A reinforced concrete beam has a width of 300 mm and an effective depth of 520mm to the centroid of tension reinforcements. The steel reinforcements will be placed in a single layer arrangement. Concrete strength fc'=32 MPa. Design as a singly-reinforced beam and use 2010 NSCP.

1. Determine the largest steel ratio allowed by the code for the given section if fy =345 MPa.