Civil Engineering - RCC Structures Design - Discussion

According to IS 456.

Short column - Slenderness Ratio <= 12.
Long Column - Slenderness Ratio > 12.

An R.C.C. column is treated as long as its slenderness ratio is greater than 50.

I believe 12 is the limit for the effective length of a column to its least lateral dimension which is not the slenderness ratio.

However, the limit for the slenderness ratio is 50 and above to be a long column as the slenderness ratio is the ratio of effective length to its least radius of gyration.

According to IS 456:2000 (Clause 25.1.2):

A column is considered long if the slenderness ratio exceeds 12 for design purposes.

However, in some multiple-choice questions or conceptual discussions (often academic or exam-focused), a value of 60 is typically used to differentiate between short and long columns more strictly especially when referencing unbraced lengths.

But based on IS 456:

Practically: If slenderness ratio > 12, the column is designed as a slender (long) column.

Theoretical/MCQ-based (competitive exams): The answer is usually 60.