AASHTO LRFD

Anchors in Concrete: Drawing Details

to Identify and Procure Concrete
Anchors via Specification Special
Provisions—Part 3 of a four-part series
by Dr. Donald F. Meinheit

T his article is part 3 in a four-

part series addressing concrete
anchorage in the reorganized Section
engineers on the implementation of
the new concrete anchorage provisions
adopted from the American Concrete
provisions in the code. This article
reviews the mechanisms that are available
to procure concrete anchors once they
5 of the American Association of State Institute’s Building Code Requirements have been designed.
Highway and Transportation Officials’ for Structural Concrete (ACI 318-14) and
A A S H TO L R F D B r i d g e D e s i g n Commentary (ACI 318R-14). 2 Part 2 Background
Specifications,1 published in 2017. At (see the Fall 2020 issue of ASPIRE) State highway authorities (SHAs)
that time, AASHTO added Article 5.13, focused on the qualification procedures generally have standard procedures for
Anchorage to Concrete, to the design for post-installed concrete anchors. selecting products that are used in the
specifications. Part 1 of this series of Any anchor that is designed according construction of bridges. The typical
articles (see the Summer 2020 issue to the provisions of AASHTO LRFD procedure for selecting an anchor is for
®
of ASPIRE ) outlined a PCI program
sponsored by the Transportation
specifications Article 5.13 must be
qualified, and its behavior must be
an SHA to check its approved product
list (APL) or its qualified product list
Research Board to educate bridge shown to be consistent with the design (QPL) to find a product that the SHA
is comfortable using in construction.
Part 2 of this series of articles discussed
how anchors are qualified by standards,
in particular two ACI standards, ACI
355.2, Qualification of Post-Installed
Mechanical Anchors in Concrete
and Commentary, 3 and ACI 355.4,
Qualification of Post-Installed Adhesive
Anchors in Concrete and Commentary.4
It seems appropriate that any anchor
or anchor system that satisfies either of
these two qualification standards should
be considered acceptable for an SHA’s
APL or QPL.

How to Procure Anchors

The flowchart in Fig. 1 provides a
convenient overview of issues that must
be considered in procuring the desired
anchors for the designated project. The
procurement process begins with the
yellow block in the upper right-hand
corner of the flowchart. Assuming the
loads have been determined and the
qualified anchor selected satisfies the
design code, the question becomes, “How
is that anchor procured for the project?”
There are several separate steps to take,
and all of these steps are necessary.
• Show the anchors on the drawings
a n d p r ov i d e t h e m i n i m u m
requirements for edge distance,
Figure 1. Flowchart depicting the procurement process for anchors. embedment depth, anchor
Note: APL = approved product list; QPL = qualified product list. Figure: PCI. diameter, material properties,

50 | ASPIRE Winter 2021

 and any special installation or uncracked (τuncr ) concrete use. • Cer tification. W h a t i s t h e
inspection instructions such as • List anchor product types. For m i n i m u m l e ve l o f t r a i n i n g
training or certification. an adhesive anchor, all parts of the necessary, and do the installers
• Specify the anchors in general system should be listed. Have you need to be certified? ACI 318-14
notes on the drawings, or include included the all-thread rod? Is the currently requires certification
this information in either the anchor a manufactured product? of installers when an anchor
project specifications or the state Is it stainless steel, and if so, what is installed in a horizontal to
construction specifications. type of stainless steel? What other upwardly inclined (overhead)
• Because concrete anchorage is hardware is part of the system? orientation. ACI offers an installer
new to the AASHTO LRFD • Reinforcing bars. In many cases, certification program that has a
specifications, it may take some adhesively bonded reinforcing bars certification life of five years.
time for state constr uction are used. Specify the grade of the • Inspection. Not all anchors on a
specifications to be updated and reinforcing bar and the level of job require certified installers.
incorporate anchors into their cleanliness for the bar surface, such If there is a combination of
standard specifications. So, in the as wire brushing or sandblasting to mechanical and adhesive anchors,
interim, project-specific special remove mill scale. the specifications might indicate
provisions may need to be written. • Payment. How will the installed either a project-specific or state
anchor be paid for? policy on how to identify anchors
Even after standard specifications for that require a certified installer.
a state are revised to include anchors, General Installation Guidelines For example, similar to the way
project-specific special provisions may Notes 8 to 12 describe conditions of epoxy-coated reinforcing bars are
be needed if unique characteristics the concrete at the time of installation. often indicated with an “(E),” the
of the project require more detailed • Concrete strength. Concrete designation “(CERT)” could be put
instructions or special requirements. strength greater than 2500 psi at on the drawings to indicate anchors
installation should be required. requiring installation by a certified
Additional Information to • Concrete age. The concrete’s installer.
Show on Drawings age at installation for adhesive What about the inspector? The
Drawings are often the only legacy anchors should be at least 21 days. 2019 edition of ACI 3186 requires
information that remains long after This is not necessarily a strength inspector certification, and ACI has
the project is completed. A prudent requirement, but a moisture that certification program available.
approach is to err on the side of putting content issue. Most, but not all, • Installation technique. The
too much information on the drawings. of the available adhesives are mixing nozzle that comes with
General notes are usually the best place moisture insensitive. The adhesive the product must be used as-is,
on drawings to address cast-in-place, cartridge and manufacturer’s printed without modification. The anchor
mechanical, and adhesive anchors. installation instructions must be itself should be clean and free of
checked. mud or other contaminants.
The Concrete Reinforcing Steel • Concrete temperature. A note Without fail, the installation must
Institute (CRSI) has published a should indicate the minimum follow the manufacturer’s printed
technical note, CTN M-3-20,5 which temperatures of the substrate and installation instructions. This is
is available as a free download and the adhesive cartridge material. a golden rule! Once you put the
provides excellent suggestions on what • Thread projection. What is the anchor in the hole, do not disturb
information to include on drawings. minimum projection distance of the installation.
The suggested drawing notes are listed the anchor? Typically, hole drilling is done
under four headings: materials, general • Adhesive cartridge storage. with a rotary-impact hammer
installation guidelines, installation, and T h e r e a r e m a n u f a c t u r e r ’s drill. Core holes are typically
field quality control. The following recommendations on the package too smooth. The manufacturer’s
sections briefly discuss the notes under or in the installation instructions printed installation instructions
each of these headings. for the minimum and maximum are prepared by the anchor
storage temperatures. In warm manufacturer and list  the anchor
Materials weather, the adhesive might be manufacturer’s recommendations
Notes 1 to 7 in CTN M-3-20 list runny when ejected from the regarding whether a cored hole can
the specified mechanical anchor cartridge and may flash set. In cold be used when installing the anchor. 
products or adhesive anchor products. weather, the adhesive will take a • Hole cleaning. It cannot be
It is important to include the following long time to gel and may freeze emphasized enough that this is a
items and to tie anchor properties back before the polymerization process is very important step in producing a
to the qualification standard: ACI complete. quality installation. Protect recently
355.23 for mechanical anchors or ACI drilled and cleaned holes if the
355.44 for adhesive anchors. Installation anchor is not installed immediately.
• List the assumptions. For adhesive Notes 13 to 25 provide guidelines There is no specific measure of the
anchors, list the bond shear stress on key information required of the amount of delay permitted because
“tau” values for cracked (τcr ) and installer. the permissible delay depends on

ASPIRE Winter 2021 | 51

 the environmental conditions. The the state construction specifications for 6. AC I C o m m i t t e e 3 1 8 . 2 0 1 9 .
strong recommendation is that the concrete anchors. Free downloads are Building Code Requirements for
anchor be installed immediately available for resources such as the CRSI Structural Concrete (ACI 318-19)
after the hole is drilled. technical note.5 and Commentary (ACI 318R-19).
Under the sponsorship of the NCHRP, Farmington Hills, MI: ACI.
Field Quality Control PCI developed a five-part webinar series
7. Cook, R. A., E. P. Douglas, T.
Notes 26 to 30 offer suggestions on for bridge engineers on the requirements M. Davis, and C. Liu. 2013. Long-
inspection and compliance testing in for designing, detailing, and installing Term Performance of Epoxy Adhesive
the field. concrete anchors. Information discussed Anchor Systems. National Cooperative
• Inspection. This was discussed in in this ASPIRE article was covered Highway Research Program (NCHRP)
the previous section but is repeated in webinar no. 4 presented on July Report 757. Washington, DC:
here because it is part of quality 16, 2020. PCI has made available a Transportation Research Board.
assurance. Dropbox folder (https://www.pci.org/
• Proof testing. The specifications AnchoringToConcreteImp) where
should include provisions for the documentation from the five-webinar
number of anchors to be tested, series, including course handouts and
the frequency of testing, the pass/ resources, can be found. A customizable Topics in the Customizable
fail criteria, and the next level of draft of special provisions for procuring Special Provisions
testing frequency in case of failure. concrete anchors for a project is available Developed by PCI
More on this topic will be covered for free download from the Course
in the forthcoming part 4 article. Resource subfolder for webinar no. 4. 575.01 DESCRIPTION
Additionally, as noted below, PCI Ordering Information
has written customizable special Part 4 of this four-part series on
provisions for post-installed concrete anchors will focus on issues 575.02 DEFINITIONS
concrete anchors, and these also related to inspection and compliance
discuss field testing. testing of concrete anchors in the field. 575.03 MATERIALS
Reference Documents
Special Provisions References Quality Assurance
The majority of SHAs have a state Installer Qualifications
standard specification manual or a set 1. American Association of State Product Evaluation Reports
of bridge special provisions. As part of Hi g h w a y a n d Tr a n s p o r t a t i o n and Listings
National Cooperative Highway Research O f f i c i a l s ( A A S H TO ) . 2 0 1 7 . Mechanical Anchors
Program (NCHRP) Project 20-44(04), AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Adhesive Anchors
PCI wrote a customizable special Specifications, 8th ed. Washington, Fasteners and Anchors
provisions section, which is available DC: AASHTO. Reinforcing Bar
as a free download as part of the five- 2. A m e r i c a n C o n c re t e In s t i t u t e Equipment
part webinar series developed by PCI (ACI) Committee 318. 2014. Hammer Drill
(see the Course Resource subfolder for Building Code Requirements for Cleaning Equipment
webinar no. 4 at https://www.pci.org/ Compressed Air
Structural Concrete (ACI 318-14)
AnchoringToConcreteImp). A Microsoft Vacuum
and Commentary (ACI 318R-14).
Word version is available so that agencies Farmington Hills, MI: ACI.
can tailor the text to a specific project. 575.04 SUBMITTALS
PCI intentionally tried to make the 3. A C I C o m m i t t e e 3 5 5 . 2 0 1 9 . Adhesive Anchor Installer Certification
special provisions text comprehensive. Qualification of Post-Installed
Some information in the document Mechanical Anchors in Concrete 575.05 CONSTRUCTION
might appear repetitive or may not apply (ACI 355.2-19) and Commentary. Meeting
to the project; simply delete what is not Farmington Hills, MI: ACI. Project Conditions
needed. The special provisions section 4. A C I C o m m i t t e e 3 5 5 . 2 0 1 9 . Substrate Conditions
originates from an appendix in NCHRP Qualification of Post-Installed Adhesive Installation
Report 757.7 Anchors in Concrete (ACI 355.4-19) Inspection and Maintenance
and Commentary. Farmington Hills,
Space does not permit a detailed MI: ACI. 575.06 FIELD QUALITY
discussion of the special provisions here, CONTROL TESTING
but the outline in the Topics sidebar 5. Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute Demonstration Tests
gives an indication of what is covered. (CRSI). 2020. Suggested General Production Proof Tests
Drawing Notes for Post-installed
Summary Mechanical and Adhesive Anchors. 575.07 METHOD OF
This article discusses items that should CTN-M-3-20. Schaumburg, IL: MEASUREMENT
be included on contract drawings and CRSI. http://resources.crsi.org/
information that should be included in resources/notes-for-mechanical-and- 575.08 BASIS OF PAYMENT
either the project specifications or in adhesive-anchors.

52 | ASPIRE Winter 2021