STRONG COLUMN –

WEAK BEAM
MARICRIS PALMARES
 WHY CHECK?

• Columns - support the weight of the entire building above those columns
• Beams - only support the gravity loads of the floor of which they form a part
• Failure of a column is of greater consequence than failure of a beam.
 WHY CHECK?

• If the building has weak columns, drift tends to concentrate in one or a few
stories, and may exceed the drift capacity of the columns.
• Drift will be more uniformly distributed and localized damage will be reduced.
 STRONG COLUMN – WEAK BEAM
PRINCIPLE

• ACI 318 adopts the strong-column/weak-beam principle by requiring that the

sum of column strengths exceed the sum of beam strengths at each beam-
column connection of a special moment frame.
 WHEN TO CHECK

• If the factored column axial load under any load combination exceeds Agfc’/10
𝐴𝑔𝑓𝑐′
𝑃𝑢 >
10
 WHEN NOT TO CHECK

• If the axial demand is less than or equal to Agfc’/10

• At the roof location the axial demand in the column is generally low.
𝐴𝑔𝑓𝑐′
𝑃𝑢 ≤
10
STEP 1: • Compute for Column Nominal Moment Capacity
STEP 2 • Compute for Girder Section Capacity
EXAMPLE
 COLUMN COLUMN
REINFORCEMENT GIRDER 1 GIRDER 2
DIMENSION REINFORCEMENT

Φ1200 TOP 18-Φ28 16-Φ28

36-Φ28 700X1000 700X1000
mm BOTTOM 8-Φ28 8-Φ28

• Pu=7740kN
• Fy = 413.8Mpa
• Fc’= 34.48Mpa
𝐴𝑔𝑓𝑐′
Pu ≥ =3900
10
STEP 1: Compute for Column Nominal Moment Capacity
STEP 2 • Compute for Girder Section Capacity