ACI 352.

1R-11

Guide for Design of Slab-Column

Connections in Monolithic
Concrete Structures

Reported by Joint ACI-ASCE Committee 352

 First Printing
March 2012

Guide for Design of Slab-Column Connections in Monolithic Concrete Structures

Copyright by the American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, MI. All rights reserved. This material may not be
reproduced or copied, in whole or part, in any printed, mechanical, electronic, film, or other distribution and storage
media, without the written consent of ACI.

The technical committees responsible for ACI committee reports and standards strive to avoid ambiguities, omissions,
and errors in these documents. In spite of these efforts, the users of ACI documents occasionally find information
or requirements that may be subject to more than one interpretation or may be incomplete or incorrect. Users who
have suggestions for the improvement of ACI documents are requested to contact ACI via the errata website at
www.concrete.org/committees/errata.asp. Proper use of this document includes periodically checking for errata for
the most up-to-date revisions.

ACI committee documents are intended for the use of individuals who are competent to evaluate the significance
and limitations of its content and recommendations and who will accept responsibility for the application of the mate-
rial it contains. Individuals who use this publication in any way assume all risk and accept total responsibility for the
application and use of this information.

All information in this publication is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, includ-
ing but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement.

ACI and its members disclaim liability for damages of any kind, including any special, indirect, incidental, or con-
sequential damages, including without limitation, lost revenues or lost profits, which may result from the use of this
publication.

It is the responsibility of the user of this document to establish health and safety practices appropriate to the specific
circumstances involved with its use. ACI does not make any representations with regard to health and safety issues
and the use of this document. The user must determine the applicability of all regulatory limitations before applying
the document and must comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including but not limited to, United States
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) health and safety standards.

Participation by governmental representatives in the work of the American Concrete Institute and in the develop-
ment of Institute standards does not constitute governmental endorsement of ACI or the standards that it develops.

Order information: ACI documents are available in print, by download, on CD-ROM, through electronic subscription,
or reprint and may be obtained by contacting ACI.

Most ACI standards and committee reports are gathered together in the annually revised ACI Manual of Concrete
Practice (MCP).

American Concrete Institute

38800 Country Club Drive
Farmington Hills, MI 48331
U.S.A.
Phone: 248-848-3700
Fax: 248-848-3701
www.concrete.org

ISBN 978-0-87031-760-6
 ACI 352.1R-11

Guide for Design of Slab-Column Connections in

Monolithic Concrete Structures
Reported by Joint ACI-ASCE Committee 352

Mary Beth D. Hueste† Thomas Kang†

Chair Secretary

Sergio M. Alcocer Ian Robertson†

John F. Bonacci M. Saiid Saiidi
James R. Cagley Jorge I. Segura
Marvin E. Criswell Bahram M. Shahrooz
Jeffrey J. Dragovich Myoungsu Shin
Catherine E. French John W. Wallace
Luis E. García James K. Wight
Russell Gentry Loring A. Wyllie Jr.
Theodor Krauthammer
Michael E. Kreger Consulting Members
James M. LaFave* Hossam M. Abdou
Douglas D. Lee Fariborz Barzegar
Dawn E. Lehman Hugh L. Cotton
Roberto T. Leon Filip C. Filippou
Cheng-Ming Lin David W. Mitchell
Donald F. Meinheit Charles F. Scribner
Nilanjan Mitra David Z. Yankelevsky
Jack P. Moehle Liande Zhang
Stavroula J. Pantazopoulou
*
Gustavo J. Parra-Montesinos Chair of editorial subcommittee
 †
Member of editorial subcommittee

This guide provides recommendations for determining proportions on a review of the literature for ultimate and serviceability limit
and details of monolithic reinforced and post-tensioned concrete states. A commentary is provided to clarify the recommendations
slab-column connections. and identify reference material. Design recommendations are set
Included are recommendations regarding appropriate uses of in standard type. Commentary is set in italics.
slab-column connections in structures resisting gravity and lateral
forces; procedures for determination of connection load-carrying Keywords: connection; flat plate; flat slab; joint; lateral drift; post-
capacity; and reinforcement details to achieve adequate strength, tensioned; punching shear; seismic; shear reinforcement; slab-column.
ductility, and structural integrity. Recommendations are based
CONTENTS
ACI Committee Reports, Guides, and Commentaries are Chapter 1—Introduction and scope, p. 2
intended for guidance in planning, designing, executing, and
inspecting construction. This document is intended for the use 1.1—Introduction
of individuals who are competent to evaluate the significance 1.2—Scope
and limitations of its content and recommendations and who
will accept responsibility for the application of the material it
contains. The American Concrete Institute disclaims any and
all responsibility for the stated principles. The Institute shall
not be liable for any loss or damage arising therefrom. ACI 352.1R-11 supersedes ACI 352.1R-89 and was adopted and published March
2012.
Reference to this document shall not be made in contract
Copyright © 2011, American Concrete Institute.
documents. If items found in this document are desired by All rights reserved including rights of reproduction and use in any form or by any
the Architect/Engineer to be a part of the contract documents, means, including the making of copies by any photo process, or by electronic or
they shall be restated in mandatory language for incorporation mechanical device, printed, written, or oral, or recording for sound or visual repro-
by the Architect/Engineer. duction or for use in any knowledge or retrieval system or device, unless permission
in writing is obtained from the copyright proprietors.

1
2 GUIDE FOR DESIGN OF SLAB-COLUMN CONNECTIONS IN MONOLITHIC CONCRETE STRUCTURES (ACI 352.1R-11)

Chapter 2—Notation and definitions, p. 3 1971, 1973; Joint ACI-ASCE Committee 426 1974; Leyen-
2.1—Notation decker and Fattal 1977; Lew et al. 1982a,b; Rosenblueth
2.2—Definitions and Meli 1986; Freyermuth 1989; Moehle 1996; Hueste
and Wight 1997). However, no reported cases of connection
Chapter 3—Connection classifications, p. 4 failure due to distress within the joint have been identified.
3.1—General Some connection failures have occurred during construc-
3.2—Connection classifications tion when young concrete slabs received loads from more
than one floor as a consequence of shoring and reshoring
Chapter 4—Design considerations, p. 8 (Agarwal and Gardner 1974; Lew et al. 1982a,b; Sbarounis
4.1—Connection performance 1984; ACI 347-05). The disastrous consequences of some
4.2—Types of actions on the connection failures, including total collapse of the structure, empha-
4.3—Determination of connection forces size the importance of the design of the connection. These
recommendations are intended to alert the designer to those
Chapter 5—Methods of analysis for determination aspects of behavior that should be considered in design of
of connection strength, p. 9 the connection and to suggest design procedures that will
5.1—General principles and recommendations lead to adequate connection performance.
5.2—Connections without beams
5.3—Connections with transverse beams 1.2—Scope
5.4—Effect of openings Information and design recommendations have been
5.5—Joint strength summarized by Joint ACI-ASCE Committee 426 (1974,
1977). This guide is an update of ACI 352.1R-89 (Joint ACI-
Chapter 6—Reinforcement, p. 13 ASCE Committee 352 1989), based on research information
6.1—Slab reinforcement for moment transfer presented in references such as Moehle (1996); Moehle et
6.2—Joint recommendations al. (1988); Kang and Wallace (2005); ACI 318-08, Chapter
6.3—Structural integrity reinforcement 21; and Cheng et al. (2010). Modifications to the previous
6.4—Anchorage of reinforcement report include expanding the coverage to include slab-
column connections with shear reinforcement, slab-column
Chapter 7—Lateral drift, p. 20 connections with post-tensioning reinforcement, and lateral
7.1—General drift capacity of both RC and PT slab-column connections.
7.2—Lateral drift capacity These recommendations apply only to slab-column
connections in monolithic concrete structures, with or
Chapter 8—Shear reinforcement, including for without drop panels or column capitals, and using normal-
earthquake-resistant design, p. 22 weight or lightweight concrete. For strength calculation
8.1—General purposes, the specified concrete compressive strength should
8.2—Types of shear reinforcement not be taken greater than 6000 psi (42 MPa). The recom-
8.3—Shear strength of connections with shear mendations are limited to slab-column connections with
reinforcement slab thickness ranging between 5 and 12 in. (125 and 300
mm); a slab span-to-thickness ratio varying from 20 to 45,
Chapter 9—References, p. 25 except for slab-column connections with transverse beams;
9.1—Referenced standards and reports and a ratio of long-to-short cross-sectional column dimen-
9.2—Cited references sions less than 4. The recommendations for PT slab-column
connections are applicable only for monolithic concrete
CHAPTER 1—INTRODUCTION AND SCOPE connections with unbonded post-tensioning tendons
applying an average compressive stress in the concrete not
1.1—Introduction less than 125 psi (0.86 MPa). Construction that combines
The recommendations in this guide are for determining slab-column and beam-column framing in orthogonal direc-
connection proportions and details to provide adequate tions at individual connections is included, but these recom-
performance of cast-in-place reinforced concrete (RC) and mendations are limited to issues related to the transfer of
post-tensioned concrete (PT) slab-column connections. loads in the direction perpendicular to the beam axis. Slab-
The recommendations are written to satisfy serviceability, column framing systems are considered inappropriate as
strength, and ductility requirements related to the intended seismic-force-resisting systems assigned to high seismic
functions of the connection. design categories, but they are commonly used as frames
Design of the connection between a slab and its supporting not designated as part of the seismic-force-resisting system
member requires consideration of both the joint and the along with a stiffer seismic-force-resisting system, such as
portion of the slab, or slab and beams, immediately adja- shear walls or beam-and-column moment-resisting frames.
cent to the joint. Several connection failures associated with These recommendations are limited to slab-column
inadequate performance of the slab adjacent to the joint connections of cast-in-place RC and PT floor construction,
have been reported (Engineering News-Record (ENR) 1956, including two-way ribbed floor slab construction (Meli and

American Concrete Institute Copyrighted Material—www.concrete.org