Minutes of ACI-ASCE Committee 352 Meeting

Joints and Connections in Monolithic Concrete Structures

Sunday, April 17th, 2005; 2:00p 5:00p; Meeting Room Lincoln
ACI Spring 2005 Convention; Hilton New York
New York, NY
ATTENDANCE
Members Present: Sergio Alcocer, Jim Cagley, Marvin Criswell, Cathy French, Luis
Garcia, Mike Kreger, Jim LaFave, Dawn Lehman, Roberto Leon, Voula Pantazopoulou,
Gustavo Parra, Jorge Segura, John Wallace, Jim Wight, Loring Wyllie
Members Absent: John Bonacci, Jeff Dragovich, Russell Gentry, Mary Beth Hueste, Ted
Krauthammer, Douglas Lee, Cheng-Ming Lin, Don Meinheit, Jack Moehle, M. Saiid Saiidi,
Bahram Shahrooz
Associate Members: Kara Hartleib, Thomas Kang, Ian Robertson, Dennis Wittry
Visitors: Yoon Jeong Bae, Ron Burg, Shih-Ho Chao, Sung Chul Chun, David Darwin,
Luis Fargier, Amin Ghali, Angela Kingsley, Craig Leech, Tony Murray, Julio Ramirez, Bob
Stewart
1. Call to Order and Introductions
Committee 352 Chair Jim LaFave called the meeting to order at 2:05p, after
distributing copies of the meeting agenda. All individuals in the meeting room introduced
themselves.
2. Approval of Minutes from the Fall 2004 Committee 352 Meeting
The Fall 2004 meeting minutes (from the convention in San Francisco, CA), which had
been posted to the committee website and also were available in hard copy format at the
meeting, were approved by acclamation.
3. Brief Discussion about Committee Membership
Jim LaFave indicated that there have been a number of new Committee 352 Associate
Members appointed in recent years, and that he plans to elevate a few of them to be
Voting Members (especially those individuals who are quite actively involved in ongoing
committee work, such as revising our slab-column connection report). As we approach
some significant ballot-related work in the coming year or so, he further indicated his
intention to carefully review the committee membership roster for individuals who might
want to consider having their membership status changed from Voting Member to
Associate Member; past Chairs of the committee thought that this would be a good idea
but emphasized that it must be done in a diplomatic fashion!
4. Discussion of Status as a Joint ACI-ASCE Technical Committee
The meeting was visited by our ACI TAC contact (Tony Murray), as well as by Ron
Burg, David Darwin, and Julio Ramirez (collectively representing ACI TAC and the ASCE

ACI-ASCE Committee 352 Meeting @ ACI Spring 2005 Convention New York, NY

Structural Engineering Institute (SEI)). They are part of an ACI-ASCE task group looking
into future sponsorship options with respect to all of the technical committees that are
currently jointly sponsored by ACI and ASCE SEI. They made a presentation about the
various benefits, opportunities, expectations, and required oversight envisioned for the
current ACI-ASCE joint committees (to both ACI and SEI) if they were to have ACI as
their major sponsor vs. if they were to have SEI as their major sponsor (with the
respective other organization as the minor sponsor). Other possible options could include
having either only ACI or SEI as the sole committee sponsor. An informal poll of the
committee members in attendance indicated almost unanimous support for continuing on
as a jointly sponsored committee, with ACI as the major sponsor and SEI as the minor
sponsor. Opportunities available to us with SEI as our minor sponsor may include such
things as having committee reports published in the ASCE Journal of Structural
Engineering, periodically holding sessions at the ASCE Structures Congress, etc.
5. Update about Summary Article by the Task Group on Eccentric Connections
Jim LaFave reported to the committee on behalf of this task group (which also
includes John Bonacci, Burcu Burak, and Myoungsu Shin). Their summary article
regarding the seismic performance and design of eccentric reinforced concrete beamcolumn connections, based mainly on a lot of relatively new test data that they found in
the literature since the publication of ACI 352R-02, has recently been accepted for
publication by Concrete International (CI) and should appear in an issue of CI later this
summer.
6. Report from the Slab-Column Connection Report Subcommittee
Thomas Kang made a follow-up presentation supplementing the information that he
had presented at our previous committee meeting regarding the drift capacity at punching
of post-tensioned slab-column connections subjected to cyclic loading. He specifically
reported on six additional connections recently tested in Korea as part of a collaborative
effort between Hanyang University and UCLA. (The tests and results presented led to
some brief discussions about related topics such as effects of the presence or lack of any
torsion reinforcement adjacent to the joint, as well as the need for continuous top /
bottom longitudinal steel through such connections.) Along with some other new tests
recently found in the literature, this brings the subcommittees total database of isolated
post-tensioned slab-column connections up to 32 (12 interior, 11 exterior, and 2 corner
connections without shear reinforcement, as well as 7 exterior connections with shear
reinforcement). Thomas summarized the trends in the database in terms of gravity shear
ratio vs. drift ratio at punching, and he further presented a drift capacity model pertaining
to these test results. Finally, based on the entirety of the database, Thomas has
developed the concepts and drafted some tentative detailed language for the proposed
new Chapter 7 to be added to the revised version of our committees slab-column
connection report document (ACI 352.1R-89), specifically addressing post-tensioned slabcolumn connections and frames.
With respect to shear reinforcement used at slab-column connections, Ian Robertson
raised the question of how much of this type of information we want to include in our
document, especially given possible overlap with what is (or may be in the future) included
right in ACI 318 (i.e., does anybody ever even use shear-heads, will headed studs soon
be covered in the code, etc.). Also, it was pointed out by Marvin Criswell and others that a
subcommittee of ACI 445 may be planning to publish an SP in conjunction with some
sessions they will be holding at an upcoming ACI convention covering a number of

ACI-ASCE Committee 352 Meeting @ ACI Spring 2005 Convention New York, NY

aspects of slab shear reinforcement (various types of reinforcement, various types of

loading, etc.). For the time being, it was agreed that we would continue to work toward
including as much design-related information as possible in our revised report about the
use of shear reinforcement in slab-column connections; as it becomes more clear over
time exactly what other relatively new resource materials are also available, we may then
decide to possibly reduce our scope or the detail of our treatment.
Thomas, Ian, and Mary Beth Hueste were charged to continue their work related to
synthesizing available research and preparing draft language for our revised slab-column
connection report related to shear reinforcement at slab-column connections (types,
design strength provided, and placement & detailing), lateral drift capacity design
recommendations for slab-column connections, and design of slab-column connections
where prestressed (post-tensioned) slabs are used (flexure, shear, and lateral drift
capacities).
7. Presentations about Proposals for ACI 318 Code / Commentary Changes
At the request / recommendation of Julio Ramirez (from ACI 318-E), Amin Ghali was
given the floor to make presentations regarding two proposals he has for changes in the
ACI 318 Code and Commentary with respect to slab-column connections (in an effort to
get feedback from our committee). The first presentation was about a proposal to replace
Jc in Commentary Section 11.12.6.2 with a new Ic and definition, which might help to
clarify how this can and should be calculated for all sorts of critical section shapes (not
just for closed rectangles, but also for cases such as slabs with openings, circular
columns, etc.), and which might more correctly satisfy equilibrium when calculating shear
stresses across a variety of cases. This proposal also includes a related component to
replace v by (1 - f). Amins second presentation was centered on a proposal to disallow
the currently permitted reduction in the fraction of unbalanced moment transferred by
eccentricity of shear (remove all of Code / Commentary Sections 13.5.3.3), arguing that
some experimental data indicates that the reduction could in certain cases permit unsafe
designs. Committee members had a few questions about the proposals, and they are
asked to forward any feedback on them to the Chair, who will pass the information along
to Julio.
8. Discussion about Using FRC in Monolithic R/C Beam-Column Connections
Gustavo Parra led a brief discussion about our committees ongoing interest in
working toward assembling all available relevant information on the use of FRC in
monolithic R/C beam-column connections. A task group consisting of Gustavo, Marvin
Criswell, and Jim LaFave will try to work on this in the coming year. One related issue
(that is probably out of the hands of our committee) is ongoing progress toward providing
some sort of minimum flexural performance standard for FRC (possibly through ASTM),
which could help to make it easier to characterize acceptable FRC material behavior for
structural applications.
9. Resolution Proposals for Negative ITG/T1.1-01 Ballot Items on Connections
The task group working on this subject had little new to report. They hope to review
ITG/T1.1-01 with respect to three specific negative votes (on issues about which
Committee 352 has expertise) from an earlier ballot. After conducting their work and
reporting to us as a committee, this task group will then pass along their findings to an ACI
Committee 374 task group (and Committee 374 as a whole) for further consideration,

ACI-ASCE Committee 352 Meeting @ ACI Spring 2005 Convention New York, NY

possibly in conjunction with their reviewing, revising, and developing a new version of this
document.
10. Schedule for the Next Committee Meeting
The next committee meeting is planned for the ACI Fall Convention in November
2005. Committee members present indicated that, in general, Sunday afternoon meetings
should continue to work well for them.
11. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 4:45p.
Respectfully submitted,
James M. LaFave
Chair, ACI-ASCE Committee 352

ACI-ASCE Committee 352 Meeting @ ACI Spring 2005 Convention New York, NY