When calculating normal sections of eccentrically compressed and bending elements, the actual strain diagram of concrete and steel reinforcement is taken into account. Let’s consider an approach to calculating normal sections taking into account the properties of concrete, which could easily be applied to an example. The behavior of compressed concrete in the normal section of a bending element is characterized by the stress-strain diagram of concrete, which also has a descending branch. For each type of concrete, the diagram values are obtained by testing. Using nonlinear graphs to describe concrete and steel diagrams, the proposed approach is more elementary and does not take into account the stress gradient in the compressed zone. The convergence of the values of the limiting bending moments determined by the proposed method and by existing standards is close to 1 (0.94 … 0.98).The comparison shows that the values \( \overline{\varepsilon} \) according to the appropriate methodology are significantly higher than according to the method under consideration and the difference is greater, the lower the strength of concrete. So for concrete B80 \( \overline{\varepsilon} \) = 4.18 (existing standards), B10 \( \overline{\varepsilon} \) = 7.64 according to the proposal is \( \overline{\varepsilon} \) = 3.56 and \( \overline{\varepsilon} \) = 4.5, respectively, that is, the ratio is 1.16 and 1.7. The values ξ according to the standards are higher than those according to the proposal under consideration. In practice, these two deviations compensate each other, and as a result, the calculated values of stress in the longitudinal reinforcement according to the appropriate methodology and according to the proposal are close, the ratio is σprop/σSP = 1.02 − 1.1.