DESIGN OF COLUMNS

The structure can be divided into Braced or Unbraced.

Braced Structure
Where the lateral loads are resisted by shear walls or other forms of bracing capable of transmitting all
horizontal loading to the foundation.
Unbraced Structure
Where the horizontal loads are resisted by the frame action of rigidly connected columns, beams and slabs

Axially Loading, Uniaxially Bending and Biaxially bending in columns

Consider the structural layout below

4m

4m

6m

5m 5m 3m 8m

A B C D E

By inspection, list the columns experiencing

(a) Biaxial bending
(b) Uniaxial bending
(c) Axial Loading

The design of a braced column involves consideration of the following:

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 a) Slenderness ratio
b) Threshold slenderness
c) First Order Effects
d) Second Order Effects
e) Reinforcement Details

Slenderness Ratio of a Column

The slenderness ratio  is given by;
l0
 (5.14)
i
Where
l0 is the effective height of the column

i is the radius of gyration of the uncracked concrete section

Radius of Gyration
The radius of gyration i is given by

I
i
A
Where
I is the moment of inertia of the uncracked concrete section
A is the gross ara of uncracked concrete section

Effective Height
Examples of the effective height for isolated members with constant cross sections are given in Figure 5.7
of EC2 (reproduced below)

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For compression members in regular frames, the effective height l 0 is given by equations (5.15) and (5.16)
Braced members [Figure 5.7(f)]

 k1  k2 
l0  0.5l 1  1   (5.15)
 0.45  k1  0.45  k 2 
Unbraced members [(Figure 5.7(g)]

  k k   k  k   
l0  l . max  1  10 1 2  1  1 1  2   (5.16)

  k1  k 2   1  k1  1  k 2  

Where;
k1 , k 2 are the relative flexibilities of rotational restraints at ends 1 and 2 of the column respectively.
   EI 
k    
 M  l 
 is the rotation of restraining members for bending moments M
EI is the bending stiffness of compression members
l is the clear height of compression member between end restraints
k  0 for fully rigid rotational restraint
k   for no restraint (pinned support)
k  0.1 is the minimum value for k1 , k 2 since full rigid restraint is difficult to achieve.

 When calculating the effective height of a column in which the stiffness of adjacent column do not
vary significantly, k1 and k 2 should be calculated ignoring the contribution of attached column

 2 EI 
 The contribution of adjacent beams should be modeled as   irrespective of end conditions
 l 
at their remote ends to allow for the effect of cracking.

Slenderness Criterion for Isolated columns (Clause 5.8.3.1)

Second order effects may be ignored is the slenderness  is less than lim .

lim is the threshold slenderness. It determines when:

(i) To take account of first order effects only
(ii) To include second order effects.

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lim is given by;
20 A B C
lim  (5.13N)
n
Where

 if  is not known, A  0.7 

1
A
1  2 ef ef

B 1  2  if  is not known B  1.1

C  1.7  rm if rm is not known, C  0.7

 ef is the effective creep ration obtained from clause 5.8.4

As f yd
 mechanical re inf orcement ratio 
Ac f cd

As is the total area of longitudinal steel

N Ed
n ; relative normal force 
Ac f cd

M 01
rm  ; moment ratio 
M 02

M 01, M 02 are first order end moments; M 02   M 01 

If the moments M 01 and M 02 give tension on the same side, rm should be taken positive C  1.7

otherwise negative. C  1.7

Tension on same side of Column Tension on different e sides of column

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  Buckling is more likely when the moments act in opposite directions as they will produce tension on
the same face

Design of Columns when   lim

When the slenderness ratio  is less than lim , the column should be designed for the applied axial action

N Ed plus the moment due to first order effects M Ed

M Ed  M 02  N Ed ei
Where;
M 02 is the larger elastic end moment

N Ed ei is the moment due to geometric imperfections.

 l 
ei   i 0  ; geometric imperfecti on  (5.2)
 2
1
i  , is the angle of inclination
200
l 0 is the effective height

Minimum design eccentricity (Clause 6.1 (4)

ei should not be less than the minimum design eccentricity e0

h
e0  , which should not be less than 20mm.
30

Once and are known, design charts given in the concise code and reproduced below are used to
determine the area of steel

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Design of Columns when   lim (Clause 5.8.8)

When   lim the column is slender

The design moment is given by;
M Ed  M 0 Ed  M 2 (5.31)
Where;
M 0 Ed is the first order moment including the effects of imperfections

M 2 is the nominal 2nd order moment

The maximum value of M Ed is given by the distribution of M 0 Ed and M 2 and may occur at the top M 02  ,

middle M 0 Ed  M 2  , or bottom M 01  0.5M 2  of the column as shown in the figure below;

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Differing first order moments M 01 and M 02 may be replaced by an equivalent first order end moment

M 0e  0.6M 02  0.4M 01  0.4M 02 (5.32)

M 01 and M 02 should have the same sign if they give tension on the same side, otherwise opposite signs.

And M 02  M 01

The nominal second order moment M 2 in equation (5.31) is given by

M 2  N Ed e2 (5.33)
Where;
N Ed is the design value of the axial force

1l
2
e2    0 ; which is the deflection
r c
1
is the curvature
r
l0 is the effective height

c is a factor depending on the curvature distribution

 
For constant cross sections c  10   2 . If the first order moment is constant a lower value may be used
, but not lower than 8.0

Curvature (clause 5.8.8.3)

For members with constant symmetrical sections 9including reinforcement) the curvature is given by
equation (5.34)

1 1
 K r K   (5.34)
r  r0 
Where;
K r is a correction factor depending on axial load
K is a factor taking account of creep

1  yd

r0 0.45d

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 f yd
 yd 
Es
d is the effective depth.
If all the reinforcement is not concentrated on the opposite sides, but part of it is distributed parallel to the
plane of bending, d is defined as;
h
d  is (5.35)
2
Where is is the radius of gyration of the total reinforcement area

K r in equation (5.34) is given by equation (5.36).

Kr 
nu  n  1.0 (5.36)
nu  nbal 
Where;
N Ed
n (relative axial force)
Ac f cd

N Ed is the design value of the axial force

nu  1  

nbal is the value of n at maximum moment of resistance; the value (0.4) may be used.

As f yd

Ac f yc

As is the total area of reinforcement

Ac is the area of concrete section

The factor K that takes into account the effect of creep is given by equation (5.37)

K  1  ef  1.0 (5.37)

Where;
 ef is the effective creep ratio

f ck 
  0.35  
200 150
 is the slenderness ratio.

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Once N Ed and M Ed are known, the area of longitudinal reinforcement is evaluated using
appropriate column design charts.

Biaxial Bending (clause 5.8.9)

 Separate design in each principal direction, disregarding biaxial bending are carried out as a first
step.
 Imperfections are taken into account only in the direction where they will have the most
unfavourable effect.
 If the slenderness ratio satisfy both conditions in equation (5.38a), and the relative eccentricities
 ey  e 
 h  and  z b  satisfy at least one condition in equation (5.38b) no further check is
   
necessary:
Where;
b, h are the width and depth of the section

beq  i y 12 and heq  iz 12 for an equivalent rectangular section

l 
 y , z are the slenderness ratios  0  with respect to y and z axis respectively
i
i y , iz are the radii of gyration with respect to y and z axis respectively

M Ed , y
ez  ; eccentricity along z axis; (Figure 5.8)
N Ed

M Ed , z
ey  ; eccentricity along y axis; (Figure 5.8)
N Ed

M Ed , y is the design moment about y axis, including second order moment

M Ed , z is the design moment about z axis, including second order moment

N Ed is the design value of axial load in respective load combination.

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If the conditions in equations (5.38a) and (5.38b) is not fulfilled biaxial bending should be taken into account
including 2nd order effects in each direction.

The design biaxial bending is acceptable if equation (5.39) is satisfied.

a a
 M Ed , z   M Ed , y 
     1.0 (5.39)
M  M 
 Rd , z   Rd , y 
Where;
M Ed , z / y is the design moment around the respective axis including 2nd order moment

M Rd , z / y is the moment of resistance in the respective direction

a is an exponent’
For circular and elliptical cross sections a  2.0
For rectangular cross sections a is obtained from the table below;

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 N Ed N Rd 0.1 0.7 1.0

a 1.0 1.5 2.0

Linear interpolation may be carried out to obtain intermediate values

N Ed is the design value of the axial force

N Rd  Ac f cd  As f yd Design axial resis tan ce of sec tion 

Where;
Ac is the gross area of the concrete section

As is the area of longitudinal reinforcement

This design procedure is iterative and involves estimating the area of longitudinal steel which is
then checked using equation (5.39). to cut down on the work the concise code recommends the
following method to compute the longitudinal reinforcement, which is then checked using equation
(5.39)

The method specifies that a column subjected to an ultimate axial load N Ed and moments M Ed , z and

M Ed , y in the direction of the zz and yy axes respectively as shown in the Figure below may be designed

for single axis bending but with an increased moment as per the following conditions;

M Ed , z M Ed , y
(a) If 
h' b'
Then increased single axis design moment is
h'
M '
Ed , z  M Ed , z   ' M Ed , y
b
M Ed , z M Ed , y
(b) If 
h' b'
Then increased single axis design moment is;
b'
, y  M Ed , y  
'
M Ed M Ed , z
h'

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 b

M Ed , z

h' h
y

z
M Ed , y

b'

The coefficient  is given in the table below’;

N Ed 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7  0.75
bhf ck
 1.0 0.91 0.81 0.72 0.63 0.53 0.44 0.35 0.3

Longitudinal Reinforcement (clause 9.5.2)

 The minimum diameter of longitudinal reinforcement in columns is 12mm
 Minimum area of longitudinal reinforcement in columns is given by:
0.1N Ed
As ,min  or 0.002 Ac ; whichever is greater
f yd

 Maximum area of longitudinal reinforcement in columns is given by;

As ,max  0.04 Ac where there are no laps

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 As ,max  0.04 Ac at laps

Transverse Reinforcement (links) in Columns

The maximum spacing of links should take the least of the following;
(a) 20 times the minimum diameter of longitudinal bars
(b) The lesser dimension of the column
(c) 400mm

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