Concrete Anchor Design
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Building services are required by the NCC to be designed and installed to resist structural loads, and the most common way they are connected to the building is via concrete anchors.
The structural performance of concrete anchors is impacted by numerous factors that need to be considered, and the NCC now mandates a specific standard for the testing and design of these fixings.
- AS5216 Design of post-installed and cast-in fastenings in concrete
- Concrete anchor capacities are to be determined via specific testing protocols that account for cracking within the concrete, and cyclical load effects.
- Concrete anchor designs must consider the combination of loads that may arise during the life of the building, as per the AS1170 suite of standards (ie gravity, in-service, wind & earthquake actions).
Services contractors readily encounter challenges when determining what anchors to use to comply with the AS5216. Some common examples include:
- What cracked-concrete, C1 or C2 seismic rating is required to be used?
- Connection to material like concrete block or hollow-core panels, where seismic ratings aren’t available
- What fixings to use when post-tension shallow embedment restrictions are enforced?
- How to simultaneously achieve gravity, seismic, fire and durability performance requirements
KUSCH have extensive experience in designing and certifying Deemed-To-Satisfy and Performance-Solutions for the building services connections to concrete buildings. Contact one of our engineers to discuss your challenges.
