Grouting steel column head plate to slab soffit (i.e. overhead grouting)
Grouting steel column head plate to slab soffit (i.e. overhead grouting)
(OP)
I have a steel fabricator who propose to grouting a steel column head plate to concrete soffit over.
My feeling is the only way to do this effectively would be to shutter 3 sides of the head plate and ram in a non-shrink grout mixed to a dry pack consistency.
My other feeling is the chance of this being done correctly is low!
Does anyone have real world experience of the success of such overhead grouting arrangements?
Martin.
My feeling is the only way to do this effectively would be to shutter 3 sides of the head plate and ram in a non-shrink grout mixed to a dry pack consistency.
My other feeling is the chance of this being done correctly is low!
Does anyone have real world experience of the success of such overhead grouting arrangements?
Martin.
RE: Grouting steel column head plate to slab soffit (i.e. overhead grouting)
I would prefer shimming then grouting with ram in a dry pack non-shrink grout to all around.. what is the space ht.? You may post a sketch to get better responds..
RE: Grouting steel column head plate to slab soffit (i.e. overhead grouting)
Martin.
RE: Grouting steel column head plate to slab soffit (i.e. overhead grouting)
But again it's done often and I haven't heard of a failure yet so...but whatever you do make sure you specify a large gap. Larger gaps are easier to shove material all the way to the back. When engineers get cute and spec less than 2" it is basically just asking for laborers to give up getting the drypack to the back.
CWB (W47.1) Div 1 Fabricator
Temporary Works Design
https://www.enable-inc.com/
RE: Grouting steel column head plate to slab soffit (i.e. overhead grouting)
It might be advantageous to use a slightly expansive grout mix for an application. Your core concern with this, after all, is probably just a somewhat uniform distribution of the slab load into the steel column without thing getting hung up on any unintended hard spots.
RE: Grouting steel column head plate to slab soffit (i.e. overhead grouting)
That being said, I think it might be adequate in this application to omit the grout and bring the column cap snug to the soffit through careful anchor bolt adjustment. The cap has such a small bearing area that I doubt flatness variability in the soffit would be an issue.
One other thought would be to provide bearing pad material similar to what’s used for precast bearing just for more assurance of even load distribution.
Just to reiterate my overall point, since you have vertical adjustment capability at the baseplate, I don’t think you really need another load transfer mechanism (i.e. drypacking) at the top of the column.
RE: Grouting steel column head plate to slab soffit (i.e. overhead grouting)
RE: Grouting steel column head plate to slab soffit (i.e. overhead grouting)
Martin.
RE: Grouting steel column head plate to slab soffit (i.e. overhead grouting)