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 CONCRETE ADVICE No. 05

Holding down bolts to BS 8110-1

Licensed copy: leedsm, LEEDS BECKETT UNIVERSITY, 03/11/2017, Uncontrolled Copy, © Concrete Society

Deryk Simpson, BSc CEng MICE

This document provides suggested guidance on the design of holding down bolts for
attaching steel or precast concrete stanchions to reinforced or unreinforced concrete
(1)
foundations, using the design procedures in BS 8110-1 . Guidance on the design of
(2) (3)
holding down bolt design to Eurocode 2 is given in a separate Advice 42 . Design
approaches are given for resisting the uplift on the bolts and for the allowable bearing
pressure underneath the stanchion base plate. This document only covers bolts in
tension or compression and does not cover bolts in shear. Proprietary fixings are not
included in this document. The manufacture’s technical literature should be consulted
for the load capacity of proprietary fixings.

factor of 1.6 unless a lower partial load

1 Uplift - bolts in tension factor can be justified by calculation.

There are two possible ways of checking Cone shear stress =

bolts in uplift. The first is applicable to
single bolts and pairs of bolts, which are
effectively bonded over their full embedded
length and have small or no anchor plates.
The second method is applicable if the
bolts are not effectively bonded over the
embedded length but rely on an individual
anchor plate for embedment, or when a
group of bolts is fastened to a relatively
large stiff anchor plate embedded in the
concrete.
METHOD 1 – Effectively bonded bolts
Check shear stress
The following procedure can be used to
check the depth and number of bolts in
tension, for fully bonded cast-in bolts and
post-drilled and grouted bolts. Assume the
tension in the bolts is resisted by shear
stress on the surface area of 90°cones of
concrete within the foundation around
each bolt. The depth of the cone is to be
taken as the depth to the top of the bolt
anchor plate not the full depth of the bolt.
The uplift load is to be the factored design
load not the characteristic load. If the uplift
load value results from non-limit-state
design calculations assume a partial load
Design uplift load ÷ Surface area of cone
or cones
The actual ‘cone’ shear stress should be
less than the design shear stress value
(1)
obtained from Table 3.8 of BS 8110 . The
enhancement in design shear stress for
tension reinforcement is only applicable if
top structural reinforcement is present in
two directions at right angles. The lower of
the two percentages should be used for
the As value in Table 3.8. For nominally
reinforced or unreinforced sections use the
design shear stress value for 100As/bvd
values of 0.15% or less from Table 3.8.
If the cone shear stress exceeds the
design shear stress then the bolts will
need to be deeper and/or more bolts
provided.
Note: The Appendix to this Advice sheet
includes a method for calculating the
surface area of non-intersecting cones and
tabulated values for the combined areas of
pairs of intersecting cones for different
depths and spacings of pairs of bolts.
 Page 2 of 4
Check bond stress: Cast-in bolts
If the shear stress is less than the relevant design
shear stress, the anchorage of the individual bolts
should be checked. The method for calculating the
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anchorage bond stress around a reinforcement bar
in BS 8110 can be used, i.e.
fb = Fs / ʌîij× D)
where
Fs = design force in the bar
ij = diameter of the bolt
D = depth of the bolt
fb = anchorage bond stress should not exceed fbu
fbu = design ultimate anchorage bond stress.
The method of calculating fbu is given in 3.12.8.4 in
BS 8110-1. An assessment of the bond
characteristics of the bolt will need to be made.
Bolts that are plain round bar with only a limited
length of thread at the top should be considered as
‘Plain Bars’ for Table 3.26 of BS 8110-1. Bolts that
are threaded full length can be considered as ‘Type
2 Deformed Bars’ in Table 3.26.
Note: The amount of reinforcement provided
around the bolts has no effect on the anchorage
bond stress.
If fb exceeds fbu the bolts will need to be deeper
and/or more bolts provided.
Check bond stress: Post-grouted bolts
In the cases where bolts are grouted into drilled
holes it may be prudent to check two anchorage
bonds, i.e.
x On the grout/bolt interface. The calculation will
be as above, except that a value of fbu will need
to be determined for the grout material, based
upon the characteristic compressive strength of
the grout or the manufacturer’s technical
information.
x On the grout/drilled hole interface. The
calculation will be similar to that above, except
that ij= hole diameter and fbu will be the lesser
of that for the foundation concrete or the grout.
An assessment of the bond characteristics of
the perimeter of the drilled hole will need to be
made. This will depend on the roughness of the
inside of the hole. For a ‘smooth’ hole (e.g.
produced by diamond drilling) the ‘Plain Bar’
values in Table 3.26 of BS 8110-1 could be
used. For a ‘rough’ hole (e.g. produced by
percussive drilling) the ‘Type 2’ values in Table
3.26 could be used.
In all cases if fb exceeds fbu, deepen and/or
increase the number of bolts.
CONCRETE ADVICE NO. 05
METHOD 2 – Anchor plate pull out
This method assumes that the anchor plate
embedded in the concrete tries to pull out of the
concrete by a punching shear failure. The anchor
plate effectively becomes the loaded area for a
punching shear design, which is undertaken in
accordance with Section 3.7.7 in BS 8110-1. If the
plate is large the stiffness of the baseplate may
need to be checked. The design procedure for
checking stiffness of stanchion baseplates could be
used.
For the purposes of design for resistance to uplift
the symbols in BS 8110-1 would have the following
meaning:
uo = perimeter of anchor plate
u = effective punching shear perimeter around
anchor plate
d = depth to top of anchor plate below the mid-
plane of the top reinforcement
V = maximum design uplift load (i.e. factored
uplift load)
vc = design concrete shear stress from Table 3.8.
If lightly reinforced or reinforced in one direction
only, take 100As/bvd as less than 0.15. If reinforced
in the top in both directions take the lesser value for
100 As/bvd.
Design procedure
Check shear stress at the face of the anchor plate:
vmax = V / (u0d)
vPD[VKRXOGQRWH[FHHG¥fcu or 5 N/mm² if less.
If vmax exceeds the above values it will be
necessary to increase the size of the anchor plate.
Check the shear stress on the critical perimeter:
v = V / (ud)
where
u = length of critical perimeter, located at a
distance of 1.5d from the anchor plate.
v should not exceed the appropriate vc value from
Table 3.8. If v exceeds the Table 3.8 value there
are a number of options available:
x Lengthen the bolts, thus setting the anchor plate
deeper into the concrete
x Increase the size of the anchor plate. Note: it
may require stiffening if increased in size.
x Increase the amount of top reinforcement to
increase vc
 Page 3 of 4
x Provide shear reinforcement. This would be
regarded as a last resort due to the practical
difficulties and cost of installing shear links in
foundations. In this instance the shear would
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have to be checked on the next shear perimeter,
and if necessary subsequent shear perimeters.
2 Base plate sizing-compression
The following procedures will give the absolute
minimum stanchion base plate size and apply to pin
jointed bases only. For stanchion bases required to
resist overturning moments refer to the relevant
codes of practice and design guides for the design
of the base plate size.
Use factored design loads not characteristic loads.
If the compression load results from a non limit-
state design assume a partial load factor of 1.6,
unless a lower value can be justified by calculation.
The design of the base plates will form part of the
structural steelwork design.
Base plate area =
Maximum design compressive load y Design
ultimate bearing stress
Two cases should be considered and the larger
area used.
Infill material/concrete foundation interface
Take design ultimate bearing stress = 0.6 fcu(1)
where fcu(1) is the characteristic strength of the
foundation concrete.
Base plate/infill material interface
Take design ultimate bearing stress = 0.4 fcu(2)
where fcu(2) is the characteristic strength of the
bedding infill material. The characteristic strength
will depend on the age at which the bedding/infill
material is subject to the full load. Table 1 lists
typical values for fcu(2).
Table 1: Typical values for fcu(2) (based on Reference 4)
Material Cube strength at 28 days
(N/mm²)
Cement grout 12 – 15
Sanded grout 15 – 20
Mortar 20 – 25
Fine concrete Use 28 day cube strength
CONCRETE ADVICE NO. 05
For proprietary materials, refer to manufacturer’s
literature for design stresses at the appropriate
ages.
Notes:
x The information given above is based on
Clause 5.2.3.4 in BS 8110 and Clause 3.8.4 in
Reference 4.
x In Table 1, the strength at 3 days is assumed to
be 40% of the value at 28 days, and the
strength at 7 days is assumed to be 60% of the
value at 28 days. This is applicable to Portland
cement materials only. Higher percentages
may be used if confirmed by testing or past
knowledge of the materials.
x The design bearing stresses can be used as
the maximum values for the design of base
plates that are subject to an overturning
movement or non-uniform stress distribution.
x The procedures assume a uniform distribution
of stress below the base plate, i.e. that the
base plate is stiff. If the stress is not uniform,
i.e. a flexible base plate, different procedures
will be needed to size the base plate.
x The materials defined in Table 1 are as follows:
ƒ Grout: Mixture of cement (usually Portland
cement) to water in proportion of about 2:1
by weight.
ƒ Sanded grout: Mixture of cement, sand
and water in approximately equal
proportions by weight.
ƒ Mortar: Mixture of cement, sand and water
in proportions of about 1:3:0.4 by weight.
For further information refer to Clause 3.8.1 in
Reference 4.
0.4 fcu values (N/mm²)
3 days 7 days 28 days
1.9 – 2.4 2.9 – 3.6 4.8 – 6.0
2.4 – 3.2 3.6 – 4.8 6.0 – 8.0
3.2 – 4.0 4.8 – 6.0 8.0 – 10.0
0.16 fcu 0.24 fcu 0.4 fcu
 Page 4 of 4 CONCRETE ADVICE NO. 05

(4)
APPENDIX: SURFACE AREA OF CONES AROUND EMBEDDED BOLTS

Single bolts
2
The surface area (AS) of a 90°cone around a single bolt of embedded depth D is 4.443 × D
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Note: This expression cannot be used if bolts are closer together than 2D or closer to the edge of a
foundation than 1.5D.

Pairs of bolts
D = Embedded depth of the bolts
X = Horizontal distance between the bolt centres.
AD = Combined surface area of the two 90°cones around each bolt.
2
If X is greater than 2D, AD = 8.886 × D
If X is less than 2D the cones overlap.
The values for AD are listed in the following table.

X= 100 150 200 300 450 600 750 1000

D EFFECTIVE CONICAL AREA OF 2 CONES
3 2
(mm) ( ×10 mm )
100 71.5 82.5 88.9 88.9 88.9 88.9 88.9 88.9
150 141.6 160.8 178.0 199.9 199.9 199.9 199.9 199.9
200 233.7 260.5 285.9 329.8 355.4 355.4 355.4 355.4
300 484.3 525.8 566.4 643.4 742.0 799.7 799.7 799.7
450 1027 1090 1152 1274 1448 1602 1728 1799
600 1769 1853 1937 2103 2345 2574 2784 3072
750 2711 2817 2922 3131 3439 3737 4021 4451
1000 4726 4867 5008 5288 5705 6114 6513 7149

References
1. BSI. BS 8110-1: 1997 Structural use of concrete, Part 1: Code of practice for design and construction.
(withdrawn)
2. BSI. BS EN 1992-1-1: 2004 Eurocode 2: Design of concrete structures – Part 1-1: General rules and
rules for buildings
3. THE CONCRETE SOCIETY. Holding down bolts using EC2, Concrete Advice 42, The Concrete Society
2010
4. THE CONCRETE SOCIETY. Holding down systems for steel stanchions, The Concrete Society, Cement
and Concrete Association and CONSTRADO, 1980

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Issued Dec 2006

Reviewed Sept 2017

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