×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Contact US

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Grouting steel column head plate to slab soffit (i.e. overhead grouting)

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.

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)

(OP)
Thanks HTURKAK, I agree shimming also, but I suspect that will also obstruct the grout and ramming.

Martin.

RE: Grouting steel column head plate to slab soffit (i.e. overhead grouting)

It's done quite often. Though I don't really trust most people to do it correctly without appropriate supervision. I've personally done the grouting and if I didn't care it would be very easy to say fuck it let me just make the outside look pretty. It's actually a rather tedious and tiresome process!

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)

I'm in favor of dry pack grout as well. My intuition tells me that the analogous condition in column base plates would also show considerable defects if one were able to look inside. But, then, life & engineering must go on...

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)

I’ve never had an issue with drypack grouting in this type of application.

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)

I do like the precast bearing pad concept, particularly if there are a number of these situations such that a small batch could be ordered.

RE: Grouting steel column head plate to slab soffit (i.e. overhead grouting)

(OP)
Thanks all for the replies, very useful to get a range of views.

Martin.

RE: Grouting steel column head plate to slab soffit (i.e. overhead grouting)

When I posted my reply I had pictured in my mind a stand-alone post, like a slab prop of some sort. However if the column is supporting other framing besides the slab, then most likely the anchor bolts cannot be used in the way I proposed. The anchor bolt adjustability would be needed to set the framing TOS elevation and therefore would not be available to adjust the column cap elevation.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members! Already a Member? Login


Resources

Low-Volume Rapid Injection Molding With 3D Printed Molds
Learn methods and guidelines for using stereolithography (SLA) 3D printed molds in the injection molding process to lower costs and lead time. Discover how this hybrid manufacturing process enables on-demand mold fabrication to quickly produce small batches of thermoplastic parts. Download Now
Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM)
Examine how the principles of DfAM upend many of the long-standing rules around manufacturability - allowing engineers and designers to place a part’s function at the center of their design considerations. Download Now
Taking Control of Engineering Documents
This ebook covers tips for creating and managing workflows, security best practices and protection of intellectual property, Cloud vs. on-premise software solutions, CAD file management, compliance, and more. Download Now

Close Box

Join Eng-Tips® Today!

Join your peers on the Internet's largest technical engineering professional community.
It's easy to join and it's free.

Here's Why Members Love Eng-Tips Forums:

Register now while it's still free!

Already a member? Close this window and log in.

Join Us             Close