Southern Cross University

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23rd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials

2014

Axial shortening in an 80-storey concrete building

S Fragomeni
Victoria University

H Whaikawa
Victoria University

S Boonlualoah
PBL Group Ltd.

Y C. Loo
Griffith University

Publication details
Fragomeni, S, Whaikawa, H, Boonlualoah, S, Loo, YC 2014, 'Axial shortening in an 80-storey concrete building', in ST Smith (ed.),
23rd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials (ACMSM23), vol. II, Byron Bay, NSW, 9-12 December,
Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW, pp. 1231-1236. ISBN: 9780994152008.

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 23rd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials (ACMSM23)
Byron Bay, Australia, 9-12 December 2014, S.T. Smith (Ed.)

AXIAL SHORTENING IN AN 80-STOREY CONCRETE BUILDING

S. Fragomeni*
College of Engineering and Science, Victoria University, Footscray Park Campus
PO Box 14428, Melbourne Vic, 8001 Australia. sam.fragomeni@vu.edu.au (Corresponding Author)

H. Whaikawa
College of Engineering and Science, Victoria University, Footscray Park Campus
PO Box 14428, Melbourne Vic, 8001 Australia. harley.whaikawa@live.vu.edu.au

S. Boonlualoah
Director, PBL Group Ltd, Bangkok, Thailand

Y.C. Loo
Science, Environment, Engineering and Technology Group, Griffith University
Director, Internationalisation and Professional Liaison. y.loo@griffith.edu.au

ABSTRACT

An 80-storey reinforced concrete building located on the Gold Coast was instrumented to monitor
axial shortening behavior in load-bearing elements. Axial shortening of selected columns and core
walls across a number of levels were taken up to 3 year duration, from initial construction period to the
completion of the structure with full service loads applied. This paper presents an extensive set of
measurements of selected basement columns. Comparisons of columns between basement levels, as
well as symmetrically related and adjacent columns, are made.

KEYWORDS

Axial shortening, differential shortening, concrete columns, high strength concrete, tall building.

INTRODUCTION

Axial shortening is experienced in load-bearing concrete columns and walls. It can be expressed as the
summation of elastic strain caused by load application, shrinkage strain caused by drying of concrete
and creep strain induced by sustained stress over a long-term period. Axial shortening is particularly
relevant in tall buildings as cumulative loadings on vertical structural members result in significant
stresses. Concrete columns and walls can potentially shorten at different rates within the same floor
resulting in differential shortening. This becomes an issue when the difference becomes significant
resulting in serviceability problems with building services, partitions, finishes and facades. Assumed
load paths can also change resulting in both added moments and excessive deflections occurring that
result in design actions exceeding design allowances on some members, (Boonlualoah et al. 2005).

Current cumulative shortening estimation methods, such as the Age-Adjusted Effective Modulus
Method (AEMM) proposed by Bazant (1972) given in Eq. 1, are extensively used by practitioners.
Without considering thermal deformations, the AEMM equation for total strain (t,s) can be written as;

(1)

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where σ0 is the initial concrete stress, Ec(s) is the elastic modulus of concrete at age s, (t,s) is the
creep coefficient, (t,s). The shrinkage component is defined by sh,(t) and ∆σ(t) is accounts for stress
increments applied over time. Finally χ(t,s) is the aging coefficient taking account the restraining
effects of the reinforcement. In Eq. 1 the shrinkage and creep components can be estimated using a
reliable code model, such as that given in the Australian standard, AS3600 (Fragomeni and Baweja
2008). Differential shortening is cumulative over the height of the structure therefore it has become an
important consideration for taller buildings; particularly since the increased use of high strength
concrete (HSC) in tall structures. The effects of axial and differential shortening are therefore both
structural and architectural. It is vital that accurate estimation of axial shortening in tall buildings
occur in order to control differential shortening through design and construction.

Tall concrete buildings instrumented to observe axial shortening using demountable strain gauges
(DEMEC) include Lake Point Tower in Chicago, USA, Water Tower Place also in Chicago, USA, and
World Tower in Sydney, Australia. Measurements in these cases provided a reasonable database of
short time period measurements. However, comprehensive measurements over significant durations
for axial shortening are rare across a number of levels and columns. Recently an 80-storey concrete
building on the Gold Coast was instrumented to measure axial shortening. An extensive set of
shortening measurements was documented (of up to 3 years) on selected columns at various levels,
(Boonlualoah, 2010). In this paper an overview of the measured building is presented along with the
shortening measurement procedure used. More specifically axial shortening measurements of selected
columns located in basement levels were analysed and results are discussed.

METHOD OF SOLUTION

Description of Instrumented Structure

The 80-storey residential building is located on the Gold Coast (see Figure 1). It comprises of a two-
storey basement for car parking capacity of 800, a two-storey lower section for retail and a 76-storey
tower that contains 500 residential apartments. Above the rooftop at level 78 there is a steel frame
glass crown of which a 50 metre mast rises from its peak resulting in a total height of 325 m. The
structure has predominately large rectangular/circular columns and walls. Inclusive is a central
concrete core wall system coupled with concrete flat slabs partially post tensioned in various locations,
(Boonluloah, (2010)). The column layout of the main tower was designed to provide lateral stability,
architectural layout and achieve typical floor slab depth requirements. Figure 2 displays the basement
floor plan. Columns depicted will be referred to throughout this paper. Dimensions of columns in
basement level 2 (B2) are 3200mm wide x 800mm thick, 4000mm wide x 900mm thick, 3400mm
wide x 1000mm thick and 2000mm diameter denoted as TC12, TC10, TC08 and TC06 respectively.
Related columns on the opposite side of the structure are geometrically symmetrical. Respective
locations of all columns are shown in Figure 2.

Figure 1 depicts specified nominal concrete strength of the levels measured in this study over the 80-
storey concrete building. The grade of concrete specified for the structure varies from 65MPa (B2 to
L9), 50MPa (L10 to L39) and 40MPa (L40 to L78). Concrete supplied was sampled in accordance
with Australian standards (AS1012, AS1379 and AS3600) for elastic modulus, standard compression,
drying shrinkage and creep. In levels B2 and B1 actual sample concrete specimens were found to be
greater than 75MPa, which is considered to be high strength concrete (HSC), (Boonlualoah 2010).

Details of the Measurements

The strain monitoring, to measure axial shortening was undertaken using a demountable strain gauge
(DEMEC) with gauge length of 200mm. Manufacturer specifications indicate that the smallest
deformation that could be measured was 10 microstrains. The device was considered accurate,
portable and reliable thus deemed suitable for taking measurements across a number of levels and
columns. Two stainless steel mechanical gauge markers were attached for each separate gauge point

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with heavy-duty epoxy glue (separated by the specific gauge length, refer to Figure 3). Larger
rectangular columns were generally designated 6 (in some cases 9) symmetrically placed sets of gauge
points on the column face and a single gauge line of 3 points on the side face. Cylindrical columns
were designated up to 9 sets of gauge points in 3 lines evenly distributed around the circumference.
Figures 3 and 4 depict gauge point orientations for cylindrical and rectangular columns respectively.

Figure 1. 80-storey building, (Boonlualoah 2010). Figure 2. Plan view of level B2 (Boonlualoah 2010)

Figure 3. Cylindrical column gauge point layout Figure 4. Rectangular column gauge point layout.

MEASURED AXIAL SHORTENING

Basement Level 2 (B2) Measurements

Axial shortening of selected B2 columns measured onsite are presented in Figures 5 to 8. The series
numbers correspond to locations of gauge points as depicted in Figures 3 and 4. The ‘solid dark’ line
represents the average of gauge point measurements across the column. Some Peaks and troughs are
evident in this average line. This is due in part to temperature variations, with measurements taken at
different times of the day and seasons. Even though individual data is relatively scattered, the average
cumulative strain follows a log curve as depicted by the ‘dotted’ log average trend line. Interestingly,
some columns experienced individual gauge readings upwards of 800 microstrain (see Figures 5, 6 and
8). This equates to a maximum B2 column axial shortening of 1.8 mm over 900 days for floor height
of 2250mm.

Related Symmetrical Column Comparison

Figures 9 to 12 compare symmetrical axial shortening on level B2 using the average measured trend
line on opposite sides of the structure. In some cases it was necessary assume that the columns
instrumented at a later date share the same axial shortening path as their related columns until

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measurements commenced. Figures 9 to 12 indicate measurements were very consistent and constant
over the 900 days of measurement. Also minimal differences in shortening exist between related
symmetrical columns thus indicating that measurements were reasonably reliable and accurate.

Figure 5. Cumulative strain of TC12 – B2

Figure 6. Cumulative strain of TC10-B2

Figure 7. Cumulative strain of TC08-B2

Figure 8. Cumulative strain of TC06-B2

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Figure 9. Ave. cumulative strain TC12/TC11-B2 Figure 10. Ave. cumulative strain TC10/TC09-B2

Figure 11. Ave. cumulative strain TC08/TC07-B2 Figure 12. Ave. cumulative strain TC06/TC05-B2

Basement Level Comparison

Figures 13 to 16 show shortening comparison of the same column at B2 and B1 levels Again,
shortening measurements followed similar paths. As expected, columns in the lower B2 level showed
slightly greater shortening values than those at B1. The most significant differences in shortening are
in the early column ages as seen in Figures 13 and 15. For example, a differential shortening value of
200 microstrain can be observed in Figure 13; equating to 0.45mm which is relatively small. Columns
instrumented at 370 days show minor differentials as depicted in Figures 14, 16 and 17. Early
shrinkage (particularly in first 7 days) is difficult to measure due to unexposed columns (formwork).
This may help explain some variations in early parts of axial shortening measurements. This segment
is theoretically defined as sh in Eq. 1, and if not predicted correctly may lead to erroneous results.

Figure 13. Ave. cumulative strain TC12-B2/B1 Figure 14. Ave. cumulative strain TC11-B2/B1

Figure 15. Ave. cumulative strain TC10-B2/B1 Figure 16. Ave. cumulative strain TC09-B2/B1

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Figure 17. Ave. cumulative strain of TC08-B2/B1 Figure 18. Ave cumulative strain TC12/TC10-B2

Figure 19. Ave. cumulative strain TC10/TC08-B2 Figure 20. Ave. cumulative strain TC08/TC06-B2

Adjacent Column Comparison

Figures 18 to 20 provide comparisons of adjacent columns on level B2 displaying differential

shortening. Differential shortening can be best observed in Figure 18 with the majority of differential
shortening occurs in the first 150 days of column age for TC12 and TC10. During this stage a
difference of 150 microstrains (0.34 mm) between adjacent columns was observed, which is small.

CONCLUSIONS

This paper provided comprehensive axial shortening measurements of basement levels in an 80-storey
concrete building on the Gold Coast, Australia. Overall results conclude that: i) measurements were
consistent and accurate, ii) measured cumulative strains followed an ideal logarithmic path, even
though small peaks and troughs were noted in actual curves, iii) maximum axial shortening in
basement columns reached 1.8mm over 900 days which is small, iv) maximum differential shortening
was 0.45mm which is not significant, and v) HSC does not seem to present strain shortening issues.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors acknowledge Readymix Australia (now Holcim) for providing support for this research.

REFERENCES

Bazant, Z.P. (1972): Prediction of creed effects using age adjusted effective modulus method, ACI
Journal Vol. 69, April, pp. 212-217.
Boonlualoah, S. (2010): Experimental and Analytical Study of Reinforced Concrete Column and Core
Shortening in a Tall Building, MEng Thesis (2010), Griffith University, 353pp.
Boonlualoah, S. Fragomeni, S. Loo, Y.C. and Baweja, D (2005): Differential deformations of columns
and cores in tall buildings - assessment, monitoring and correction Measures, Proceedings of the
6th international conference on Tall Buildings, Hong Kong, Dec 2005, pp 368-374.
Fragomeni, S. and Baweja, D (2008): Performance of shrinkage prediction method given in AS3600,
Proceedings of 20th ACMSM Conference, Toowoomba, Queensland, 2-5 Dec 2008, pp. 337-342.

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