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Kiousis
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DESIGNOFSHORTCOLUMNS
Besign baseu Inteiaction Chaits
1. Introduction
Designofrectangularandcircularcolumnswithsymmetricreinforcementiscommonlyperformedusinginteraction
diagramsthathavebeendevelopedbyACI
1
.IngeneralthesecolumnsarecharacterizedastypesR,E,L,C,andSas
shownbelow. Ofthese,columnsoftypeEaretheleastinterestingastheyaredesignedtocarryaneccentricload
witheccentricitythatisparalleltothereinforcementandthusresultsintheleasteffectivedesign. Thisisnottosay
howeverthattheyarenotused,astheycouldrepresentacolumnthatisunderstrongflexureinonedirection(L)and
weakflexureintheotherdirection(E).Asmallbutusefulsubsetofinteractionchartsispresentedinyourtextbookin
AppendixA.Atypicalcolumndesignationisasfollows:
R
c
i
-

. y c. g. R4 -6u.7S
where y istheratioofthedistancebetweencentroidsofoppositebarsandthethicknessofthegrosscolumn
crosssection. BasedonFigure2, y =
h
y
h
. Notethathisthecolumnthicknessandisalwaysinthedirectionof
bending(i.e.paralleltoeccentricity).

Figure1:ColumntypesforInteractionChartsbasedDesign

1
ACISpecialPublicationSP17A(85)
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Figure2:TermsthatDefine Figure3:Columnsubjectedtoeccentriccompression

InourgeneraldesignweshallassumethatacolumnissubjectedtoacompressionloadPwitheccentricitye. Thisis
equivalenttohavingacompressionloadPandamomentM=PeasillustratedinFigure3. Notethathisalways
paralleltoe. AtypicaldesigninteractiondiagramisdemonstratedinFigure4where:
A
g
=bhisthegrossareaofthecolumn.

g
=Grosssteelcontent=A
s
/A
g
A
s
=Areaoftotallongitudinalsteel.
Notealsothat P
n
= P
u
and H
n
= H
u

Aselecteddesignmustfallwithintheinteraction
graph,afterthepropercoefficient isapplied.
Thecloserthepointistothedesigncurvethemore
economicalisthedesign.
AscanbeseenfromFigure4,assumingthatthematerial
parameters
c
i
and

havebeenselected,thedesign
parametersareP
n
,M
n
(ore),b,h,and p
g
(which
interestingly,ispresentedas p
z
inthegraphsofyour
textbook,butispresentedas p
g
withintheactualtext).
Fouroftheseparametersmustbesomehowselectedand
thefifthcanbeselectedfromtheinteractiongraph.

Thetypicalproblemofcolumndesignisasfollows:
1. Fourdesignparametersareselectedandthefifthmustbecalculatedtosecureasafedesign.
2. P
u
andM
u
areknown. Thegeometryandreinforcementmustbeselectedforsafedesign.

Figure4:TypicalColumnDesignInteractionDiagram.
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Thesecondtypeofproblemisverysimilartothefirstaswillbedemonstratedlaterinthishandout.Themethodologyof
solvingsuchproblemsispresentednext.

DesignMethodology.
ProblemType1:Geometryandreinforcementarefullydefined.P
u
isknown.ThemaximumM
u
issought.
1. Definetheexacttypeofcolumn.ForexampleE460.62with2.3%steelcontent.Thisspecificationindicatesthat
thecolumnhasreinforcementattheendfaces,ithas4000psiconcrete,60000psisteeland y =0.62.Note
thattheE460specificationisavailableintheAppendixofyourbook.However,onlythe.60and.70curvesare
available.
2. CalculateM
u
basedontheE460.60specification:CalculateP
u
/A
g
.Drawahorizontallineonthechartfromthe
calculatedvalueofP
u
/A
g
untilitmeetsthe2.3%steelcontent(estimatedpositionbetween2and3%).Fromthis
pointdrawaverticallinetogetthevalueofM
u
/(A
g
h).NowM
u60
canbecalculated.The60subscriptindicates
thatthisisthesolutionfor p
g
=0.60.
3. CalculateM
u
basedontheE460.70specification:CalculateP
u
/A
g
.Drawahorizontallineonthechartfromthe
calculatedvalueofP
u
/A
g
untilitmeetsthe2.3%steelcontent(estimatedpositionbetween2and3%).Fromthis
pointdrawaverticallinetogetthevalueofM
u
/(A
g
h).NowM
u70
canbecalculated.The70subscriptindicates
thatthisisthesolutionfor p =0.70.
1 WhatwearelookingforisM
u62
whichcanbefoundfromlinearinterpolationof H
u-60
andH
u-70
.

IfM
u
isknownandP
u
issought,theprocessisidenticalexceptthatwestartfromtheM
u
/(A
g
h)axisandwork
upwards.
ProblemType2:LoadsP
u
andM
u
areknown. Geometricquantitiesbandhareknown(typicallybyguessing). Thesteel
content p
g
issought

1. Definetheexacttypeofcolumn.ForexampleE460.62. Thesteelcontentisunknown.Thisspecification
indicatesthatthecolumnhasreinforcementattheendfaces;ithas4000psiconcrete,60000psisteeland
y =0.62.NotethattheE460specificationisavailableintheAppendixofyourbook.However,onlythe.60and
.70curvesareavailable.
2. WorkontheE460.60chart.CalculateP
u
/A
g
.CalculateM
u
/(A
g
h).Findthepointthatthesetwovaluesdefineon
thechart.Thispointfallsbetweentwo p
g
curves,forexample p
g
=0.1and p
g
=0.2.Fromgraphinterpolation
findthevalueof p
g
.Forexample p
g
=0.14.Thisisthevalue p
g-60
.The60subscriptindicatesthatthisisthe
solutionfor y =0.6.
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3. WorkontheE460.70chart.CalculateP
u
/A
g
.CalculateM
u
/(A
g
h).Findthepointthatthesetwovaluesdefineon
thechart.Thispointfallsbetweentwo p
g
curves,forexample p
g
=0.1and p
g
=0.2.Fromgraph
interpolationfindthevalueof p
g
.Forexample p
g
=0.12.Thisisthevalue p
g-70
.The70subscriptindicates
thatthisisthesolutionfor y =0.70.
4.Whatwearelookingforis p
g-62
whichcanbefoundfromlinearinterpolationof p
g-60
and p
g-70

ProblemType3:LoadsPuandMuareknown. Thecolumnmustbedesigned. Noaprioriknowledgeof
geometricorsteelcontent.
Thisisthesameproblemasthatoftype2. Whatwedohere,isweassumebandhandsolvefor p
g
asinthecase
ofProblemType2. Ifthesolutionyieldsanunsatisfactoryvaluefor p
g
,wechangethevaluesofhand/orband
repeattheprocess.
Example1.
Arectangularshortcolumnwithdimensionsb=20in.h=40in.carriesafactoredaxialload P
u
= 950kips. The
columnisreinforcedonitsendfaceswithatotalof8#11rebars(4oneachside).Calculatethelargesteccentricitythat
theloadcanhavealongthehside. Dataf
c
'=4000psiandf
y
=60ksi. Coverofsteelis3.5in.
Solution
Notethatthisisaproblemoftype1,with P
n
=
950
0.65
= 1461 kips.
1 y
h
=33/40=0.825.Thus,thecolumnisoftype:
E460.825.OursolutionwillbeinterpolatedfromE460.80(graph
4)andE460.90(graph5). NotethatA
s
=8#11=12.5in
2
.Thus
p
g
=12.5/(20x40)=0.0156.
2 UsingE460.80data: K
n
=
1461
]
c
|
A
g
= u.46.Usingthisvalue
and p
g
=0.0156,wefindfromgraph4that R
n
= u.18S.Thus
H
n
= u.18S 4 4u 2u 4u =23,680ink,andthus H
u
= u.6S
2S,68u = 1S,S92 in - k. Notethatthepointisabovethe
balancepointofourinteraction,andthus, = u.6S iscorrect.

1 UsingE460.90data: K
n
=
1461
]
c
|
A
g
= u.46.Usingthisvalue
and p
g
=0.0156,wefindfromgraph5that R
n
= u.19S.Thus,
H
n
= u.19S 4 4u 2u 4u =24,960ink,and H
u
= u.6S
24,96u = 16,224 in - k. Notethatthepointisabovethe
balancepointofourinteraction,andthustheassumptionthat
= u.6S iscorrect.
2
3 Oursolutionisalinearinterpolationofthetworesults: H
u
= u.7S 1S,S92 + u.2S 16224 = 1S,6uu in - k

ThelargestfactoredmomentthatcanbeappliedisM
u
=15,600ink. Thus,thelargesteccentricityofP
u
ise=M
u
/P
u
=
16.4in.

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Example2
AcolumnistobedesignedtocarryafactoredaxialloadP
u
=521kipsandafactoredbendingmomentof3,200ink.
ThecolumnistobeoftypeRwithf
c
'=4,000psiandf
y
=60ksi. Theanticipatedcoveris3in. Designthecolumn.
Solution
Thisisaproblemoftype3whichcanbecomeaproblemoftype2ifweselectbandh.Weselectb=12in.andh=
22in.Thus,theonlyunknownisthesteelcontent p
g
.
1 Sinceh=22in.andthesteelcoveris3in.wefindthe b
y
=226=16in.Thus, y=16/22=0.73.Thecolumnto
bedesignisdesignatedasR460.73.WeshallproduceinterpolationbetweenR460.70andR460.80. Note
thatA
g
=12x22=264in
2
K
n
= P
n
(
c
i
A
g
)=521/(0.654264)=0.76; R
n
= H
n
(
c
i
A
g
b) =
3,200/(0.65426422)=0.21.
2 WorkontheR460.70chart. K
n
= u.76 and R
n
= u.21 p
g
= u.u4u
3 WorkontheR460.80chart. K
n
= u.76 and R
n
= u.21 p
g
= u.uS4
4 Wecanobtainasolutionbasedoninterpolation,whichisapproximately p
g
= u.uS8. However,thisisTOO
MUCHsteel(ifpossible,donotallowinyourdesignmorethan2.5%steelcontent,becauseittypicallybecomes
hardertofitwithinthecrosssection). Weshallincreasethesizetoh=24inandb=14in. Thus, b
y
= 24 -
6 = 18 in,and y = 1824=0.75.ThecolumntobedesignisdesignatedasR460.75.Weshallproduce
interpolationbetweenR460.70andR460.80. NotethatA
g
=14x24=336in
2
. K
n
= P
n
(
c
i
A
g
)=
521/(0.654336)=0.60; R
n
= H
n
(
c
i
A
g
b) =3,200/(0.65433624)=0.15.
5 WorkontheR460.70chart. K
n
= u.6u and R
n
= u.1S p
g
= u.u21
6 WorkontheR460.80chart. K
n
= u.6u and R
n
= u.1S p
g
= u.u18
7 Oursolutionisalinearinterpolationofthetworesults:

Therequiredgrosssteelcontentis p
g
=0.0195.ThusA
g
=0.0195x336=6.55in
2
.

NotethattypeRcolumnshavethesamenumberofrebarsonallsides. Thus,thepossiblenumberofrebarsis4,8,
12,etc.

Wecanuse8#9(=9.00in
2
)or12#7(=7.22in
2
).Therequiredwidthfor3#9sinonesideisb
w
=2x1.5+2x0.5+3x1.128+
2x(1.5x1.128)=10.77incheswhichislessthantheavailable14in.width. Obviously3barsfiteasilywithinthe24in.
side. Therequiredwidthfor4#7sinonesideisb
w
=2x1.5+2x0.5+4x7/8+3x(1.5x7/8)=11.44incheswhichisless
thantheavailable14in.width. Thus,eitherreinforcingconfigurationworks. However,creatingacageof8barsis
clearlyeasierthanacageof12bars,especiallyconsideringissuesofsupportofthenoncornerbarsbyaddedties.

Ifwearenotpleasedwiththeresultingsteelcontentwecanincreasehand/orbtodecreasetherequiredsteel
content,orwecandecreasehand/orbtoincreasetherequiredsteelcontent.
=0.70 =0.80 =0.75

g
=0.021
g
=0.018
g
=0.0195