Experimental Study on the behavior of Welded and

Mechanical Splices

M.Sc. Student:
Engr. Ziaullah

SUPERVISOR:
Prof. Dr. Qaisar Ali

Department of Civil Engineering

University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar
 Contents of Presentation
• Student’s Profile
• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Problem Statement
• Objectives
• Methodology
• Time Schedule
• References

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 Student’s Profile
• M.Sc Structural Engineering Enrolled in Spring-2016 3.08/4.00

S. No. Course Code Course Title Grade

1 CE-5154 Introduction to Bridge Engineering B+
2 CE-5155 Finite Element Analysis of Structural systems B+
3 CE-5112 Advanced Mechanics of Materials A
4 CE-5192 Advance Concrete Technology C+
5 CE-5110 Advance Structural Analysis-I B
6 CE-5152 Pre-stressed Concrete Design B-

7 CE-5115 Advance Concrete Design B-

8 CE-5190 Special Topics (Experimental Mechanics of Structures) B+

9 ME-5398 Technical Report writing and Research Methodology Result awaited

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 Introduction

• Manufacturing, fabrication and transportation limitations make it impossible to provide

full length continuous bars.

• In general, reinforcing bars are stocked by supplier in lengths up to 40ft & 60ft.

• For this reason and it is often more convenient to work with shorter bar lengths, it is
frequently necessary to splice bars in the field.

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 Introduction
• There are three methods used for splicing reinforcing bars:
1. Lap splice
2. Welded splice
3. Mechanical splice

Fig 01: Lap Splice

Fig 02: Welded Splice

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Fig 03: Mechanical Splice 5
 Introduction

• Lap splicing is most common method to maintain continuity of reinforcing bars.

• Due to higher demand on columns of high rise buildings, larger diameter bars are needed
to be provided resulting in wastage of steel and also causing congestion of steel at splice
location.

• Historically welded splices and mechanical splices have not been extensively used in the
construction industry because lap splicing is easier option to maintain continuity and also
due to limitation of technology, quality control and economy.

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 Introduction

• ACI 318-14 25.5.7.1 permits mechanical and welded splices. “A mechanical or welded
splice shall develop in tension or compression, as required, at least 1.25fy of the bar.”

• To ensure sufficient strength in splices so that yielding can be achieved in a member and
thus brittle failure avoided, the 25 percent increase above the specified yield strength was
selected as both an adequate minimum for safety and also to ensure sound welding. ACI
318-14 R25.5.7.1.

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 Introduction
• Welded Splice:
• AWS D1.4 3.3 “Reinforcing bars may be welded with direct or indirect butt joints, lap joints,
or T-joints.”
• Direct butt joint shall be welded with complete joint penetration groove welds.

Fig 04: Direct Butt Joints [1]

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 Introduction
• Welded Splice:
• An indirect butt joint shall be made with either single or double flare groove welds between
the bars and the splice member.

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Fig 05: Indirect Butt Joint Two Splice Bars[1] 9
 Introduction
• Welded Splice:
• A lap joint shall be made with double-flare-V-groove welds except that single-flare-V-groove
welds may be used when the joint is accessible from only one side, and approved by the
engineer.

In plane Shear Cracks Corner Failure Collapse

07/08/2020 Fig 06: Direct Lap Joint With Bars In Contact [1] 10
 Introduction

• Mechanical Splices:

• ACI 439.3R-91 states that “The mechanical connection devices are divided
into three basic categories:”
1. Compression-only mechanical connections Collapse

2. Tension-only mechanical connections

3. Tension-compression mechanical connections

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 Introduction
1. Compression-only mechanical connections:
The compressive stress is transferred by vertical bearing (direct contact) from one bar to
another one.
Various types are
• The steel-filled coupling sleeve is a mechanical splice in which molten metal or “steel filler”
interlocks the grooves inside the sleeve with the deformations on the reinforcing bar.
• These coupling sleeves are approximately a half-cylindrical shell with a bent flange at one side
and slots along the other side. ACI 439.3R-91

Fig 07: Steel Filled Coupling Sleeve Splice Fig 08: Strap Type Steel Coupling Splice
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 Introduction
2. Tension-only mechanical connections:
Type of splice is suitable for the case where tension forces are present only. Two Types are.
• This coupling sleeve consists of a ductile iron sleeve with two internal wedges. As the screws are
tightened, they indent into the surface of the bars.[2]
• A wedge-shaped round pin is driven through a hole in the flat face of the sleeve. The wedge passes
between the bars and made confinement.[2] Collapse

Fig 09: Shear Screw and Double Wedge Coupling Sleeve Fig 10: Steel Coupling Sleeve with Wedge
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 Introduction
3. Tension-compression mechanical connections:
This type of mechanical splice can resist tension and compression stress. Some types are.
• The cold-swaged coupling sleeve uses a hydraulic swaging press with special dies to deform the
sleeve around the ends of the spliced reinforcing bars.[2]
• This type of mechanical splice consists of a coupling sleeve with shear head screws. The
tightening process embeds the pointed screws into the bars.[2] Collapse

Fig 11: Cold Swaged Coupling Sleeve Fig 12: Shear Screw Coupling Sleeve
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 Introduction
3. Tension-compression mechanical connections:
• The space between bar and sleeve is filled with non-shrink grout to transfer forces
between the deformed surface of the bars and the deformed interior surface of the sleeve.
[2]
• Splice consisting of a coupler with internal threads at each end, that joins reinforcing bars
with matching external threads.[2]

Fig 13: Grout- Filled Coupling Sleeve Fig 14: Upset Straight Thread Coupler
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 Literature Review

• Issa et al (2005). Studied three diameter bars i.e. 12mm, 14mm & 16mm. Single-flare-V-
groove weld lap joint are used and the effective weld lengths up to 19mm are determined.
• Stated that welded splices are economical for bar greater than 14mm dia and suggested
that welded splicing provides reliability, efficiency and consistency than lap splicing.
Table. 1: Effective weld length for bars less than 19mm (0.75in)
Bar Diameter mm (in) Weld Size (cm) Effective weld length cm (in)
6 (0.24) 0.18 9 (3.5)
8 (0.31) 0.24 12 (4.7)
10 (0.39) 0.30 15 (5.9)
12 (0.47) 0.36 18 (7.1)

14 (0.55) 0.42 21 (8.3)

16 (0.63) 0.48 24 (9.4)

07/08/2020 18 (0.71) 0.54 27 (10.6) 16
 Literature Review

• Ahmed (2015). Evaluated the effect of welding on strength, elongation of splices, transfer
of tensile forces and eccentricity problem.
• 31 specimens were tested for six different bar diameters
• Three different welding procedure were adopted i.e.
1. lapped welded splices
2. lapped intermittent welded splices

Fig 15: Lap Welded Splice Fig 16: Lap Intermittent Weld Splice
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 Literature Review
3. linked welding splice.

Fig 17: Linked Weld Splice

• Concluded that, use at least the weld length twenty diameter of bar to ensure the strain
and strength limits.
• To minimize the reduction in strength and elongation use intermitted welds
• To avoid eccentricity problem in welded lap splice use double link splice, with linked bar
length of ten diameter of splice bar.
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 Literature Review
• Iqbal, M. (2018) Studied the comparison of welded splice and lap splice.
• Shielded metal arc welding with double-flare-v-groove weld was used.
• Weld strength from experimental data of 35 samples has been used to develop
mathematical equation for welded lap length required in term of diameter of bar.
Eq. 1

• Where k = -1.272d + 2.798 valid for diameter of bar # 6 (19 mm) to # 10 (32 mm) and d
is the diameter of the bar in inches.

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 Literature Review

• Concluded that weld splice length is almost 15 percent of traditional lap splice for #6 bars
and it reaches to almost 8 percent for # 10 bars.
 The welded lap lengths calculated as per eq. 1 are given in table.2 and will be used in this
research.
Table. 2: Effective weld lengths for bars #6 (19mm) to #10 (32mm)

Bar Diameter (in) K-factor Effective weld length (in)

#6 (0.75) 1.844 6.5

#7 (0.875) 1.685 6.9

#8 (1) 1.526 7.1

#9 (1.125) 1.367 7.2

#10 (1.25) 1.208 7.1

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 Literature Review

• NGUYEN et al.(2015) studied the effect of improperly installed mechanical splices and
their influence on the behavior of RC beams.
• Six different mechanical splices were subjected to tensile tests with epoxy injection
couplers and without epoxy injection.
• Ten RC beams were prepared using mechanical splices with various embedment lengths
and staggered by various distances.
• Concluded that the injection of epoxy and a staggered arrangement can enhance the
performance of mechanical splices.
• During installation of couplers proper supervision should be taken because bars
insufficiently embedded into the coupler fails through slippage from the coupler.
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 Problem Statement

Research is needed to investigate the behavior of welded splice and mechanical

splice in reinforced concrete flexure members.

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 Objectives

• To evaluate and compare experimentally the efficiency and behavior of welded and
mechanical splices in reinforced concrete flexure member in terms of
1. Strength
2. Stiffness
3. Ductility
4. Crack pattern

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 Methodology

• In order to achieve the objectives of this research the following methodology will be
adopted.
• Specimen Description

• Material properties

• Splicing techniques

• Testing

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 Methodology
• Specimen Description.
• Full scale RC specimens
• Number of specimens = 3
• Geometry
• Cross Section = 9” x 9”
• Length = 8 ft. (without pad)
• Longitudinal Reinforcement = 4 #6 bars
• Transverse Reinforcement = #3 @ 4” C/C

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 Methodology
• Material properties
• Concrete:
• Compressive strength 3000 psi.
• Reinforcing bar:
• #6 bars conforming to ASTM A615.
• Weld:
• Shielded metal arc welding (SMAW ) with Double-Flare-V-Groove weld Conforming to AWS
D1.4
• Mechanical Couplers:
• Threaded mechanical coupler.
• Grout- Filled Coupling Sleeve with epoxy injection grout.
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 Methodology
• Splicing techniques:
• Three types of splicing techniques will be used in this research.
i. With lap Welded splice
ii. With threaded mechanical couplers.
iii. With Grout- Filled Coupling Sleeve.

Fig 18: Lap Weld Splice

07/08/2020 Fig 19: Threaded Mechanical Coupler Fig 20: Grout-Filled Coupling Sleeve
27
 Methodology
• Testing:
• Direct tensile tests will be conducted on reinforcing bars spliced
with
1. Lap welded splice (3 samples),
2. Threaded mechanical coupler (3 samples) and
3. Grout filled coupling sleeve (3 samples).
• Three full Scale R.C specimens for each splicing technique will
be fabricated and tested under quasi-static loading technique.
• Strain gauges will be installed at critical location to determine
yielding position.
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 Time Schedule

Literature Review 11/1/2018 - 7/15/2019

Fabrication of
1/26/2019 - 3/31/2019
Model

Testing of
4/1/2019 - 4/15/2019
Models

Analysis of
4/16/2019 - 7/15/2019
Data/Thesis

Pre-
7/16/2019 - 8/15/2019
Defence
8/16/2019 -
Final Defence
9/30/2019

Proposal
Presentation
1/29/2019

Nov Dec 2019 Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep 2019
Today

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 References
1. American Welding Society, Structural welding code reinforcing steel, (AWS-
D1.4).
2. ACI 439.3R-91, Mechanical Connections of Reinforcing Bars.
3. American Concrete Institute (ACI), Building code requirements for reinforced
concrete, 318M-11.
4. Ghafur H. Ahmed, “Mechanical Properties for Splices of Welded Reinforcing
Steel Bars.” Zanco Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences, Vol.27, No.6, 2015.
5. C.A. Issa, “An Experimental Study of Welded Splices of Reinforcing Bars”,
Building and Environment, 2006, 41(10), pp.1394–1405

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Thank You!