The 23rd Biennial Conference of the Concrete Institute of Australia

Design Of Anchor Bolts In Pedestals Using ACI 318, Appendix D

Misho Krstich1, Chris Rohde2
Senior Civil-Structural Engineer, Ausenco, Brisbane
2
Lead Civil-Structural Engineer, Ausenco, Brisbane

Synopsis: The Australian Conrete structures code, AS 3600, provides little guidance for the
design of anchor bolts. The authors suggest that ACI 318 provides suitable design provisions for
headed and hooked anchor bolts. The background and design requirements of ACI 318 are
examined with particular attention to provisions applying to pedestals.
Keywords: Anchor bolts, Concrete, Pedestals, Shear, Strength design, Tension

Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to introduce Australian engineers to recent developments in
calculating the design strength of anchors in concrete, with particular reference to the
implementation given in ACI 318. Relevant sections are discussed and an example given.

What is ACI 318, Appendix D

ACI 318 is the Building Code Requirements For Structural Concrete And Commentry published
by the American Concrete Institute. The version referred to in this paper is ACI 318M-05 (1), the
metric edition published in 2005. The part that applies to design of anchor bolts is Appendix D
Anchoring to Concrete.
Some definitions that are used in ACI 318 and are used in this paper follow;
Anchor - A steel element either cast into concrete or post-installed into a hardened concrete
member and used to transmit applied loads, including headed bolts, hooked bolts (J- or L-bolt),
headed studs, expansion anchors, or undercut anchors.
Anchor pullout strength The strength corresponding to the anchoring device or a major
component of the device sliding out from the concrete without breaking out a substantial portion
of the surrounding concrete.
Concrete breakout strength The strength corresponding to a volume of concrete surrounding
the anchor or group of anchors separating from the member.
Concrete pryout strength The strength corresponding to formation of a concrete spall behind
short, stiff anchors displaced in the direction opposite to the applied shear force.
Ductile steel element An element with a tensile test elongation of at least 14 percent and
reduction in area of at least 30 percent. A steel element meeting the requirements of ASTM A
307 shall be considered ductile.
Side-face blowout strength The strength of anchors with deeper embedment but
thinner side cover corresponding to concrete spalling on the side face around the embedded
head while no major breakout occurs at the top concrete surface.
Supplementary reinforcement Reinforcement proportioned to tie a potential concrete failure
prism to the structural member.

ISBN 0 909375 78 X

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Concrete 07

Notation
Anc,(Avc)

Projected area in tension (shear) for the anchor group

Anco,(Avco)

Projected area in tension (shear) for a single anchor remote from edges

ca,max
ca1
do

The largest of the influencing edge distances that are less than 1.5 times actual hef.
distance from the center of an anchor shaft to the edge of concrete in one direction;
where shear force is applied to anchor, ca1 is in the direction of the shear force.
The anchor diameter

f'c

28 day cylinder compressive strength

ha

Depth of the concrete section

hef

Effective anchor depth

le

Load bearing length of the anchor but not greater than 8.d0

Nb ,(Vb)

Basic concrete breakout strength for a single anchor in tension (shear)

Ncbg,(Vcbg)

Basic concrete breakout strength for an anchor group in tension (shear)

c,N, (c,V)

Capacity reduction factor

Factor for presence or absence of cracks for anchors in tension (shear)

cp,N

Factor for post installed anchors

ec,N, (ec,V) Factor for eccentricity of applied load in tension (shear)

ed,N, (ed,V) Factor for effect of proximity of an edge for load in tension (shear)

Background to Appendix D
One widely used design method for anchor bolts was provided by ACI 349 (2). This method is
widely used in Australia, for example, in such publications as the AISC's Design of Structural
Connections (3).
While this provided a rational method for calculating concrete breakout strength in tension and
shear, the -factor method developed in Europe during the late 1980's shows much better
correlation with test results.
In 1994 the Comite Euro-International du Beton (CEB) published a state of the art report on
fastening to concrete and masonry (4). This compared several existing methods including ACI
349 and the -factor method (renamed the -factor method to conform with CEB notation).
The CCD method (5) is a variation of the -factor method developed in the 1990's. It provides "a
clear visual explanation of the calculation of the -factors [combining] the transparency of the
ACI 349 method, accuracy of the -method, and a user-friendly rectangular failure surface
calculation procedure." The CCD method has formed the basis for the design provisions of ACI
318.

Comparison of ACI 318 and AS3600

AS 3600 (6) provisions for design of anchor bolts are contained in Clause 14.3 REQUIREMENTS
FOR FIXINGS.

Ductility
One of the main requirements in AS 3600 is clause 14.3 (a), "Fixings shall be designed to yield
before ultimate failure in the event of overload." This is intended to ensure a ductile failure in the
fixing. Note that it is not sufficient for the material the fixing is made from to be ductile. There
must also be sufficient embedment and edge distance to ensure yield before concrete breakout.

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In practice it can be very difficult to meet these requirements, especially where the anchors are
close to an edge.
ACI 318 contains provisions in several clauses that govern ductility:
D.3.1 Anchors and anchor groups shall be designed for critical effects of factored
loads as determined by elastic analysis. Plastic analysis approaches are permitted
where nominal strength is controlled by ductile steel elements, provided that
deformational compatibility is taken into account.
For regions of moderate or high seismic risk:
D.3.3.3 the design strength of anchors shall be taken as 0.75Nn and 0.75Vn,
D.3.3.4 anchors shall be designed to be governed by tensile or shear strength of a
ductile steel element, unless D.3.3.5 is satisfied.
D.3.3.5 Instead of D.3.3.4, the attachment that the anchor is connecting to the
structure shall be designed so that the attachment will undergo ductile yielding at a load
level corresponding to anchor forces no greater than the design strength of anchors
specified in D.3.3.3.
Ductility of fixings is not required by ACI 318. In general brittle anchor materials or anchorages
are permitted with some restrictions on design methods, even in regions of moderate or high
seismic risk.

Design methods
For design methods AS3600 Clause 14.3 (b) specifies that "... In the case of shallow
anchorages, cone-type failure in the concrete surrounding the fixing shall be investigated taking
into account edge distance, spacing, the effect of reinforcement, if any, and concrete strength at
time of loading."
ACI 318 Appendix D meets these requirements and is an improvement on the ACI 349 method.

What's in ACI 318 Appendix D

Appendix D applies only to smooth shanked anchors for which it can be assumed that all tension
load is resisted at the embedded head. Clause D.2.2 excludes adhesive and grouted anchors,
anchors formed from reinforcing bar, and specialty inserts. No mention is made of U bolts.
The basic breakout strength of anchors in tension and shear is based on anchors in cracked
concrete. A modification factor is allowed where there will be no cracking at service load levels.
This is in contrast to (3) and (4) where uncracked concrete is used for the basic load calculation.
Adjustment factors for edge distance and anchor spacing are calculated using a rectangular
failure surface. This is used instead of the conical failure surface that occurs in practice for ease
of visualization and calculation. Additional factors are applied for eccentricity and other effects.
Pullout strength of anchors is considered in D.5.3.4 and D.5.3.5. The anchorage provided by a
standard bolt head will provide satisfactory pullout strength for mild steel bolts, however the
pullout strength of a hooked bolt, L or J shape, will generally be only a fraction of the capacity of
the bolt itself. The general poor behavior of hooked bolts is noted in (5).
Side face blowout is considered in D.5.4.1. and is more likely to apply to headed anchors with
deep embedment close to an edge. This is not intended to cover splitting during installation of
expansion anchors.

Anchors in tension
The basic concrete breakout strength of a single cast-in anchor in tension in cracked concrete,

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Nb, is given in D.5.2.2 as

Nb = 10 f'c0.5 hef1.5
and in D.5.2.1 for a group of anchors as
Ncbg = ANc/ANco ec,N ed,N c,N cp,N Nb
Capacity can also be limited by pullout strength as given in D.5.3.4 for headed anchors, and
D.5.3.5 for hooked anchors. For a grade 4.6 bolt the pullout capacity of a hooked anchor can be
as little as 1/3 of the bolt tension capacity.

Anchors in Shear
The basic concrete breakout strength of a single cast-in anchor in shear in cracked concrete,
Vb, is given in D.6.2.2 as
Vb = 0.6 (le/do)0.2 do0.5 f'c0.5 ca11.5
and in D.5.2.1 for a group of anchors as
Vcbg = AVc/AVco ec,V ed,V c,V Vb
All factors are given in detail in ACI 318 and will not be repeated here.

Anchor Bolts in a Pedestal

For anchor bolts in pedestals there are some specific provisions that apply;
for anchors in tension
D.5.2.3 Where anchors are located less than 1.5hef from three or more edges,
the value of hef in Eq. (D-4) through (D-11) shall be the greater of c a,max /1.5 and onethird of the maximum spacing between anchors within the group.
and for anchors in shear
D.6.1.3 Where anchors are used with built-up grout pads, the nominal strengths of
D.6.1.2 shall be multiplied by a 0.80 factor.
D.6.2.4 Where anchors are influenced by three or more edges, the value of c a 1
used in Eq. (D-23) through (D-28) shall not exceed the greatest of: ca2/ 1.5 in either
direction, ha/1.5; and one-third of the maximum spacing between anchors within the
group.
D.5.2.3 and D.6.2.4 apply because in these situations the ordinary definitions of ANc/ANco and
Avc/AVco do not correctly reflect the edge effects. In D.6.2.4 pedestal height, ha, will not limit c a 1
unless the lower edge is a free edge.
For a group of anchors in shear the commentary RD.6.2.1, (see Fig. RD.6.2.1(b)), suggests that
alternative distributions of shear force within the group should be considered, and the minimum
capacity used. However D.6.2.1 allows;
Where anchors are located at varying distances from the edge and the anchors are
welded to the attachment so as to distribute the force to all anchors, it shall be permitted
to evaluate the strength based on the distance to the farthest row of anchors from the
edge.

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Combined tension and shear

Clause D.7 and the commentary RD.7 give alternative methods of calculating the interaction as
shown in Fig RD.7. Either the trilinear interaction, the 5/3 power interaction, or "any other
interaction expression that is verified by test data can be used to satisfy D.4.3."

Minimum spacing and edge distances

Minimum spacing and edge distances for cast-in anchors as a multiple of the anchor shank
diameter, 4do, are given in D.8 as
minimum center-to-center spacing of anchors shall be 4do for untorqued cast-in anchors, and
6do for torqued cast-in anchors
minimum edge distances for cast-in headed anchors that will not be torqued shall be based
on minimum cover requirements for reinforcement in 7.7. For cast-in headed anchors that will
be torqued, the minimum edge distances shall be 6do.
Minimum anchor embedment is not specified in ACI 318, although anchors with an embedment of
less than 8do will have reduced shear capacity under D.6.2.2.

Load And Capacity Reduction Factors

Before using ACI 318 for design it is necessary to make sure that any necessary adjustment is
made for how concrete strength is measured and the applicable load and capacity reduction
factors contained in the code.
Like AS3600, ACI 318 concrete compressive strength is based on cylinder test strength, rather
than cube strength which is used in many countries so no adjustment is required.
The load factors used are different in the two codes as shown in Table 1 below.
ACI 318
Dead Load
1.2 (or 1.4 if no live load)
Live Load
1.6
Table 1: Comparison of Load Factors

AS 3600
1.2 (or 1.4 if no live load)
1.5

Where live load dominates, the factored load calculated using ACI318 will be higher than when
Australian codes are used. The authors suggest that taking the worst case of 100% live load, the
strength reduction factors used in ACI 318 should be reduced by a factor of 1.5/1.6, giving
ACI
capacity reduction
factors
0.75
0.7
0.65
0.6
Table 2: Adjusted load factors

x 1.5/1.6

Suggested AS3600
capacity reduction factors

0.703
0.656
0.609
0.563

0.7
0.65
0.6
0.55

However for ductile anchor bolts such as Grade 4.6, this would result in lower capacities than the
Australian structural code, AS 4100, and to prevent this mismatch the authors suggest that
factors from AS 4100 be used as shown below.
Brittle anchors are intentionally penalized in ACI 318 and Grade 8.8 bolts fall into this category,
having an elongation of 12% compared to the 14% required for ductile anchors

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Appropriate load factors then become;

Anchor governed by strength of a ductile steel element
i) Tension loads .................... 0.80 (from AS 4100)
ii) Shear loads ....................... 0.80 (from AS 4100)
Anchor governed by strength of a brittle steel element
i) Tension loads .................... 0.60
ii) Shear loads ....................... 0.55
Anchor governed by concrete breakout, side-face blowout, pullout, or pryout strength

i) Shear loads
ii) Tension
Cast-in headed studs, headed
loads
bolts, or hooked bolts

Condition A
(with supplementary
reinforcement)

Condition B
(without
supplementary
reinforcement)

0.70
0.70

0.65
0.65

Condition A applies where the potential concrete failure surfaces are crossed by
supplementary reinforcement (see below) proportioned to tie the potential concrete failure prism
into the structural member.
Condition B applies where such supplementary reinforcement is not provided, or where pullout
or pryout strength governs.
These factors are generally higher than would be obtained using AS3600 Table 2.3 (j) Bending,
shear, and tension in fixings where =0.6;
The use of these capacity reduction factors is suggested until appropriate values are published in
AS3600. Capacity reduction factors for post-installed anchors have not been considered here but
are given in ACI 318.

Supplementary Reinforcement
Supplementary reinforcement is defined above with the definition expanded in the commentary to
ACI 318. Supplementary reinforcement should be oriented in the direction of the load, fully
anchored on both sides of the breakout surface, and proportioned to resist the total load. Design
of supplementary reinforcement is not covered in ACI 318 (nor here due to space limitations),
except for longitudinal bars in pedestals. The commentary in clause RD.4.2.1 suggests suitable
references for design methods.
For tension loads on typical column pedestals it will usually be found that a concrete breakout
cone cannot develop the required capacity. Supplementary reinforcement for tension loads can
be provided by extending the bolts to allow anchorage of vertical bars each side of the failure
surface, or by providing hairpin splice bars.
For shear loads on typical column pedestals the Authors have found that edge distances are
often too small to allow effective placement and anchorage of supplementary reinforcement and it
will be necessary to increase pedestal size if shear loads are high.
Minimum ties around anchors are required by ACI 318 clause 7.10.5.6 however this would
not normally meet the requirements of supplementary reinforcement to resist the shear load.

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For column pedestals supplementary reinforcement is probably unavoidable for tension loads and
impractical for shear loads. In these cases Condition A applies for tension load concrete
breakout (=0.7) and Condition B for other concrete failure modes (=0.65).

Design for Anchor Bolts in a Pedestal

With the relevant clauses of ACI 318 identified they can now be applied to the very common case
of a group of column anchor bolts in a concrete pedestal. Only the case of combined tension and
shear will be considered. Headed anchors should be used in preference to hooked anchors.
Unless the pedestal is very large compared to the bolt group it will not be possible to develop
sufficient breakout capacity to handle large loads. Bolts could be continued through the full
height of the pedestal into the footing so that breakout strength could be developed or, more
commonly, it will be necessary to transfer the tension load to suitably anchored reinforcement.
In many cases shear capacity of bolts in a pedestal will be limited by concrete breakout. As
noted above supplementary reinforcement will be found to be impractical in many cases.
For both tension and shear it can be assumed that the concrete in the pedestal will be uncracked.
This gives -factors of c,N = 1.25 for tension and c,V = 1.4 for shear.
Sample calculations are shown in the Appendix.

Conclusions
It is suggested that ACI 318 provides detailed design methods that meet the requirements of AS
3600. Some adjustment of capacity reduction factors may be required to compensate for
differences in load factors used in ACI 318 compared to AS 3600, and the capacity reduction
factors calculated above are recommended until suitable provisions are included in the Australian
design code.

References
1. ACI Committee 318 "ACI 318-05 Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete and
Commentary, 2005.
2. ACI Committee 349, "Code Requirements for Nuclear Safety Related Concrete Structures (ACI
349-85), Appendix B - Steel Embedment," ACI Manual of Concrete Practice, Part 4.
3. AISC (now ASI), "Design of Structural Connections", 4th Ed., 1994.
4. Comite Euro-International du Beton, "Fastenings to Concrete and Masonry Structures, State of
the Art Report," Comite Euro-International du Beton, (CEB), Bulletin No. 216, Thomas Telford
Services Ltd., London, 1994.
5. Fuchs, W., Eligehausen, R., and Breen, J., "Concrete Capacity Design (CCD) Approach for
Fastening to Concrete," ACI Structural Journal, V. 92, No. 1, Jan.-Feb., 1995
6. Standards Australia (SAA), "AS 36002001 : Concrete Structures, 3rd ed.", Standards
Australia International, 2001.
7. Standards Australia (SAA), " AS 4100-1998 : Steel structures, 2nd ed.", Standards Australia
International, 1998.

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WORKED EXAMPLE -GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE STRENGTH OF ANCHORS

Strength design of anchors in this worked example will be based on the computations using
design models based on the following general requirements for strength of anchors as per ACI
318M Appendix D - Clauses :
D .5.1 & D.6.1 -steel strength of anchor in tension and shear
D.5.2 & D.6.2 - concrete breakout strength in shear and tension
D.5.3 & D.5.4 - pullout strength and concrete side-face blowout strength of anchor in tension
D.6.3 -concrete pryout strength of anchor in shear
Figure 1. Shows general arrangement for a typical pedestal.
Figure 2. & 3. Shows parameters such as effective depth, edge distance and ratio Anc /Anc0 and
Avc/Avc0 .
General requirements and parameters such as edge distance and effective depth are selected to
ensure ductile design of structural components. Steel components have to yield before concrete
breakout to avoid britle failure.

Nua

Vua

Design Loads: Nua = 90 kN, Vua = 118 kN

Fig 1.-3. Example pedestal details
REQUIREMENTS FOR SUPPLEMENTARY REINFORCEMENT
Concrete breakout strength in shear / tension is failure mode for the group of anchors is usually
lesser than design strength. To increase capacity in tension/shear ,tension force and shear from
anchors should be transfered from anchors to supplementary main reinforcement and ties.

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The following should be provided in the design to ensure ductile behaviour :

A. The splice will be sufficient to transfer 1.3 x times the tension force in the anchor bolt to the
vertical reinforcement in the pedestals .
The development length of the pedestal vertical bars will be further increased by 25% to
ensure that this will not be failure mechanism .
B. The pedestal vertical bars are design to transfer the column reactions (moment shear and
axial load) to the foundation separately from the design to develop the anchor bolt tension,
and is not included here.
C. Shear strength will be dependant on the yield strength of ties or anchor bolts, regardless of
the concrete breakout shear strength if we utilize yield strength of the ties intersecting failure
surface. The yield strength of the ties or anchor bolts will ultimately control the ultimate shear
capacity if we are to ensure a ductile failure .
D. To determine tie shear strength it is assumed that the shear failure plane will occure in
straight line at anchor bolts center at 350 from bolt to the edge of the pedestal. Typical
internal ties will provide additional shear strength for concrete breakout .
Example : bolt strength of group of 4 anchors utilizing two anchors furthest from the edge of the
pedestal :
nties=4; Two legs x Two sets ; ATIE =78.5mm2 ; tie diameter 10mm; fy=500MPa;
VSTIE =0.8nties ATIE fy =125.600kN; IF ; Vsa >VSTIE ;ADOPT VSTIE
CLAUSES:
D .5.1 - STEEL STRENGTH OF ANCHOR IN TENSION
Number of anchors in the group ; n =4; see fig 1.Number of treads per mm ; nt=1;
Anchor bolt diameter ; do=20;mm; Net tensile area ; ASE =(/4)(do -0.9743/nt)2mm2 =284.2mm2;
Ultimate anchor tensile strength ;grade 4.6; futa =400MPa;
Nsa = n ASE futa =454.8kN;
D.6.1 - STEEL STRENGTH OF ANCHOR IN SHEAR
Factor 0.60 in following equation shall be used with built up grout pads see Fig .1
Vsa= n 0.6 ASE futa =272.924kN;
D.5.2 - CONCRETE BREAKOUTSTRENGTH IN TENSION
ec,N=1.0 ;ed,N=1.0; c,N=1.25; cp,N=1.0; N =ec,N ed,N c,N cp,N =1.25 ;N=1.25;
Concrete strength ; fc=32 ; MPa ;hef =140 ; mm ; as shown in figure 2.;
ANC/ANCO =1.85;as shown in figure 2.
Nb =10 (fc ) hef1.5 10-3=93.706 ; kN ;Ncbg =ANC/ANCO NN b ;
Ncbg = 1.851.25 Nb =216.695 ; kN;
D.6.2 - CONCRETE BREAKOUTSTRENGTH IN SHEAR
Load bearing length of anchors for shear max. 8xdo ; le =160;mm; do=20;mm
As shown in figure 3. ; ca1 =215;mm;As shown in figure3 ; AVC/AVCO =1.26;
Parameters described on page 3 ;
ec,v=1.0 ; ed,v=0.9; c,v=1.4;V =ec,ved,vc,v =1.26;V =1.26 ;
Vb=0.6(le/ do )0.2( do) (fc)(ca1)1.510-3 =72.530;kN;
Vcbg =AVC/AVCO VVb
Vcbg =1.260.85 Vb =77.679;kN;
D.5.3 - PULLOUT STRENGTH OF ANCHOR IN TENSION
c,p =1.4; For anchors in region where is nocracking at service load levels ;
Nett area of plate or similar attachment welded to headed stud ; Abrg = 520;mm2;
Np =8 Abrg fc 10-3 =133.120;kN ;Npn=c,p Np ;
Npn=1.4 Np =186.368 ;kN

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D.5.4 - CONCRETE SIDE-FACE BLOWOUT STRENGTH OF ANCHOR IN TENSION

As per figure 1. ;hef =400mm ; ca1=215mm > ; 0.4hef =160.000 mm; satisfy condition DOES
NOT CONTROL
D.6.3 -CONCRETE PRYOUT STRENGTH OF ANCHOR IN SHEAR
kcp =2;factor if hef >65mm;
Vcpg =kcp Ncbg = 433.3 ; kN;
Nn is the lowest design strength of the group of anchors in tension, determined from all
factored failure modes as shown in this example
=0.8;
Nsa =Nsa =363.899kN;
nNpn = nNpn =596.378 kN;
Nsbg =Nsbg =NOT APPLICABLE kN;
Ncbg =Ncbg =173.356 kN;
Nn = Nsa =363.899 kN;
"Ncbg" doesnt control as tension capacity will be provided for by supplementary reinforcement.
Vn is the lowest design strength of the group of anchors in shear, determined from all factored
failure modes as shown in this example.
=0.7;
`
Vsa =Nsa =318.412kN;
VSTIE = 125.600kN; see above ;
Vcpg =Vcpg =303.373 ;kN;
Vcbg =Vcbg =54.376 kN;
Vn =VSTIE =125.600 kN;
Vcbg doesnt control. Tension capacity will be provided by supplementary reinforcement, i.e ties
Vua =118 kN; as shown in figure 1; Nua =90 kN; as in figure 1;
( Nua /Nn )5/3 +( Vua/Vn)5/3 =0.999; <1 O.K. condition satisfy pass
Nn

Nn

5/3

N
()
N
ua
n

5/3

V
()
V
ua

= 1.0

Trilinear
interaction

Vn
Vn

Fig 4. Combined interaction shear and tension

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