An introduction to post-installed bonded and
m e c h a n i c a l a n c h o r i n g s y s t e m s f o r c o n c re t e
All About
Anchors
By Joe Nasvik
oon after your crews complete
S a large concrete placement,
you discover that the required
cast-in-place concrete anchors
were accidentally left out. No need to
panic. Anchors that are bonded or
mechanically attached inside drilled
holes can serve as substitutes. In fact,
Post-installed anchors can be as strong
or even stronger than cast-in-place sys-
tems.
these post-installed anchors can be as
strong or even stronger than cast-in-
place systems. They also can be pre-
cisely located and often are less expen-
sive.
A wide selection of bonded and
mechanical anchoring systems is avail-
able to suit various applications. To
choose the best product for the job,
you must first determine what loads
will be applied to the anchor.
Bonded anchors rely on an epoxy or
other fast-setting adhesive material to
hold them in place.
Assessing load conditions
The most important consideration
is whether the applied load will be stat-
ic or dynamic. Stationary objects, such
as utility pipes anchored to the ceiling
of a building, exert a static, or dead,
load. Moving objects, such as a roller
coaster or vibrating machinery, and
wind impose dynamic loads. Because
dynamic loads create stresses in addi-
tion to the dead load, they generally
are less predictable. Project engineers
and architects must estimate dynamic
and static loads then apply an appro-
priate safety factor when determining
the right anchor to use.
Anchors can be subjected to shear
loads (at a right angle to the anchor),
tensile loads (parallel to the anchor),
or a combination of shear and tension.
Most wall anchors experience both
shear and tensile loads, so these loads
also must be considered when selecting
anchor size and type.
Bonded anchors
Bonded anchors are held in place
by adhesive resins or prepackaged grout
materials. Epoxy is the most widely
used adhesive because it’s inexpensive,
strong, and easy to apply. Other resin
systems include vinyl esters, polyesters,
methacrylates, and acrylics. Epoxies
can take up to 24 hours to cure, while
 amounts of water, pour the grout into
the drilled hole, and then insert a head-
ed or headless bolt into the grout.
Proprietary cement-based grouts can
achieve a compressive strength of 4000
psi within 3 hours and 7000 psi with-
in 24 hours.
For bonded systems, the element
Above: A wedge some polymer adhesive sys- to be anchored is usually threaded rod,
anchor has a metal tems can cure in less than an R-bar, or other deformed stock. To
element that expands hour. pull out, or fail, the anchor must shear
and compresses You can apply the adhe- the bonding material or the bonding
against the walls sive using bulk applicator material must shear at the interface
of the drilled hole machines or cartridge sys- between the concrete and the adhesive
when the nut is tems, depending on how or grout. To help prevent the latter
tightened. many drilled holes the job failure, you must blow the drill holes
Right: A heavy- requires. Cartridge systems clean before installing the anchors (see
duty sleeve anchor are convenient for smaller “Installation Tips” on page 48).
has a metal sleeve jobs and have nozzles that Bonded anchors work well under
that expands against meter and mix the compo- dynamic and static load conditions,
the hole walls. nents as the material is and they can be placed closer together
squeezed from the cartridges. than mechanical anchors. If mechani-
You can also install capsules cal anchors are spaced too closely, the
that hold both the adhesive concrete around the anchors can fail.
and a catalyst. Simply place However, it’s difficult to install bonded
the capsule in the bottom of anchors in overhead or vertical con-
ITW RAMSET/RED HEAD the drilled hole, place the crete unless a cap is used to keep mate-
anchor, and pound it through the cap- rial from running out of the hole.
sule to break it, allowing the adhesive
and catalyst to mix. Mechanical anchors
To install grouted anchors, mix pre- Many different types of mechani-
packaged, shrinkage-compensating cal anchors are available, but most fall
anchoring grouts with measured into one of three main categories:
torque-controlled expansion anchors,
Left: A drop-in deformation anchors, and undercut
anchor is wedged
into the bottom of
the drilled hole, and
then a bolt is
screwed into the
anchor to expand it.

Right: A stud
anchor is pounded
against the bottom Left: An undercut anchor
of the hole to expands into a chamber
expand the bolt. cut into the bottom of the
hole, so instead of com-
pressing against the hole
wall, the anchor pulls
against the undercut face
when under tension.
Above: A coil bolt is a con-
venient way to anchor
braces to walls under con-
struction. The helical coil,
or tang, remains in the wall
when the bolt is removed,
and the bolt can then be
reused with a new tang.
 choring braces to walls under construc-
tion. The bolt has a conical threaded end
onto which a helical coil (called a
I n s t al la t i on T i p s “tang”) is fitted before the bolt is

E ven the best man-

ufactured, engi-
neered, and tested
follow the manufac-
turer’s instructions
precisely.
bonding material and
the anchor, resulting
in significantly re-
inserted into the drilled hole and tight-
ened. When the brace is removed, the
bolt can be used over again with a new
anchoring system can ■ Follow manu- duced load capacity. tang, and the drilled hole is easily
fail if it’s not installed facturer recommen- ■ If installing a patched.
properly. Here are dations for hole bonded anchor using
some important diameter. Holes that a cement-based mate- Which anchor to use
guidelines to follow are too large for the rial, use only pre- For jobsite applications that don’t
when installing anchoring device will packaged nonshrink involve critical attachments, contrac-
anchors: result in anchor fail- grouts rated for tors usually decide which anchor to
■ Drill the ure. Drill-bit diame- bonding anchors. use. Often the decision is simple, based
anchor hole perpen- ter and the way the Using a mix of port- on such factors as what the local sup-
dicular to the torque hole is drilled control land cement and sand plier has in stock and which anchor
force on the anchor hole size. If you don’t can be risky because type is the fastest and easiest to install
so that the anchor hold the drill steady, it doesn’t always form for a particular application.
doesn’t bend when the hole diameter a good bond with the But for situations where load
tensioned. may become too existing concrete. transfer is important, professional
■ Clean all dust large. ■ Avoid using evaluation of the proposed application
and debris from drill ■ When in- epoxy adhesive sys- is necessary. In addition to static and
holes before inserting stalling bonded sys- tems under high tem- dynamic load forces, other factors to
anchors. In the case tems, place the bond- perature conditions. consider include safety and environ-
of grouted anchors, ing material in the They have a much mental concerns, the material in which
flush the holes with hole and then install higher thermal expan- the anchor is attached, dimensional
clean water and the anchor. Doing the sion than concrete considerations, and how the anchor
allow them to dry. reverse may create air does and begin to lose must perform over time.
For adhesive anchors, voids between the strength above 100° F. ACI Committee 355, Anchorage
to Concrete, under the leadership of
Richard Wollmershauser, recently
anchors. Anchors in the first two cate- the anchor to expand against the side developed a document titled “Pro-
gories work by compressing the con- of the hole. In this case, the stud is part
visional Test Method for Evaluating
crete surrounding the expansion mech- of the expansion device. the Performance of Post-Installed
anism—usually located near the end of Undercut anchors work much dif- Mechanical Anchors in Concrete,” to
the anchor. ferently than expansion or deforma- be published this fall. This anchor pre-
Expansion anchors are the broad- tion anchors. As the name implies, qualification standard will eventually
est category and can transfer both these anchors require an undercut at be submitted to an ASTM committee
dynamic and static loads. They also the bottom of the hole, which can be for acceptance as the testing measure
are the most widely used, particularly accomplished by using a special drill to be used for evaluating the perform-
wedge and sleeve types. Installing bit or an anchor with a drilling device ance of each anchor type, in both
wedge anchors involves tightening a built into the end of the bolt. When the cracked and uncracked concrete. The
nut or bolt to expand the anchor bolt is tightened, it expands into the acceptance of this document in ACI
against the side of the hole. Sleeve undercut area. So instead of compress- (and later in ASTM) will establish uni-
anchors have a sheet-metal sleeve sur- ing against the hole form guidelines, simpli-
rounding a stud, which has a cone- wall, the anchor pulls fying the anchor selec-
shaped mandrel at the bottom. When against the undercut C lean all tion process. ■
the nut on the anchor is tightened, the face when under ten-
mandrel pushes the sleeve against the sion. This is a good sys- dust and Contributors
sides of the hole. tem for dynamic loads, Richard Wollmershauser,
Deformation anchors include even when the anchor is debris fro m immediate past chairman
drop-in and stud anchors. To install not at the tightness the of ACI Committee 355
drop-in anchors, workers place a design specified.
drill holes
wedge mechanism into the bottom of Another anchor type b e f o re Paul Campbell, engineer-
the drilled hole and use a setting tool worth mentioning does- ing design consultant
to drive the wedge against a sleeve. A n’t fit neatly into the i n s e rt i n g
bolt then fastens to the wedge mecha- above categories. It’s a Publication #C00H046
nism. Stud anchors are pounded into post-installed coil bolt, anchors. Copyright © 2000
the drilled hole, causing the bottom of used primarily for an- Hanley-Wood, LLC
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