AXIAL DEFORMATION OF COLUMN IN TALL STRUCTURES By Er.P.K.

Mallick
Concrete members experience time dependent behaviour caused by creep and
shrinkage .During the past,much research has been made in this area providing means
for good understanding of the effect of creep and shrinkage on concrete and processes
through which they evolve. Basically,two types of behaviour are distinct because of
creep and shrinkage:
1)Creep and shrinkage lead to increased deformations in plain concrete.
2)In reinforced concrete ,creep and shrinkage cause stress redistribution between the
compressive zone in concrete and steel reinforcement.The direction of stress transfer in
reinforced concrete column is normally from concrete section to reinforcement,leading
to an increase in steel stress and decrease in concrete stress with time.
A reinforced concrete column also undergoes axial shortening due to creep and
shrinkage and this phenomenon is known as time dependent shortening of column.With
the increase in height of buildings,the importance of time dependent shortening of
columns and shear walls become more critical owing to cumulative nature of such
shortening.It is known that column with varying percentage of reinforcement and
varying volume to surface ratio will undergo varying strains due to creep and shrinkage
under similar stresses.
In a multistoried building ,adjacent columns may have different percentage of
reinforcement due to different tributary areas or different wind loads.As a result,the
differential elastic and inelastic shortening will produce moments in the connecting
beams or slabs and will cause load transfer to the element that shortens less. As
number of stories increase,the cumulative differential shortening also increases,and the
related effect become more severe.A common example is the case of a large,heavily
reinforced column attracting additional loads from adjacent shear wall which has higher
creep and shrinkage due to lower percentage of reinforcement and lower volume to
surface ratio. Significance differential shortening may also occur due to a time gap
between a slip formed core and the columns. In this case the columns are subjected to

full amount of creep and shrinkage ,while the core may have had the bulk of its
inelastic shortening occurring prior to casting of adjacent columns.
EFFECT OF TIME DEPENDENT SHORTENING OF COLUMNS- CASE HISTORIES
AND REAL ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH CALCULATION OF AXIAL SHORTENING:

It is customary ,at present, to neglect the effect on the frame of elastic and inelastic
shortening of columns and walls. For a low and intermediate height structures this may
be acceptable, however, neglecting the differential shortening in ultra high rise building
may lead to distress in the structure and in a non structural elements of the building.

In a number of tall buildings in the United States built in the early sixties, structural
cracking and partition distress were observed as a result of differential creep between
shear walls and highly reinforced columns in close proximity to each other. Another
example of the reality of differential creep and shrinkage of vertical elements is of fifty
story building in Australia in which the measured differential shortening at the roof level
between the concrete core and peripheral column was 27.94mm after about four and
half years. Fortunately, no problems were experienced, the long span of about 11m
between the core and peripheral columns caused only small slab rotations. The elevator
rails had to be adjusted twice over the years to accommodate the shortening of
elevator shafts.
Building up to 30 stories with flexible slab systems ,such as flat plate slabs of average
spans or long span joint systems, are not adversely affected structurally by differential
shortening of supports. In those cases the knowledge of the total shortening is needed
to make allowance in architectural details to avoid further distress of partitions,
windows, cladding, and other nonstructural elements.

Differential shortening can be minimized by proportioning adjacent columns or walls to

have similar stress of the transformed section and similar percentage of reinforcement.
The volume to surface ratio has a lesser effect on differential shortening.

Although a large amount of research information is available on shrinkage and creep

strains, it is not directly applicable to columns of high rise building. The available
shrinkage data must be modified since they are obtained on small standard prisms or
cylinders stored in controlled laboratory environment. The available creep research is
based on application of loads in one increment and such creep information ,therefore, is
applicable to flexural elements of reinforced concrete and to elements of prestressed
concrete.

In the construction of high rise building, however columns are loaded in as many
increments as there are stories above the level under consideration. If a 50 storied
building is constructed in 50weeks,then the first story columns receive 2% of their
design load every week during construction period. Incremental loading over a long
period of time makes considerable difference in this magnitude of creep too.
It has already been high lighted that though we have lot of research data on creep and
shrinkage, those are not directly applicable for prediction of inelastic shortening of
column.
An effort has been made here for comprehensive review and comparison of method of
prediction of inelastic shortening including that developed recently. The purpose of this
review is to comment on theoretical validity and to compare them in terms of their
efficiency .accuracy and practical value. The methods are considered in more or less,
their chronological order of development. Considered roughly in their order of
sophistication, the methods reviewed are:
1)Method developed by Mark Fintel & Fazlur .R.Khan.
2)Method developed by Mark Fintel , H.Iyenger & S.K.Ghosh.
3)Method developed by Raed M.Samra.
Though the method developed by Raed M.Samra ,I call it as most recent ,but it in
reality it was first published in the year 1995 in Journal of Structural Engineering. As far
as I know there is no significant development after the work of Raed M. Samra. But if it
has happened, I would like to be updated on that.

METHOD DEVELOPED BY M.FINTEL & F.R.KHAN:

Though it is long recognized fact that in reinforced concrete columns, creep result in
gradual transfer of load from concrete to reinforcement, the procedure for prediction of
the amount of creep and shrinkage strains was first outlined in the late 1969."Effect of
creep and shrinkage in tall structures prediction of inelastic column shortening " was
perhaps the first paper on this subject to be published in ACI Journal December 1969
issue and credit goes to M.Fintel and F.R.Khan for this publication.
The procedure takes care:
a) Loading History of Columns.
b) Volume to Surface Ratio of Sections.
c)Effect of percentage of Reinforcement.
For Structural Engineering practice, the specific creep has been considered. The specific
creep c is defined as the ultimate creep strain per unit of sustained stress. Since creep
decreases with age of concrete at load application, each subsequent incremental
loading contributes a smaller specific creep to the final average specific of the column.
Determination of Specific Creep, c :
There are two ways to determine the value of specific creep. It can be obtained by
extrapolation from number of laboratory samples prepared in advance from actual mix
to be used in structure. It is obvious that sufficient time for such tests must be allowed
prior to start of construction, since the reliability of the prediction improves with length
of time over which creep is actually measured.
An alternative method to predict basic creep is from elastic modulus of elasticity. In the
mentioned article a curve(we call fig 1) is shown which give the creep magnitude as
related to initial modulus of elasticity for different load durations. For design purposes
,the 20 year creep can be regarded as the ultimate creep. Thus from the specified
28days strength, the basic specific creep for loading at 28days can be determined and
then modified for construction time, member size and percentage of reinforcement.
Effect of construction time on creep:
To determine the effect of construction time on creep, this method takes the help of
curve(we call fig 2) giving relationship between creep and age at loading. The total
creep strain for an incrementally loaded column "N" stories below the roof will be

c = Ni fci ci
Where fci ci are creep strains produced by the stress increment fci .Individual value for
specific creep can be obtained from fig 1 or from the creep of a test specimen loaded at
28days and then modified for various age at loading using fig 2.
The procedure gives formula for weighted average of specified creep where load
increments are unequal. Another formula is given for where load increments are equal.
Then the procedure gives formula for total creep strain.
The procedure explained above has been further simplified and a curve (we call fig 3)
has been developed which gives relationship between "Time of Construction" and
"Coefficient for incremental loading".
The Coefficient for incremental loading plotted in figure 3 is used to convert the 28day
creep into average specific creep for a column load with equal load increment at equal
time intervals.

In continuation to explanation of above method let us look into the rest of the issues
associated with the method.
Effect of Member size on Creep:
Creep is less sensitive to member size than shrinkage since only the drying creep
component of total creep is affected by size and shape of members,where as basic
creep is independent of size and shape. It appears from a laboratory investigation that
drying creep has its effect only during the initial three months.Beyond 100days,the rate
of creep is equal to basic creep.
Shrinkage Strains-Adjusted For Column Size:
Shrinkage of concrete is caused by evaporation of moisture from the surface. Similar to
creep,the rate of shrinkage is high at early ages,decreasing with increase of age,until
the curve becomes asymptotic to final value of shrinkage.Since evaporation occurs only
from the surface of members the volume to surface ratio of a member has a
pronounced effect on the amount of its shrinkage.
The amount of shrinkage decreases as the size of specimen increases. Much of the
shrinkage data available in the literature is obtained on 27.9 cm long prisims of a 7.6*
7.6 cm section. Obviously ,such data can not be applied to usual size columns without
considering side effect. The relationship between the magnitude of shrinkage and the
volume to surface ratio has been plotted in a curve(we call fig 4). The size coefficient
for shrinkage shown in fig 4 is used to convert shrinkage data obtained in 6inch
cylinders to any other size columns.
Effect of relative humidity on shrinkage:
The shrinkage specimen should be stored under conditions similar to those for actual

structures. If this is not possible ,the shrinkage results of a specimen not stored under
field humidity conditions of structure must be modified to account for humidity
conditions of structure. The curve developed by C.L.Freyermuth showing relative
humidity percentage and shrinkage humidity correction factor must be used in this
regard.
Progress of Creep and Shrinkage with Time:
Both creep and shrinkage have similarity regarding the rate of progress with respect to
time. A curve (we call fig 5) is developed to show ratio of creep or shrinkage at
anytime to final value at time infinity. This curve can be used to extrapolate the
ultimate creep and shrinkage values from laboratory testing of certain duration time.
Effect of Reinforcement on creep and shrinkage:
Long term test has shown that on columns with low percentage of reinforcement the
stress in steel increased until yielding while in highly reinforced columns after entire
load had been transferred to steel ,further shrinkage actually caused some tensile
stresses in the concrete. It should be noted that despite the redistribution of load
between concrete and steel ,the ultimate steel capacity of the columns remains
unchanged.
The total creep and shrinkage strains of a non reinforced column are
= fc c + s
where
fc =Initial elastic stress in the concrete.
c = ultimate specific creep strain of plain concrete
S = Ultimate shrinkage strain of plain concrete.
A curve (we call fig 5) has been developed to determine residual creep and shrinkage
strains of reinforced column from the total creep and shrinkage strain of identical
column without reinforcement for various percentage of reinforcement,varying specific
creep and modulus of elasticity of concrete.
THEREFORE,THE TOTAL STRAIN IN COLUMN DUE TO CREEP AND SHRINKAGE
IS SUM TOTAL OF STRAINS CALCULATED DUE TO VARIOUS FACTORS
AFFECTING SHRINKAGE AND CREEP.

LIMITATION OF METHOD DEVELOPED BY M.FINTEL & F.R.KHAN:

This solution for creep and shrinkage of columns were prepared during late sixties

based on state of art in that era. Hence the limitation in the procedure is apparent.

a) Effect of relative humidity on creep is not considered.

b) Effect of water/cement ratio on creep is not considered.

c) Creep also depends on fine aggregate to total aggregate ratio. This effect is not
taken into account in the analysis.

d) Similarly percent of air content in concrete has pronounced effect on creep and this
method is silent on this aspect.

Further ,the method to predict basic creep (without testing) from elastic modulus of
elasticity is based on results of limited tests on normal weight concrete conducted at
Bureau of Reclamation in Denver.
METHOD DEVELOPED BY M.FINTEL,H.IYENGER AND S.K.GHOSH:

This method is an extension of method 1. However, the procedure has been

computerized to ease the burden of meticulous arithmetical calculation and extensive
book keeping of data.

The developed computerized procedure is applicable to concrete, steel and composite

structure and consider separately the elastic and creep component due to gravity loads
and also shrinkage shortening.

Since structural effects result from differential distortions caused by column shortening
after slab has been installed, the procedure separates the shortening of supports that
occur after slab installations.

Computer utilization is particularly significant because consideration of shrinkage and

creep requires extensive computation and summations as every story high column
segment in a multistoried building is loaded as many increments as there are stories
above and for each loading increment of each column segment has now new time
dependent properties ,modulus of elasticity, creep coefficients ,shrinkage coefficients,
changing column sizes i.e. volume to surface ratio and varying reinforcement ratios.

Since the method is similar to method 1, this does not necessitate a detailed discussion.
METHOD DEVELOPED BY RAED M.SAMRA
This method is due to Prof.Raed M. Samra and was published in Journal of Structural
Engineering in March 1995 issue. This is an improvement over his previous study of
creep model which requires the use of an iterative procedure for the solution of the
creep strain and creep stress under sustained load, published in Journal of American
Concrete Institute (1998) under the title Creep model for Reinforced Concrete
Columns. The new approach has a great advantage from practical point of view since
the results for axially loaded column are identical to those obtained by using the
iterative procedure, but can derived from a direct calculation. The best advantage of
the current procedure is that it requires little input, including creep data and section
and material properties ,which makes it useful in most case of commonly encountered
design problems. The brief outline of the procedure is as follows:
To evaluate the change in stress and deformation arising in reinforced concrete section
under sustained loads, the procedure has been evolved based on the algebraic
constitutive law to describe the creep deformation of the concrete. The law is expressed
as follows:

ct

= fci /Ec

Where ,

(1+t ) ft /Ec (1+ 0.8 t )

ct = concrete strain at time t.

fci = Initial concrete stress.
ft = stress decrement in concrete at time t.
t = Creep coefficient at time t.
Ec = Modulus of elasticity of concrete.
The law is particular case of well known age adjusted effective modulus method.
For axially loaded columns, the requirements of strain compatibility, equilibrium and
stress strain relationship apply at any time under load. These requirements are written
at time t > to, a long time after load application.

From the strain compatibility and equilibrium the stress in steel ,the stress in steel can
be expressed by the formula:

Fst = n Fci {(1 0.8 ) *t + Fct/Fci (1+0.8 t)}

Hence strain in steel due to creep= Fst/ ct

The above equation completely solves the problem in closed form. A comparison
between results of tests conducted by Troxell etal. on concrete columns and results
predicted by the analytical procedure presented in the Prof.Samras paper shows a good
correlation between measured and computed value.

Although this paper only deals with creep, the most cases of practical interest it is
important to superpose the results of a shrinkage model proposed by Park and Pauley
with the outcome of the Samras creep model, because the final stresses and strains
under the combined effect of creep and shrinkage are normally of interest.

Since the equilibrium and compatibility are satisfied in the individual models, they will
be also satisfied in the final superposed model. The shrinkage model is simple to use
and is based on sound theoretical basis in which it is assumed that the restraint of

shrinkage concrete by reinforcement will induce tensile stresses in concrete

accompanied by compressive stress in steel. Since the shrinkage can occur even in the
absence of any external load, the requirement of equilibrium would dictate that total
force induced in concrete is equal and opposite of the total force in steel. Simple
mathematical derivation yields that the stress in steel, Fs, at any time equal to
Fs=Fc*Ac/As

Where Fs=Steel compressive stress due to shrinkage.

Fc =X/Y
X=sh
Y= (1+t)/Ec +( Ac/As*Es)
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To be continued by Er.P.K.Mallick