Strut and tie bottle bursting stress?
Strut and tie bottle bursting stress?
(OP)
AS3600 requires you to check for lateral bursting stress where the load can spread out. We find this often controls the design, requiring you to add ties/bursting-reinforcement, making an uglier design.
What we're struggling to understand is how a fatter concrete element can be somehow weaker than a smaller one? E.g. a 300x300 prismatice strut with 300x300 bearing area will be ok, but a 600x600 prism with 300x300 bearing area will fail under the same load. It doesn't make much sense to us.
Can someone comment? Can adding more concrete really cause an element to fail?
What we're struggling to understand is how a fatter concrete element can be somehow weaker than a smaller one? E.g. a 300x300 prismatice strut with 300x300 bearing area will be ok, but a 600x600 prism with 300x300 bearing area will fail under the same load. It doesn't make much sense to us.
Can someone comment? Can adding more concrete really cause an element to fail?






RE: Strut and tie bottle bursting stress?
RE: Strut and tie bottle bursting stress?
RE: Strut and tie bottle bursting stress?
Link
Link
In what follows, I'll speak to my interpretation of the ACI codes. I'd need to get a look at the particulars of the AU clauses in order to weigh in on them with any confidence.
1) I'm not convinced that one actually has the option of neglecting load spread if desired. It seems to me that it's not something that a designer has much control over if the spatial possibility is there. That said, like you, the notion that more material is somehow worse than less is suspicious. More on that in a moment.
2) In ACI, there is a provision allowing designers to ignore bottle strut bursting stresses if the average compression stress on the strut is below a certain limit. One would hope that, whenever average compression stress is higher than the limit, only a bottle shaped strut would work anyhow. Whether or not that's actually the case, I can't say.
I like to debate structural engineering theory -- a lot. If I challenge you on something, know that I'm doing so because I respect your opinion enough to either change it or adopt it.
RE: Strut and tie bottle bursting stress?
Not yet!
Agree. The issue here is the Australian code says if the load can spread out then it MUST be designed that way. The cases we're looking at are pile caps. Big lumps of concrete. Prismatic struts are working, but the code says you need to model as bottles. Unless of course we've missed something...
Thanks. very relevant. Seems we're not the only ones to wonder about all this.
Agree. If the load can spread it will. We're just wondering if it can actually be weaker than a physical prism.
Yes that's the problem we come against. These pile caps works as pure prisms. But when considered as a solid mass (as pile caps are), it doesn't work anymore - AS3600 says we need anti-burst ties.
RE: Strut and tie bottle bursting stress?
I'm trying to dig up a resource which specifically spoke about pile caps, but can't seem to find it at the moment. The paper or guide recommended ignoring bursting reinforcement within the cap because cracking is usually controlled at the outer faces by side face reinforcement and there's increased strength from the confinement from the mass of concrete around the struts
RE: Strut and tie bottle bursting stress?
I have a feeling that in most practical cases, code serviceability (crack width) requirements govern the bottle strut bursting reinforcement. The spread angle is 1:2 at serviceability compared with 1:5 at ultimate, which more than compensates for the difference in appliled load between SLS & ULS. In addition, you would limit the serviceability reinforcement stress moreso at SLS than ULS (similar to AS 3600 clause 12.7).
So, if we're talking about satisfying code requirements, ULS is probably non-governing with respect to bottle strut bursting reinforcement.
RE: Strut and tie bottle bursting stress?
If we can flatten the bottle to 1:5 that would be great, but AS3600 seems to be saying we have to check ULS bursting using 1/2 not 1/5?
From clause 7.2.4: "If the calculated (ULS) bursting force (T*b) is greater than 0.5Tb.cr, with tanA taken as 1/2, then transverse reinforcement shall be provided..."
RE: Strut and tie bottle bursting stress?
There's some people (highly qualified) that disagree with bottle shaped struts too...
RE: Strut and tie bottle bursting stress?
If the check indicates that the concrete may crack (stress greater than half of nominal cracking stress), the design of the reinforcement then proceeds on the assumption of cracked concrete (1:5 at ULS).
The 1:2 angle for ULS was introduced in Amendment 2. I can easily imagine someone making a comment that the wording was unconservative, and a change being made to just this sentence without realisation that they had caused a discrepancy in the definition of Tb*. If my interpretation is correct, they should have used a different abbreviation for ULS-1:2 as Tb* already referred to ULS-1:5.
Edit: The commentary to AS 3600 does nothing to me except reinforce my interpretation.
RE: Strut and tie bottle bursting stress?
I've also just noticed that Amendment 2 introduced a small error into equation 7.2.4(2). It now refers to T*b.cr instead of Tb.cr. This was not the case before Amendment 2 and happily has not been copied into AS5100.5.
RE: Strut and tie bottle bursting stress?
Yes that's what we're doing, i.e. AS3600 says our lump of concrete is weaker than a significantly smaller internal prism. It's hard to believe that a cubic meter of concrete will fail but a 400x400 prism will be ok. If we documented the pile cap as formed up prismatic struts then AS3600 would say its fine.
RE: Strut and tie bottle bursting stress?
It makes sense that enlarging a prism won't weaken it.
RE: Strut and tie bottle bursting stress?
In summary, I think the bottle strut bursting reinforcement can be designed for ULS load at 1:5 angle, with serviceability requirements probably governing.
RE: Strut and tie bottle bursting stress?
Whether a strut is a reinforced concrete element is getting a bit off track.
My original query concerned the code saying a prismatic strut is ok, but saying that a significantly larger mass of concrete is not ok. I understand that the code says this, but I can't get my head around more concrete being weaker than less.