Professional Documents
Culture Documents
reinforcing bars
Both contractor and engineer must be aware of special requirements
BY DAVID P. GUSTAFSON
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
CONCRETE REINFORCING STEEL INSTITUTE
Thus, if lap splices are not permitted or are impractical to use, mechanical connections or welded splices
must be used. Mechanical connections are made with
p ro p ri e t a ry splice devices. Pe rf o rmance information
and test data should be secured directly from manufacturers of the splice devices.
The purpose of this brief article is simply to answer
some of the questions concerning welded splices. Although only welded splices are discussed here, it should
not be construed that welded splices are being advocated. Each splice method has its advantages and suitability for particular applications. For projects of all sizes,
manual arc welding will usually be the most costly
method, due to direct and indirect costs of proper inspection.
Mechanical connections
Welded splices
The traditional lap splice, when it will satisfy all req u i re m e n t s, is generally the most economical splice,
and welded splices generally require the most expensive field labor. Howe ve r, lap splices cause congestion at
the splice locations, sometimes making their use impossible. The location of construction joints, provision for
future construction, and the particular method of construction can also make lap splices impractical. In addition, the ACI Building Code does not permit lap splices
in tension tie members, or in #14 and #18 bars except
for compression only, when spliced to smaller size footing dowels.
In column design, consideration must also be given to
the fact that lapped offset bars may have to come inside
of the bars above and therefore reduce the moment arm
in bending. When the amount of column vertical reinforcement is greater than 4 percent, and particularly in
combination with large applied moments, the use of
butt spliceseither mechanical connections or welded
splicesshould be considered to reduce congestion,
and to provide for greater design moment strength of
the section at the splice locations.
Conclusions
4. Uniform Building Code, 1979 Edition, International Conference of Building Officials, Whittier, California.
References
1. Building Code Requirements for Reinforced Concrete
(ACI 318-77), American Concrete Institute, Detroit, Michigan, 1977.
PUBLICATION#C810807
Copyright 1981, The Aberdeen Group
All rights reserved