Technical Note

Structural Concrete Software System

TN271_transfer_plate_shear_14
111107

DESIGN OF VERTICAL SHEAR IN TRANSFER PLATES1

Bijan O Aalami2

Shear normal to the plane of a transfer plate (vertical shear) is generally high in magnitude and
requires special treatment. This Technical Note describes a procedure used for its design. The
procedure described is followed by a numerical example.

The shear design in transfer plates, in concept, is no different from the general philosophy of structural
engineering design. A designer ensures that: (i) there exists an uninterrupted load path from each load
on the structure to the foundation; and (ii) each load path has the strength to carry the forces it is
calculated for; and (iii) the structure is provided with adequate ductility to redistribute the forces and
develop the load paths envisaged by the designer. The following outlines the selection of load paths to
be used for design of vertical shear, and the determination of the required reinforcement along the path
length.

In flat slab construction common to commercial and residential buildings, the slab proper is generally
strong enough to resist the calculated vertical shear. Occasionally, slabs may have to be reinforced
against punching in the vicinity of supports. The significantly larger shear demand in transfer plates
oftentimes requires that a distinct grid work of physical or virtual beam spines be provided and
designed to direct the shear flow to the supports. Once a grid work of shear spines is envisaged, the
force in each of the spines is determined and the associated reinforcement calculated.

The spines can extend beyond the soffit of a slab, as is the case of physical beams, or they can be fully
concealed within the slab thickness (virtual beams). In both variations, the determination of shear force
to be carried by each spine and the design process are the same.

STRUCTURAL MODEL

Figure 1a shows the plan of a slab corner supported on a column. The arrows indicate the direction of
principal vertical shear. The intensity of vertical shear increases closer to the support. Figure 1b shows
a region in the slab, referred to as shear spine, reinforced to resist vertical shear. The shear spine
terminates at the shear flow boundary that encircles the support and must be adequate to sustain the
entire shear associated with the support it encircles.

Figure 1a shows the plan of a slab corner supported on a column. The arrows indicate the direction of
principal vertical shear. The intensity of vertical shear increases closer to the support.

1
Copyright 2007 ADAPT Corporation
2
Professor Emeritus, San Francisco State University; Principal, ADAPT Corporation

E-Mail support@adaptsoft.com
1733 Woodside Road, Suite 220, Redwood City, California, 94061, USA, Tel: (650) 306-2400 Fax (650) 306 2401
 Technical Note

(a) Shear flow in slab next to column (b) Shear design components

FIGURE 1 VERTICAL SHEAR FLOW NEXT TO A SUPPORT

At any design section shown in Fig, 1b, the demand actions on the section and the resistance provided
by the section are illustrated in Fig. 2

FIGURE 2 ACTIONS ON A DESIGN SECTION

Where, on the demand side the actions are:

Vu = Demand shear;
Mu = Demand moment; and
Nu = Demand axial force.

On the resistance side the actions are:

C = compression zone force;

2
 Technical Note
T = Tensile force of longitudinal reinforcement;
Vc = shear force resistance provided by concrete;
Vs = shear resistance provided by shear reinforcement; and
P = force in post-tensioned tendons.

The focus of this Technical Note is the determination of the reinforcement associated with Vs. The
prerequisites for the validity of the procedure described herein are:

™ The section must have adequate reinforcement to resist the tensile force T;
™ The compression zone of the section must be adequate to resist the compression force C;
™ The concrete section and strength must be adequate to develop the internal compression
strut shown in Fig. 2. This is controlled by the maximum shear Vu that a section is permitted
to resist. Different building codes impose a limit on Vu, in order to avoid crushing of
concrete3.

Consider the transfer plate shown in Fig. 3. Its longer side is 25m. It has a thickness of 1.50m and
supports a multi-story tower above it.

The shear transfer in the plate is envisaged to be through the shear spines shown in Fig. 4. The spines
are considered continuous along the perimeter of the plate between the column supports. The non-
continuous spines from the columns toward the interior of the plate are extended far enough to where
the slab on its own can resist the vertical shear.

The provision of shear spines and the length of their extension are somewhat similar to the shearhead
used in common residential and commercial floor systems (Fig. 5). The shearheads terminate, where
the capacity of slab is adequate to resist the demand shear.

(a) View of transfer plate (b) Deflection of plate under selfweight

FIGURE 3 VIEW OF TRANSFER PLATE

3
As an example ACI-318 (chapter 11) controls the crushing of concrete by limiting the value of Vs not to exceed
[(2/3)* √f’c]*bw*d , where bw is the width of the design section

3
 Technical Note

(a) View of shear spines (b) Design sections of shear spines

FIGURE 4 PLAN OF SHEAR SPINES AND DESIGN SECTIONS OF EACH

FIGURE 5 AN EXAMPLE OF SHEARHEAD REINFORCEMENT

The shear spines start at a distance “a” from the face of support (Fig. 6). The distance “a” depends on
whether the plate is conventionally reinforced or post-tensioned. ACI-318 (Chapter 11) suggests the
following:

™ For conventionally reinforced concrete (RC) a=d

™ For post-tensioned plates (PT) a= h/2

Where “h” is the total depth of the section and “d” is distance of between the compression fiber and
the centroid of tension, but not less than 0.8h (ACI-318). The value of design shear in each instance is
determined at distance “a.” The shear reinforcement calculated at distance “a” is continued to the face
of support.

4
 Technical Note

FIGURE 6 LOCATION OF FIRST DESIGN SECTION FOR VERTICAL SHEAR

A central point in the selection of shear spines is that they must form a closed perimeter around each of
the supports, in order to capture the entire flow of vertical shear to the foundation. Figures 6 and 7
illustrate the boundary perimeter of the shear spines around a corner column. The values of design
shear for each of the boundary segments is shown in Fig. 7-b. The distribution of vertical shear for each
of the segments is illustrated in Fig. 8.

(a) Delineation of shear flow (b) Shear flow values

FIGURE 7 ILLUSTRATION OF BOUNDARY OF SHEAR FLOW

FOR AN EDGE COLUMN

5
 Technical Note

FIGURE 8 SHEAR FLOW AROUND A CORNER COLUMN

CROSS-SECTIONAL GEOMETRY OF SPINE

The cross-sectional geometry of each spine is not specified in building codes. Figure 9 provides a
guideline for its selection.

(a) Spine extends to slab boundary (b) Shear spine next to boundary

FIGURE 9 GUIDELINES FOR SELECTION OF SHEAR SPINE

CROSS-SECTION

SHEAR REINFORCEMENT

The shear reinforcement generally consists of vertical bars (J-bars) placed at regular spacing
along each spine and across its width. The vertical bars are encased in a U stirrup and closed
at the top as shown in Fig. 10a for an example of 8 J-bars across the width of a shear spine.
Where congestion of reinforcement poses difficulty, headed bars as shown in Fig. 10b can be
used. The design process is the same for both options.

6
 Technical Note

(a) Vertical J-bars (b) Headed shear bars

FIGURE 10 ARRANGEMNET OF VERTICAL REINFORCEMENT

ACROSS THE WIDTH OF A SHEAR SPINE

The mechanism for shear transfer through the vertical bars is illustrated in Fig. 11. The
following conservative assumptions will be made in arriving at the shear capacity:

¾ If the slab is post-tensioned, the beneficial contribution of the vertical component of

the tendons near the supports is disregarded.
¾ If post-tensioned, the beneficial contribution of precompression provided by post-
tensioning is not accounted for.
¾ The contribution of concrete in resisting shear is disregarded.
¾ Design shear is resisted entirely by the vertical-bar reinforcement provided (J-bars).

The angle of cut in the figure is assumed 45 degrees. The parameters that impact the shear
transfer are:

Vu = design shear (kN; k);

sl = spacing of shear bars in direction of spine;
st = spacing of shear bars in transverse direction;
Av = cross-sectional area of each bar;
fy = yield stress of each bar;
γ = material factor; and
n = number of bars across the assumed fracture surface.

Design shear capacity of one row of vertical bars

Shear capacity = (n * Av * fy)/γ

For one square meter of plan, the shear capacity will be:
7
 Technical Note

Shear capacity unit plan area = (Av * fy/ γ) * (d/ sl )*(1000/ st )

FIGURE 11 SHEAR FORCE AND THE RESISTING REINFORCEMENT

EXAMPLE

Determine the design shear capacity of 20mm diameter vertical bars placed at 250mm on
center along the shear spine and 200 mm on center normal to it for the following condition:

Thickness of concrete plate h = 4000 mm

Effective depth of section 0.85 * 4000 = 3400 mm
Spacing in direction of spine sl = 250 mm
Spacing transverse to spine st = 200 mm
Cross section of each bar 314 mm2
Yield strength of bars 460 MPa
Material factor 1.15

Design shear capacity = (314 * 460/1.15)*(3400/250)*(1000/200)/1000

= 8541 kN

8
 Technical Note

DESIGN EXAMPLE
Consider the transfer plate of the multi-story building shown in Fig. E-1. Views of transfer plate
are shown in Fig. E2.

FIGURE E-1 MULTI-STORY BUILDING WITH TRANSFER PLATE

9
 Technical Note

(a) Solid 3D view of transfer plate

(b) See through 3D view of transfer plate

FIGURE E2 VIEWS OF TRANSFER PLATE

The shear transfer for the plate was designed using virtual beam spines illustrated in Fig. E3.

10
 Technical Note

FIGURE E3 ILLUSTRATION OF SHEAR SPINES

FIGTURE E4 IDENTIFICATION OF SUPPORT LINES FOR EACH OF SHEAR SPINES

FIGURE E5 DESIGN SECTIONS OF EACH SHEAR SPINE

11
 Technical Note

FIGIRE E6 DISTRIBUTION OF SHEAR FOR THE SHEAR SPINES

Table 1 shows a selection of shear reinforcement for the different regions of the shear spines
for the above transfer plate. As indicated in the table, the design shear capacity of the bars
varies according to the depth of the plate.

TABLE 1 VERTICAL SHEAR CAPACITY FOR DIFFERENT

ARRANGEMNET OF J-BARS WITH DEPTH OF CONCRETE (capacities are
in kN/m2 of plan)
Å--------------Depth of Section ----------Æ
J bars and
Type spacing 3.5m 4m 4.5 5m
A T16 @ 500 mm oc 952 1088 1224 1360
B T16 @ 250 mm oc 3808 4352 4896 5440
C T20 @ 500 mm oc 1495 1708 1922 2135
D T20 @ 250 mm oc 5979 6833 7687 8541

12