The design criteria at the base of [2] and of [17] is that anchor bolts should be designed to fail in a ductile

manner, therefore the anchor bolt should reach yielding prior to the concrete brittle failure. This is achieved by ensuring that the calculated concrete strength exceeds the minimum specified tensile strength of the steel. [2][17] Typical brittle failure of an isolated anchor bolt is by pulling out of a concrete cone radiating out at 45 degrees from the bottom of the anchor as shown in Fig. 28. [2] and [17] recommend to calculate its nominal concrete pull-out capacity based on the tensile strength 4 f c (where f c is in psi) or 0.33 f c (where f c is in MPa) acting over an effective area which is the projected area of the concrete failure cone. In both [3] and [17] it is recommended to use a capacity reduction factor of 0.65 in the calculation of the concrete cone capacity, which can be increased to 0.85 in the case the anchor head is beyond the far face reinforcement. The value of 0.65 applies to the case of an anchor bolt in plain concrete. This intends to be a simplification of a very complex problem. [3][17] In the current version of ACI349 [2] the capacity reduction factor is equal to 0.65 unless the embedment is anchored either beyond the far face reinforcement, or in a compression zone or in a tension zone where the concrete tension stress (based on an uncracked section) at the concrete surface is less than the tensile strength of the concrete 0.4 f c subjected to strength load combinations calculated in accordance with current loading codes (i.e. AS1170.0 [8]) in which cases a capacity reduction factor of 0.85 can be used. [2] An embedment is defined in [2] as that steel component embedded in the concrete used to transmit applied loads to the concrete structure. The ACI Committee 349 recognises that there is not sufficient data to define more accurate values for the strength reduction factor. [2] Experimental results have generally verified the results of this approach. [31] The value of 0.33 f c represents an average value of the concrete stress on the projected area accounting for the stress distribution which occurs along the failure cone surface varying from zero at the concrete surface to a maximum at the bolt end. [31] In calculating the projected area of the failure cone the area of the anchor head should be disregarded as the failure cone initiates at the outside periphery of the anchor head. [2] Experimental results have shown that the head of a standard bolt, without a plate or washer, is able to develop the full tensile strength of the bolt provided, as specified in [2], that there is a minimum gross bearing area of at least 2.5 times the tensile stress area of the anchor bolt and provided there is sufficient side cover,

that the thickness of the anchor head is at least 1.0 times the greatest dimension from the outermost bearing edge of the anchor head to the face of the tensile stress component and that the bearing area of the anchor head is approximately evenly distributed around the perimeter of the tensile stress component. [2] The placing of washers or plates above the bolt head to increase the concrete pull-out capacity should be avoided as it only spreads the failure cone away from the bolt-line which may cause overlapping of cones with adjacent anchors or edge distance problems. [31] Ld
45 o

Ld Failure plane

Projected surface

Figure 28 Concrete failure cone (Ref. [26])

If reinforcement in the foundation is extended into the area of the failure cone additional strength would be present in practice since the nominal capacity of the failure cone is based on the strength of unreinforced concrete. The concrete pull-out capacity of a bolt group is calculated as the average concrete tensile strength 0.33 f c times the effective tensile area of the bolt group. This effective area is calculated as the sum of the projected areas of each anchor part of the bolt group if these projected areas do not overlap; when overlapping occurs overlapped areas should be considered only once in the calculation of the effective tensile area, thus leading to a smaller concrete pull-out capacity if compared to the sum of the concrete pull-out capacities of each anchor in the bolt group considered in isolation. [2][17]

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STEEL CONSTRUCTION VOLUME 36 NUMBER 2 SEPT 2002