5/21/2020 One Column vs. Two Beams – Is It A Fair Game? – S. K.

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One Column vs. Two Beams – Is It A Fair Game?

Author: admin
Posted Date: 10 Jul 2017

The strong column-weak beam requirements in our codes and standards for the design of special
moment frames ensure that under high seismic loading the plastic hinge occurs in the beam ends
instead of the column ends. But what about a joint where two beams frame into one column? Does
the column still need to be stronger than the two beams? The correspondence below sheds some
light on the topic.

Q. We have a question about the Strong Column – Weak Beam (SC/WB) requirement of ACI 318-14.
We have a two-story reinforced concrete building. Do we need to conform to SC/WB at the top story
of the moment frame, or is the intent of the code to allow us to ignore it since it will be di cult to
achieve a SC/WB condition with two beams framing into just one column below? For the design of
structural steel buildings, AISC 341 Section E3.4a exempts the columns used in a one-story
building or in the top story of a multistory building from the SC/WB requirement. Does ACI 318-14
have an exemption like that?

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5/21/2020 One Column vs. Two Beams – Is It A Fair Game? – S. K. Ghosh Associates LLC

A. We concur that it is rather impractical to try to meet the SC/WB requirement at locations where
two beams frame into one column. And under ACI 318-11 and earlier codes, the top-level column
usually had a factored axial compressive force that was less than 0.10 Agf’c and thus the SC/WB
check was not required.

Unfortunately, under the ACI 318-14 code all columns are treated the same and Section 18.7.3.2
does not provide any exception to the SC/WB requirement like ACI 318-11 did and AISC 341-10
Section E3.4a does for steel. (See gure below for SC/WB requirement in concrete.)

Thus, not meeting the SC/WB requirement for two beams framing into one column is not currently
sanctioned by ACI 318-14.

Now in actuality, even if plastic hinges were to form near the top-end of the columns of your two-
story moment frames, that should have no signi cant detrimental effect on the inelastic
performance of the building or it’s gravity load carrying capacity.

In fact, NEHRP Seismic Design Technical Brief No. 1 (NIST GCR 16-917-40), Seismic Design of
Reinforced Concrete Special Moment Frames: A Guide to Practicing Engineers, Second Edition,
issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology in August 2016, offers the following
guidance on the topic:

“It may be reasonable to make an exception to the ACI 318 strong-column/weak-

beam requirement at the roof level of a building… Columns at such locations

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5/21/2020 One Column vs. Two Beams – Is It A Fair Game? – S. K. Ghosh Associates LLC

commonly support relatively low axial forces, and exural hinging of the columns
at this level will not adversely affect the overall frame mechanism… Where a
column is weaker than the beams framing into the column at such locations, the
column should be detailed to enable it to develop a exural hinge without critical
strength degradation.” “At the roof level or other similar location, either the column
should extend a short distance above the roof level, or the longitudinal bars
should be hooked toward the center of the column to allow for diagonal
compression struts to be developed within the joint.”

If the rst alternative is chosen, the column needs to extend above the top of the beam to height
that enables all column longitudinal bars to develop their full yield strength at the interference
between the column and the top of the beam (see gure below).

If the second alternative is chosen, the only NEHRP requirement is that the column longitudinal
steel be hooked in towards the center of the column as shown in the gure below. However, we
recommend that vertical transfer reinforcing (U-bars) should be added to provide con nement to
the top face of the beam-column joint.

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5/21/2020 One Column vs. Two Beams – Is It A Fair Game? – S. K. Ghosh Associates LLC

ACI Committee 352 on Joints also recommends these U-bars be added at “knee joints” in ACI
352R-02 Recommendations for Design of Beam-Column Connections in Monolithic Reinforced
Concrete Structures, 2002 (Reapproved 2010) – see Section 4.2.1.5 (including Figure 4.2) and its
commentary. (See gure below.)

In addition, ACI 318-14 Section 18.8.3.4 codi es these recommendations for “knee joints” with
headed deformed beam bars that terminate in the joint. Therefore, if an engineer chooses not to
follow the SC/WB requirement at the top level of a concrete moment frame, we recommend that
the engineer use one of the two options provided above.

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