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Shear Connector Design of Steel Belt Truss-to-Concrete Mega Column

Connection

Article  in  Aci Structural Journal · January 2017

DOI: 10.14359/51689255

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 ACI STRUCTURAL JOURNAL
Title No. 114-S42
Shear Connector Design of Steel Belt Truss-to-Concrete
Mega Column Connection
by Hong-Gun Park, Jang-Woon Baek, Hyeon-Jong Hwang, and Tae-Sung Eom
The structural performance of a steel belt truss-to-concrete mega
column connection in a 123-story building was studied. For the
connection, a four-story-high steel belt truss is connected to the
exterior face of the concrete mega columns by hundreds of shear
connectors that consist of embedded shear plates and dowel bars.
In this study, shear tests were performed for short connection spec-
imens with a unit length of 900 mm (35.4 in.). The peak strength,
residual strength, and stiffness were investigated using various
shear-transfer mechanisms, such as concrete bearing, shear fric-
tion, and strut-and-tie mechanism. Based on the results, a behavior
model for the shear connection unit was proposed. The proposed
model was applied to nonlinear numerical analysis for the proto-
type shear connection with the full length of 14,400 mm (47.2 ft).
The strength, displacement, and force redistribution of the proto-
type connection were investigated under the service and ultimate
load conditions.
Keywords: belt truss; dowel bar; mega column; shear connection; shear
connector; shear plate; shear stud.
INTRODUCTION
A 555 m (1821 ft) high-rise building with 123 stories is
under construction in South Korea. To support the extremely
large gravity and wind loads, the primary structural system
consists of a reinforced concrete (RC) core wall and eight
concrete mega columns on the perimeter of the floor plan
(refer to Fig. 1(a)). To resist wind load, steel outrigger trusses
connect the mega columns to the core wall between the 39th
and 44th floors and between the 72nd and 76th floors. In
addition, a four-story-high steel belt truss is connected to
the mega columns (refer to Fig. 1(a)) to transfer the large
gravity load of the steel superstructures between the 76th
and 107th floors. The concrete mega columns have square
cross sections varying from 3500 x 3500 mm (138 x 138 in.)
on the lower floors to 2000 x 2000 mm (78.7 x 78.7 in.) on
the 76th floor. For fast construction, auto-climbing forms are
used for the concrete work of the mega columns, thereby
minimizing any intervention of intersecting steel beams.
After the concrete work, the belt truss from the 72nd to the
76th floors is connected to the exterior face of the mega
columns by shear connectors (that is, embedded shear plates
and dowel bars; refer to Fig. 1(b)). In particular, because the
vertical shear demand at the interface between the belt truss
and mega column is as much as 120,000 kN (27,000 kip),
many shear connectors are required. Therefore, the perfor-
mance of the shear connectors at the interface is crucial to
the structural safety of the entire structure.
Since the 1960s, various types of shear connectors have
been developed for the shear connection between steel beams
and concrete slabs. Headed shear studs, which are flex-
ACI Structural Journal/March-April 2017
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TECHNICAL PAPER
ible shear connectors, are generally used for large interface
connections.1-7 Due to the ductile behavior of the headed
shear studs, shear force can be successfully redistributed
among the shear connectors. The force-transfer mecha-
nism and design strength of headed shear studs are well-
established in current design codes such as AISC 360-108 and
Eurocode 4.9 On the other hand, rigid shear connectors such
as channel and angle sections can also be used. Slutter and
Driscoll10 developed a design equation for the shear strength
of channel shear connectors on the basis of the results of
pushout tests. The equation was modified and adopted in
AISC 360-10.8 Basically, the channel shear connectors are
very rigid because shear force is resisted by concrete bearing.
Therefore, to prevent premature uplift failure and to enhance
shear-redistribution capacity, special details are required.11
Perfobond rib plates can be used as an alternative to the
conventional shear connectors.12 Unlike the rigid channel
shear connectors, the perfobond rib plates are placed in the
same direction as the shear force to be considered. By making
holes in the perfobond rib plates, the shear strength and
uplift resistance can be increased. The shear strength can be
further increased by placing transverse bars passing through
the holes.13-15 Vianna et al.16 studied the performance of the
T-perfobond rib connectors with a flanged section. The test
results showed that, when compared to conventional perfo-
bond rib connectors, the strength and stiffness of the T-perfo-
bond rib connectors were greater, but the ductility was less.
In the design of the shear connection between the steel belt
truss and concrete mega column used from the 72nd to the
76th floors of the high-rise building, unlike conventional shear
connections, the shear demand (120,000 kN [27,000  kip])
is very large. Further, as shown in Fig. 2(b), large-diameter
bar grids of longitudinal D51 bars (diameter Db = 50.8 mm
[2.00 in.]) and transverse D19 hoops (diameter db = 19.1 mm
[0.75 in.]) are densely placed. Thus, available connection
methods that can fit the space are limited; it is practically
infeasible to use perforated channels or rib plates. More
importantly, in the vertical four-story-high connection, unlike
horizontal connections, uplift failure can cause catastrophic
failure of the overall connection (refer to Fig. 2(a)). Therefore,
a hybrid shear connector using embedded shear plates and
dowel bars, which are simple in detailing and fabrication, was
considered. By placing the rigid shear plates in the transverse
ACI Structural Journal, V. 114, No.2, March-April 2017.
MS No. S-2016-083.R1, doi: 10.14359/51689255, was received March 18, 2016,
and reviewed under Institute publication policies. Copyright ©  2017, American
Concrete Institute. All rights reserved, including the making of copies unless
permission is obtained from the copyright proprietors. Pertinent discussion including
author’s closure, if any, will be published ten months from this journal’s date if the
discussion is received within four months of the paper’s print publication.
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