bars. The software also has the option to use a rectangular-parabolic stress curve which we recommend to get the maximum potential from SENSE 600® Bars
Yes, Inducta have added the full range of our SENSE 600® bars to their FTG, and RCC software, and also to column design in RCB. The software also has the option to use a rectangular-parabolic stress curve which we recommend to get the maximum potential from SENSE 600® Bars