3/13/2020 Anchor watch – understanding the concrete capacity design method when using anchors

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Anchor watch – understanding the

concrete capacity design method w
using anchors
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Sunday 8 November 2015

It is now generally accepted among designers of post-installed

connections that the design models for all anchor systems are
based on the so-called CC or 'concrete capacity' design method as
given in the design models of the relevant EAD and CEN EN 1992-4
used with the data from the anchors ETA. While this complex
method of calculating the concrete capacity is best performed on
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3/13/2020 Anchor watch – understanding the concrete capacity design method when using anchors

software a lot of users of such software are completely unaware of

the design models being used in the background and of their origin.
Many designers still consider that the capacity of the connection is
determined by the strength of the bolt. While this might be the case
for steel to steel connections it is very seldom the case for
connections to concrete. In this article I am attempting to
demonstrate in very simple terms how the concrete strength,
condition and thickness all in uence the design resistance of the
connection as do concrete edges and anchor spacing and of course
the anchor itself. As one of our daily tasks involves assisting
designers with the selection of suitable anchors systems we get
dozens of requests to recommend suitable anchors on a daily basis.
The nature of these requests leads us to believe that there is still a
great misunderstanding as to how the CC method works. This is
borne out by the fact that many of the requests we receive do not
contain any information about the concrete. Designers requesting
assistance may sometimes underestimate the importance of the
concrete characteristics and how it is required to enable correct
proof of steel to concrete connections. In 90 per cent of
connections with post installed anchors the concrete capacity is
decisive and determines the design resistance of the connection.
We have prepared a few examples to show the importance of the
concrete in the design of a connection and how changing it can
a ect the result. For the purpose of demonstration we are going to
use a 12mm bolt anchor with a 70mm anchorage depth in all cases.
You should be aware that in every case the design capacity will be
checked, according to the CC method, for steel capacity, pull-out
capacity, concrete cone capacity, splitting capacity, pryout capacity
and concrete edge capacity depending on if the design action is
tension or shear. The failure mode with the least capacity becomes
the decisive capacity and it is this value that will be presented in our
examples.

Anchors in tension
Example 1 [caption id="attachment_25216" align="alignright" width="300"]

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aanchora

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aanchora.jpg) = 17.99 kN[/caption]

aaanchor2

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor2.png)In this example I

have used 200 mm thick C30/37 non-cracked concrete with a 70 mm edge, the anchor can
resist a design action in tension of 17.5 kN. The design resistance is determined by concrete
cone capacity. Example 2 [caption id="attachment_25216" align="alignright" width="300"]

aanchora

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(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aanchora.jpg) = 10.54 kN[/caption]

aaanchor3

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor3.png)If we simply
change the concrete thickness to 120mm the design resistance drops to 15.29 kN and is
determined by splitting failure. If we also change the concrete to C25/30 cracked concrete
and reduce the edge to 60mm the design resistance drops to 10.5 kN based on concrete
cone capacity. The design resistance of the very same anchor drops by 40 per cent just by
changing the concrete conditions and geometry. Example 3 [caption id="attachment_25216"
align="alignright" width="300"]

aanchora

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aanchora.jpg) = 35.98
kN[/caption]

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3/13/2020 Anchor watch – understanding the concrete capacity design method when using anchors

aaanchor4

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor4.png)This example
uses C30/37 grade non-cracked concrete 200 mm thick with 70 mm edge and anchors at
210mm spacing. The spacing is 3 x embedment so there is no in uence for anchor spacing,
the design resistance is 35.5 kN based on concrete cone failure. As expected this is twice the
resistance capacity of the single anchor. Example 4 [caption id="attachment_25216"
align="alignright" width="300"]

aanchora

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aanchora.jpg) 18.07 kN[/caption]

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3/13/2020 Anchor watch – understanding the concrete capacity design method when using anchors

aaanchor5

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor5.png)If we change the

concrete thickness to 120mm the design resistance drops to 26.76 kN and is determined by
splitting failure. If we also change the concrete to C25/30 cracked concrete and reduce the
edge to 60mm and the spacing to 150mm the design resistance drops to 18.0 kN based again
on concrete cone capacity.

aaanchor6

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor6.jpg)

aaanchor7

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3/13/2020 Anchor watch – understanding the concrete capacity design method when using anchors

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor7.png)The design
resistance of the very same anchor drops by 50 per cent just by changing the concrete
conditions and geometry. The reason for this is because the actions in the anchor are
transferred into the concrete base and unlike steel to steel connections the base is brittle and
generally fails in the area surrounding the anchoring zone before the steel fails.

aaanchor8

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor8.png)As the cone gets

bigger or smaller the design resistance will increase or decrease proportionally irrespective of
the anchor diameter.

aaanchor9

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor9.png)The size of the

cone and therefore the concrete cone resistance is a function of the embedment depth and
compressive strength of the concrete, and not the anchor diameter.

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aaanchor10

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor10.jpg)The result of
concrete failure from anchor groups can be seen below. If the anchor spacings are large the
failure may result in Individual cones failing and if the anchor spacings are smaller a combined
anchor cone failure can be expected.

Anchors in shear
Example 5 [caption id="attachment_25226" align="alignright" width="300"]

aaanchor-b

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor-b.jpg) = 22.54
kN[/caption]

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aaanchor11

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor11.png)In this example I

have used 200mm thick C30/37 non-cracked concrete with a 130mm edge and the anchor
can resist a design action in shear of 22.5 kN towards the edge. The design resistance is
determined by concrete edge capacity. Example 6 [caption id="attachment_25228"
align="alignright" width="300"]

aaanchor-b

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor-b1.jpg) = 9.03
kN[/caption]

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aaanchor12

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor12.png)If we simply
change the concrete thickness to 120mm the design resistance towards the edge drops to
17.68 kN and is determined by edge capacity. If we also change the concrete to C25/30
cracked concrete and reduce the edge to 100mm the design resistance towards the edge
drops to 9.03 kN based on concrete edge capacity. The design resistance of the very same
anchor drops by 60 per cent just by changing the concrete conditions and geometry.
Example 7 [caption id="attachment_25228" align="alignright" width="300"]

aaanchor-b

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor-b1.jpg) = 34.67
kN[/caption]

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aaanchor13

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor13.png)This example
uses C30/37 grade non-cracked concrete 200 mm thick with 130mm edge and anchors at
210mm spacing. The design resistance in shear towards the edge is 34.5 kN based on
concrete edge capacity. This is less than twice a single anchor as the anchor spacing is no
longer related to embedment depth. Instead it is related to edge distance. If the spacing was
3 x edge = 390mm the resistance capacity would be double that of a single anchor. Example
8 [caption id="attachment_25228" align="alignright" width="300"]

aaanchor-b

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor-b1.jpg) = 13.54
kN[/caption]

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3/13/2020 Anchor watch – understanding the concrete capacity design method when using anchors

aaanchor14

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor14.png)If we change the

concrete thickness to 120mm the design resistance towards the edge drops to 15.00 kN. If we
also change the concrete to C25/30 cracked concrete and reduce the edge to 100mm and
the spacing to 150mm the design resistance towards the edge drops to 13.5 kN based on
concrete edge capacity. The design resistance of the very same anchor drops by 60 per cent
just by changing the concrete conditions and geometry.

aaanchor15

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor15.png)The reason for

this is because the actions in the anchor are transferred into the concrete on the lateral face
and unlike steel to steel connections the base is brittle and generally fails in the area
surrounding the anchoring zone before the steel fails.

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aaanchor16

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor16.png)When we employ
the use of more anchors the area on the lateral face increases. As the anchor spacing
increases (up to 3 x edge distance) the design resistance increases and similarly as the
anchor spacing decreases the design resistance for concrete edge also decreases. If the
concrete thickness is less than 1.5 x edge distance, concrete edge resistance shall be
reduced proportionally.

aaanchor17

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor17.png) The result of

concrete edge failure from a single anchor can be seen below. Example 9 [caption
id="attachment_25228" align="alignright" width="300"]

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aaanchor-b

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor-b1.jpg) = 34.67
kN[/caption]

aaanchor18

(http://www.engineersjournal.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aaanchor18.png)It should
therefore come as no surprise that when three anchors are used as shown here the design
resistance is identical to that for the 2 anchors in example 7 above because concrete edge
resistance is decisive and both examples are using the very same area of concrete on the
lateral face to resist the design actions. It should be noted however that while the resistance
capacity can be the same for di erent anchor types when concrete capacity is decisive, the
anchor used must have a relevant ETA and the data from the ETA must be used in the various
design checks to determine the decisive design resistance. Di erent anchor types may have
di erent pull-out capacities and di erent setting depths. It may well be that while one anchor
type exhibits cone failure a di erent anchor type may exhibit pull-out failure at a lower value.
For this reason good change management should always be carried out when deciding to
use alternative anchors to ensure the proposed alternative is also suitable. As you can see
from the examples given, the anchorage resistance capacity varies greatly depending on the
environment in which the anchor is used. Obviously the bolt properties don’t change, the
properties of the substrate change. At Masonry Fixing Services we o er a high degree of
technical support to assist the project engineers when it comes to selecting suitable anchor

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on their project. The software o ered by scher uses the design models of the EAD and CEN
1992-4 in conjunction with the anchors from the full scher anchor product range. Once the
project engineer has determined all the parameters such as the design actions using the
relevant codes, engineered the xture or selected it from a proprietary system, determined
the concrete conditions and thickness he can submit all this information to us and we will
gladly assist in the selection of a suitable anchor from the scher range. The project engineer
should ensure that in the event of the installer wanting to use an alternative anchor someone
should carry out correct change management in accordance with BS 8539 to show that the
alternative anchor is also suitable in the prevailing conditions. The project engineer should
also ensure that the actual concrete conditions are as assumed and that the anchors are
installed in accordance with the manufactures instructions. The technical support o ered by
Masonry Fixing Services is free of charge and is of the highest possible standard. It should not
be misinterpreted as being part of any consultancy o ering for which there would normally be
professional fees. Author: Bryan Carroll, technical director, Masonry Fixings Ltd, agents for
Fischer Fixings in Ireland http://www.masonry xings.ie (http://www.masonry xings.ie) Tel:
(01) 642 6700 email:technical@masonry xings.ie
(mailto:email%3Atechnical@masonry xings.ie)
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