TITLE NO.

66-83

Effects of Column Creep

and Shrinkage in Tall StructuresPrediction of Inelastic Column Shortening

By MARK FINTEL and FAZLUR R. KHAN

A procedure for prediction of the amount of

creep and shrinkage strains is outlined based on
the present state of the art. Consideration is given
to the loading history of columns in multistory
buildings which receive their load in as many increments as there are stories in the building, thus
considerably reducing the creep as compared to a
single load application. Also, volume-to-surface
ratio of sections and the effect of reinforcement
on the creep and shrinkage is considered.
Keywords: columns (supports); creep properties;
frames; high-rise buildings; loads (forces); multistory buildings; reinforced concrete; shrinkage;
strains; structural design.

WITH INCREASING HEIGHT of buildings, the importance of time-dependent shortening of columns

(and shear walls) becomes more critical due to
the cumulative nature of such shortening. It is
known that columns with varying percentage of
reinforcement and varying volume-to-surface ratio will have different creep and shrinkage strains.
An increase in percentage of reinforcement and in
volume-to-surface ratio reduces strains due to
creep and shrinkage under similar stresses.
In a multistory building, adjacent columns may
have different percentage of reinforcement due to
different tributary areas or different wind loads.
As a result, the differential inelastic shortening of

ACI JOURNAL I DECEMBER 1969

adjacent columns will produce moments in the

connecting beams or slabs and will cause load
transfer to the element that shortens less. As the
number of stories increases, the cumulative differential shortening also increases and the related
effects become more severe. A common example
is the case of a large, heavily reinforced column
attracting additional loads from the adjacent shear
wall which has higher creep and shrinkage due to
lower percentage of reinforcement and lower
volume-to-surface ratio. Significant differential
shortening may occur due to a time gap between
a slipformed core and the slabs. In this case the
columns are subjected to the full amount of creep
and shrinkage while the core may have had the
bulk of its inelastic shortening occurring prior to
casting of the adjacent column.
Although a large amount of research information is available on shrinkage and creep strains,
it is not directly applicable to columns of highrise buildings. The available shrinkage data cannot be applied without modification since it is
obtained from small standard prisms or cylinders
stored in a controlled laboratory environment.
The available creep research is based on application of loads in one increment. Such creep in-

957

ACI member Mark Fintel is director, Engineering Design and

Standards Department, Portland Cement Association, Skokie,
ill. He has been with PCA since 1961. He received his Dip!.
lng. from the Munich Institute of Technology in 1950. Between
1950 and 1961 he worked on the design of reinforced concrete structures, mainly in the fields of multistory and speci~l
structures. He is head of the PCA earthquake investigation
team. Mr. Fintel is a registered structural engineer In Illinois.
Currently, he is chairman of ACI Committee 422, Response of
Buildings to lateral Forces, a member of ACI-ASCE Committee
421, Reinforced Concrete Slabs.
ACI member Fazlur R. Khan is associate partner, Skidmore,
Owings and Merrill, architects and engineers, Chicago, Ill. He
received his PhD from the University of Illinois in 1955. Dr.
Khan has been responsible for the design of many high-rise
buildings, among them the 714-ft high 52-story One Shell
Plaza Building in Houston. He is a registered structural engineer in Illinois. Currently, he is a member of ACI Committee
118, Use of Computers, and ACI Committee 442, Response of
Building to lateral Forces.

formation, therefore, is applicable to flexural elements of reinforced concrete and to elements of

prestressed concrete. In the construction of a
high-rise building, columns are loaded in as many
increments as there are stories above the level
under consideration. The significance of incrementalloading became apparent during the design
of the 52-story Shell Oil Building in Houston.
Although creep and shrinkage in columns have
a similar effect in that they cause length shortening, they should be considered separately with
respect to time. The length of construction time
has a pronounced effect on the amount of creep,
while shrinkage proceeds independently of the
construction time. Only after the creep and shrinkage strains have been computed separately and
modified for the conditions of the designed structure, can their combined effect on the structure
be considered.
In view of the basic difference in loading history between high-rise and low-rise buildings and
the difference between the actual column size as
compared to laboratory specimens, two categories
of information are required to develop a rational
design method to incorporate the effects of creep
and shrinkage in columns. These are:
1. The amount of creep and shrinkage occurring
in columns and shear walls with consideration of
the loading history, size of the member, percentage of reinforcement, and environment.
2. Analytical procedures to consider the structural effects of a known amount of differential
elastic and inelastic shortenings of vertical loadcarrying members in a structure.
The authors present in this paper a procedure to predict the inelastic (creep and shrinkage) shortening as a function of the incremental
loading sequence, the volume-to-surface ratio, and
the effect of the percentage of reinforcement.
The method presented is based on the large body

958

of available research information on both shrinkage and the single loading type of creep. Results of a 6%-year observation of creep and
shrinkage shortening of a number of 36-story columns will be reported separately, together with
an &n&lyticql procedure to design for structural
effects of differential column shortening.
EFFECT OF INCREMENTAL LOADS
ON CREEP STRAINS

During the initial period the rate of creep is

significant. The rate diminishes as time progresses
until it eventually approaches zero. Fig. la shows
a typical creep versus time curve drawn on a
standard scale. The same curve plotted on semilogarithmic graph paper is shown in Fig. lb with
time on the logarithmic abscissa.
Creep consists of two components:
1. Basic (or true) creep occurring under conditions of hygral equilibrium, which means that
no moisture movement occurs to or from the
ambient medium. In the laboratory basic creep
can be reproduced by sealing the specimen (e.g.,
in copper foil), or by keeping the specimen in a
fog room.
2. Drying creep resulting from exchange of
moisture between the stressed member and its
environment. Drying creep has its effect only during the initial period under load.
Creep of concrete is a linear function of stress
up to stresses which are about 40 percent of
the ultimate strength. This includes all practical
ranges of stresses in columns and walls. Beyond
that level, creep becomes a nonlinear function of
stress.
For structural engineering practice, it is convenient to consider specific creep, cc', which is
defined as the ultimate creep strain per unit of
sustained stress.
For a given mix of concrete the amount of
creep depends not only on the total stress but
also to a great extent on the loading history. It
is well established by experimental research that
a concrete specimen with its load applied at an
early age exhibits a much larger specific creep
than a specimen loaded at a later age (Fig. 2).
Since creep decreases with age of the concrete
at load application, each subsequent incremental
loading contributes a smaller specific creep to the
final average specific creep of the column.
The postulated 1 and confirmed2 - 5 principle of
superposition of creep states that:
Strains produced in concrete at any time by a
stress increment are independent of the effects of
any stress applied either earlier or later. The stress
increment may be either positive or negative, but
stresses which approach the ultimate strength are
excluded.

ACI JOURNAL I DECEMBER 1969

An alternate method to predict basic creep

(without testing) from the elastic modulus of
elasticity has been recently proposed by Hickey6
based on long-time creep studies at the Bureau of
Reclamation in Denver. Results of the limited
tests on normal weight concrete indicate that
creep can be predicted from the initial modulus
at time of load application. Curves in Fig. 3 give
the creep magnitude as related to the 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
28-day strength, the basic specific creep for loading at 28 days can be determined and then modified for construction time, member size, and
percentage of reinforcement as presented later
in this paper.

Thus, each load increment causes a creep strain

corresponding to the strength-to-stress ratio at
time of its application, as if it were the only
loading to which the column is subjected.
DETERMINATION OF SPECIFIC CREEP

The specific creep values corresponding to the

ages at which incremental loadings are applied in
an intended multistory structure can be obtained
by extrapolation from a number of laboratory samples prepared in advance from the actual mix to
be used in the structure. It is obvious that sufficient time for such tests must be allowed prior
to the start of construction, since reliability of
the prediction improves with length of time over
which creep is actually measured.
0.20

0.20

0.15

"'
.!:'

::

"'c.

0.10

"'

u"'
0.05

......-

---

0.1 5

"'c:
~
-:n

.,.,c.

0.10

u
0.05

40days

80

120

160

200

v
lday

v
v
,-"

120
7

(a) Standard scale

14

28

90

180

31r.
I yr.

2yr.

5yr.

(b) Semilogorithmic scale

Fig. 1-Creep strains versus time under load

0.35

IJ)

a.

'c
'c
10
I

0
IJ)
IJ)

0.30
.-.

a.

0.25

<I)
<I)

L.

IJ)

IJ)

::J

a.
cu

0.20
0.15

'r--. ... -

::J L.

<I)

--

Vcreep
Straiy

4.26

--

-I nitlal

Elastic

Strains

0.05

100

20
8 14 28 40

60

80 91

3.55

2.84

'c>
'E
u
'E

.Jt:

2.13

I
I

0.1.0

cL.

,..- -- --

c~

IJ)

a.<I)

u;

L.

<I)

--

4.97

10
I

1.42

.I

.71

1
I

I
120

140

160

180

200

Age, days

Fig. 2-Eiastic plus creep strains versus time

ACI JOURNAL I DECEMBER 1969

959

Specific creep E' x rocm/cm/kg/cmz

4 26

142

7 II

9 95

12 8

I I 1
- - Test results

~~

\\ ~'
\
'\ ~
\\

o.I

42.2
35.2

I':: b,~os ....

..._Ye0,.s

\....

o.3

~~

""

0.2

49.2

---Extrapolation

r----.

...........

18 5

15 63

......

28.1 '
IJflrt

eo,.i"-..!,.~od

1Yeo,.

- ...

--

~--... ...__
1'",.30 days
----

~Od

o.4

o.5

o:r

o.s

o.a.

o.9

-- ---- --- 1---

1.0

1.1

1.2

r.3

14.1

7.0

r.4

Specific creep E~ xi0' in./in./psi

6

Fig. 3-Prediction of basic creep from elastic modulus

2.0

loading to the creep of a specimen loaded at the

age of 28 days. The 28-day creep is used as a basis
for comparison (with aage,2s = 1.0).
The total creep strain for an incrementally
loaded column N stories below the roof will be:

I'..

""'

1.5

"

"'

~ 1.0

(1)

t:l

" I':
""'

.........

.....

0.5

'

""""

where fc~Eci are creep strains produced by the stress

increments fc~. Individual values for specific creep
E' c~, can be obtained either from Fig. 3 or from the
creep of a test specimen loaded at 28 days and
then modified for the various ages at loading using
the coefficients aaue from Fig. 4.
Where load increments are unequal, the
weighted average of the specific creep (weighted
corresponding to the stress magnitudes) will be

120
I day

14

28

90

(2)
180

lyr.

Age at loading,days

For N equal load increments, each corresponding

to a specific creep of E' c~:

Fig. 4-Creep versus age at loading

~ E c1
1

EFFECT OF CONSTRUCTION TIME ON CREEP

The exponential expression for creep, represented graphically in Fig. lb, has a particular
advantage for the structural engineer. It allows
interpolation and extrapolation with as few as
two points, since beyond about 10 days it is represented as a straight line when time is plotted on a
logarithmic scale.
The curve in Fig. 4, giving the relationship between creep and age at loading, has been plotted
using available information from many tests.' The
coefficient aaue relates the creep for any age at

960

--r
(

c.ave=

(3)

For the cases of average specific creep of Eq.

(2) and (3), the total creep strain will be:
Ec

==

t' c.at:efc

(4)

where fc is the total stress on the concrete section

from all incremental loadings.
The coefficient aave, plotted in Fig. 5, is used to
convert the 28-day creep into the average specific
creep for a column loaded with equal load increments at equal time intervals. The curve in this

ACI JOURNAL I DECEMBER 1969

1.3

1.2

C1i
>

'd

1.1

\
~

\
1\

o>

"'0
0
0

1.0

E
c

4>

E
~
c

...
0

0.9

"" "

~i

"E

4>

u
~

'\.

0.8

--f---- f--

4>

(.)

..........

i'-._

0..7

'-....

!'-.!'-...

1-o.....

..........

.......... ..........

r--

0.6
0

40

80

120

160

200

240

280

320

360

400

Time of construction,T, days

Fig. 5-Creep versus construction time

figure shows the relationship between creep and

the total time of construction T, during which
N equal load increments have been applied. The
curve is a solution of Eq. (3) using the curve in
Fig. 4 for the values of creep for various ages at
loading. Thus, for example, if a column receives
56 load increments, and the progress of construction is three floors per 2 weeks, it takes:

= 56 X 314 = 262 days

to apply the 56 equal load increments. From Fig.

5 we see that a coefficient of aave = 0.72 has to be
applied to the 28-day specific creep obtained either
in the laboratory on a 6 in. (15.24 em) sealed
cylinder or from Fig. 3. We can also see from the
curve that if the entire load were applied to the
column at 7 days, it would have twice the creep
(aave = 1.4) than in incremental loading over a
period of 262 days.
EFFECT OF MEMBER SIZE ON CREEP

Creep is less sensitive to member size than

shrinkage since only the drying creep component
of the total creep is affected by size and shape
of members, whereas basic creep is independent

ACI JOURNAL I DECEMBER 1969

of size and shape. It appears from a laboratory

investigation 8 that drying creep has its effect
only during the initial 3 months. Beyond 100 days,
the rate of creep is equal to the basic creep.
In Fig. 6 the relationship between creep and
volume-to-surface ratio has been plotted for Elgin
gravel aggregate concrete based on a laboratory
investigation. 8 Also plotted in Fig. 6 is the curve
based on European experience. 7 The curves are
almost identical. It is seen from the curves that
in members with a volume-to ..surface ratio of 10,
drying creep is negligible and only basic creep
occurs.*
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 the final value of shrinkage.
Since evaporation occurs only from the surface
of members, the volume-to-surface ratio of a mem*The effect of the ambient relative humidity and the effects
of temper~ture and humidity variations on drying creep has not
been considered due to the lack of information. Preliminary results of a field investigation indicate that creep of members
subjected to varying temperature and humidity may be considerably higher than creep in a controlled environment.

961

ber 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 11 in. (27.9 em) long prisms of a 3 x 3-in.
(7.6 x 7.6 em) section (volume-to-surface ratio,
VIS= 0.75 in., or 1.91 em) or on 6 in. (15.24 em)
diameter cylinders (VIS= 1.5 in., or 3.81 em).
Obviously, such data cannot be applied to usual
size columns without considering the size effect.
The relationship between the magnitude of
shrinkage and the volume-to-surface ratio has

1.8

.....

U>

a:
....

1.6
1.5

....
.2

1.4

1.3

Q)

<.>

,._

a;

I. 2

<.>
Q)

1778

2286

1.2

1.7

l:j

<I>
<I>

em

em
1270

7.62

254

been. plotted in Fig. 7 based on laboratory data. 8

Also plotted in Fig. 7 is a curve from Reference 7
based on European iiwestigations. It is interesting
to note that the European curves both for shrinkage and creep and those for the Elgin gravel aggregate concrete are almost identical. The coefficient a"v;s shown in Fig. 7 is used to convert
shrinkage data obtained on 6-in. (15.24 em)
cylinders (VIS = 1.5 in., or 3.81 em) to any other
size columns. A similar curve can also be plotted
to convert laboratory data obtained from 3 x 3-in.
(7.6 x 7.6 em) prisms (VIS = 0.75 in., or 1.91 em).

1.1

.....
"'>
t1
<

''

-"'

;::
.c

1.0

0.8

0.7

'~

Q)

''

<.>

Elgin grovel
aggregate (8)

European.- [)---.
curve(?)

,._
,._

......_

Q)

Q)

Ui

~ 1--.

0.6

.......

<.>

European
curve (7l7

......~~

~,

0.5

Elgin grove I j
aggregate (8)

0.4
0.3
0

10

2286

"'

.E

1778

1270

r\

0.9

....

Ill

1.0

0'

Ui

0.9

1.1

762

2 54

...

10

Volume to surfoce ratio, in.

Volume to surface ratio, in.

Fig. 7-Shrinkage versus column-to-surface ratio

Fig. 6-Creep versus volume-to-surface ratio

1.0

_,. ~

0.8

<l>
0>

0.6

..,.;

.....

..c
(/)

0.4

0.2

0.0
100

v
90

80

70

60

/"'

50

40

30

20

Relative humidity, %
Fig. 8-Shrinkage versus relative humidity

962

ACt JOURNAL I DECEMBER 1969

Thus the amount of shrinkage

'
forced column
is:

fs

Fig. 9 shows an average curve for the ratio of

creep or shrinkage at any time to the final value
at time t"' based on Reference 7.
It can be seen from the Fig. 9 that at 28 days
about 40 percent of the inelastic strains have
taken place. After 3 and 6 months, 60 and 70
percent, respectively, of all the creep and shrinkage have taken place.

of a nonrein(5)

where fs,test is the shrinkage obtained from 6 in.

(15.24 em) cylinder specimens made of the concrete mix to be used in the structure and stored
under job-site conditions and a",;s is the coefficient from Fig. 7 for the volume-to-surface ratio
of the column being designed.

This curve can be used to extrapolate the ultimate creep and shrinkage values from laboratory
testing of a certain duration of time. Conversely,
the curve can also be used to estimate the creep
or shrinkage at any time from the given ultimate
value.

EFFECT OF RELATIVE HUMIDITY

ON SHRINKAGE

Since the rate and amount of shrinkage greatly

depend upon the relative humidity of the environment, the shrinkage specimen should be
stored under conditions similar to those for the
actual structure. If this is not possible, the shrinkage results of a specimen not stored under field
humidity conditions must then be modified to account for the humidity conditions of the structure
as in Fig. 8. This figure shows the effect of relative humidity of the environment on the amount
of shrinkage.
Alternating the ambient relative humidity within two limits results in higher shrinkage and creep
than that obtained at a constant humidity within
the given limits. Laboratory tests, therefore, may
underestimate creep and shrinkage under conditions of practical exposure.

EFFECTS OF REINFORCEMENT ON
CREEP AND SHRINKAGE

Tests have shown that when reinforced concrete

columns are subjected to sustained loads there
is a tendency for additional stress to be gradually
transferred to the steel with a simultaneous decrease in the concrete stress. Long-term tests by
Troxell et al. 9 showed that in columns with low
percentage of reinforcement the stress in the steel
increased until yielding; while in highly reinforced columns after the entire load had been
transferred to the steel, further shrinkage actually
caused some tensile stresses in the concrete. It
should, however, be noted that despite the redistribution of load between concrete and steel, the
ultimate load capacity of the column remains unchanged.

PROGRESS OF CREEP AND SHRINKAGE

WITH TIME

Both creep and shrinkage have a similarity regarding the rate of progress with respect to time.
1.0
0.9
0.8
~
,_
()
,_

0.7

Q)

0
Q)

0>
0

0.6

0.5

..><:

,_

.I::.

0.4

(.{')

0.3
0.2

______..,. ~

v
lL

.,..v

t--

'/

0. I

120
0.0

3yr.

_j

3 days

14

28

90

180

I yr.

2yr.

5yr.

Time

Fig. 9-Shrinkage or creep versus time

ACI JOURNAL I DECEMBER 1969

963

/ = ultimate specific creep of plain concrete

The change in stress in the concrete f).fc, and

in the steel, f).j., due to creep and shrinkage can
be calculated with the following formulas: oo,n)
Afc = ( fo +
f).j8

::, )( 1 -

e- (pnfl+Pn)ec'Ec)

peo'

(1 _e-

(6)

~c = fc +;a/Eo' (1 _ e- (pn/l+Pn)e,'Ec)

= (fc/ + Es)

Ec

(7)

(pnfl+pn)ec'Ec)

in which
initial elastic stress in the co,ncrete
total shrinkage strain of plain concrete
adjusted for VIS ratio

(in. per in. per psi)

modulus of elasticity of concrete
reinforcement ratio of the section
modular ratio E8 /Eo

The above formulas have been checked out

against several specimens of normal weight and
lightweight concrete with various ratios of reinforcement and have shown reasonably good agreement.12
The total creep and shrinkage strains of the
nonreinforced column are
(8)
The residual creep and shrinkage strains of a
reinforced concrete column are equal to the ad-

:::e

c:

Q)

Q)

....

c:

Q)

....

....
> 4
Q)

1~------L-------~----~------~------~~~~~~~

0.30

0.40

0.50

0.60

0.70

0.80

0.90

.
residual strain
R a t 10 =
total strain
Fig. 10-Ratio of residual creep and shrinkage of a reinforced column to the total creep and shrinkage of a plain
Concrete column

964

ACI JOURNAL I DECEMBER 1969

ditional strain of the steel and can therefore be

derived from the change in steel stress
1l. ( fs+

fc )

Ll.fs

= E8

(9)

The ratio of residual creep and shrinkage strains

of a reinforced column to the total creep and
shrinkage strain of the identical column without
reinforcement is presented on the bottom of Fig.
10 for various percentages of reinforcement, varying specific creep and modulus of elasticity of
concrete. It is evident from the curves that the
residual creep and shrinkage decreases with increased percentage of reinforcement.
The function (1- e-<pnfl+Pn)eo'Ec) has been
plotted in Fig. 11 to facilitate computation of the
residual strains.

SUMMARY
1. Based on the present state of the art, a practical design procedure is presented to predict the
creep and shrinkage strains in columns of multistory buildings, considering the effects of loading
history, member size and percentage of reinforcement.

2. Although the magnitude of creep and shrinkage of plain concrete specimens may vary considerably, the final inelastic strains in reinforced
concrete columns and walls have much less variation due to the restraining effect of the reinforcement.
3. Elements which receive a substantial loading
at early ages, such as prestressed elements and
columns in the upper stories of tall structures or
columns of low-rise structures, are prone to higher
shrinkage and creep strains.
4. Lower story columns of tall structures have
considerably smaller creep and shrinkage strains
than commonly assumed as a result of:
(a) Incremental loading over a longer period of
time which reduces creep.
(b) A substantial volume-to-surface ratio which
reduces shrinkage.
(c) A substantial percentage of reinforcement
which reduces both shrinkage and creep.
5. In a tall structure the relative vertical movement between columns and adjacent walls can
cause structural and architectural distress unless
proper design and details are provided.

0~

..:
c:
Q)

<>

-<>

Q)
(,)

....

1&1

"I~

c:

0.+

....

a;

Q)

........

.~
Q)

>

Fig. I !-Computation of residual strains

ACI JOURNAL I DECEMBER 1989

965

REFERENCES
1. McHenry, D., "A New Aspect of Creep in Concrete and its Application to Design," Proceedings,
ASTM, V. 43, p. 1069.
2. Ross, A. D., "Creep of Concrete Under Variable
Stress," ACI JouRNAL, Proceedings V. 54, No. 9, Mar.
1958, pp. 739-758.
3. Backstrom, S., "Creep and Creep Recovery of
Cement Mortar," Preliminary Publication, Fifth Congress of the International Association for Bridge and
Structural Engineering, Zurich, 1956, pp. 77-83.
4. Seed, H. B., "Creep and Shrinkage in Reinforced
Concrete Structures," Reinforced Concrete Review
(London), 1948, pp. 253-267.
5. Davies, R. D., Discussion of "Creep of Concrete
Under Variable Stress" by A. D. Ross, ACI JoURNAL,
Proceedings V. 54, 1958, pp. 1279-1280.
6. Hickey, K. B., "Creep of Concrete Predicted from
Elastic Modulus Tests," Report No. C-1242, Department
of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, Jan.
1968, 27 pp.
7. Recommendations for an International Code of
Practice for Reinforced Concrete, Comite Europeen du
Beton, Paris, 1964. (English translation available from
the Cement and Concrete Association and American
Ooncrete Institute, 155 pp.)
8. Hansen, T. C., and Mattock, A. H., "Influence
of Size and Shape of Member on the Shrinkage and
Creep of Concrete," ACI JouRNAL, Proceedings V. 63,
No. 2, Feb. 1966, p. 267.
9. Troxell, G. E.; Raphael, J. M.; and Davis, R. E.,
"Long-Time Creep and Shrinkage Tests of Plain and
Reinforced Concrete," Proceedings, ASTM, V. 58, 1958,
pp. 1101-1120.
10. Dischinger, F., "Investigations on Resistance to
Buckling, Elastic Deformation and Creep of Con~rete
in Arch Bridges (Untersuchungen ueber die Knicksicherheit, die elastische Verformung und das Kriechen
des Betons bei Bogenbruecken) ," Der Bauingenieur
(Berlin), V. 18, No. 39/40, Oct. 1937, pp. 595-621.
11. Morsch, E., Static der Gewalbe und Rahmen,
Verlag von Konrad Wittwer, Stuttgart, 1947.
12. Pfeifer, D. W., "Reinforced Lightweight Concrete
Columns," Proceedings, ASCE, V. 95, ST1, Jan. 1969,
pp. 57-82.

The planned construction progress is one floor in 8

calendar days. Planned total time for 36 floors (load
increments) is T 36 X 8 288 days.
The dead load of the typical floor is 37 kips (16,800
kg).
Since time did not permit long-time shrinkage and
creep test cylinders, 20-year specific basic creep for
loading at 28 days was estimated from Fig. 3 to be
Ec'
0.33 X 10-6 in. per in. per psi (4.7 X 10-6 em/em/
kg/cm2) for Ec = 4.05 X 106 psi (28.5 X 104 kg/cm2).
Shrinkage determined on the same mix of a previous
job was 630 X 10-6 in. per in. during the first 90
days. The 6-in. (15.24 em) cylinders were moist cured
for 7 days and then stored in the laboratory in 50
percent relative humidity and 70 F.

Required
Compute the ultimate residual creep and shrinkage
strains of the reinforced concrete column and the additional stress in reinforcing steel.
The following steps will be carried out:
1. Compute for the plain concrete column the total
ultimate creep strains, considering effects of incremental loading and of column size; and shrinkage
considering volume-to-surface ratio.
2. Compute the additional stress in the vertical
reinforcing steel due to creep and shrinkage.
3. Compute for the reinforced concrete column the
residual creep and shrinkage strains.

Solution
Creep strains
Conversion
to consider
T = 288 days
1

S. c,ave

for nonreinforced concrete column

of specific creep for loading at 28 days
incremental loading over a period of
using a.ave = 0.70 from Fig. 5:

E'.c~28Uave

= 0.33 X 10-6 X 0.70

0.231 X 10-G in. per in. per psi

Modification of specific creep for size effect using

Fig. 6.
Volume-to-surface ratio:

VIS

= 2 (2020 X+4949 ) = 7.1 in.

a.c, 18

= 1.06.

from which

APPENDIX

0.231 X 10-6 X 1.06

Ec'

0.245 x 10-G in. per in. per psi

DESIGN EXAMPLE
Given

Sustained stress on the concrete:

Assume an inside column 36 stories below the roof.

Floor to floor height is 9.0 ft (2.74 m). The 20 x 49-in.
(50.80 x 124.5 em) column is reinforced with 26 #11
bars ( 40.6 sq. in., or 261.9 cm2) equals 4.15 percent of
A431; fy = 75,000 psi (5280 kg/cm2).
Concrete: fc'
Ec

5000 psi (352 kg/cm2) at 28 days,

normal weight
33w31ZV f<!

= 4.05 X 106

= Es!Ec = 7.2

Transformed column area:

At

Ag+ (n-1)As

20 X 49 + (7.2- 1) X 40.6
1232 sq in. (7950 cm2)

966

fc

=-

At

36

x 37,ooo
1232

= 1080 psi

Total creep strain:

Ec :.= Ec'

X fc

0.245 X 10-6 X 1080

265 X 10-6 in. per in.

Shrinkage strains for nonreinforced concrete column

Conversion of 90-day measured shrinkage to ultimate
shrinkage (coefficient from Fig. 9 representing the
ratio of shrinkage at 90 days to ultimate shrinkage):
630 X 10- 6
0.61
1035 x 10-6 per in. per in.

ACI JOURNAL I DECEMBER 1969

Conversion of shrinkage measured on the 6-in.

cylinder to account for size of real column using Fig. 7:

from which

a"v;s = 0.57.
Es

= 1035 X lO-G X 0.57

= 590 x 10-6 in. per in.

Total creep and shrinkage strains for nonreinforced

column:
E

Ec

(265

acv/s

= coefficient to consider the effect of volume-tosurface ratio on creep

av;s

coefficient to ..consider the effect of volume-tosurface ratio on shrinkage

stTain, in. per in.

Ec

creep strain

Ec'

specific creep of plain concrete, in. per in. per

psi, i.e., creep per unit stress

'ct.
Es

specific creep corresponding to incremental load

= total shrinkage strain of plain concrete

This paper was received by the Institute July 22, 1968.

Es

+ 590) 10-6 =

855 X lO-G in. per in.

Additional stresses in the vertical reinforcing steel

For specific creep Ec' = 0.245 X lO-G in. per in. per
psi and for Ec=4.05XlO-G psi, the function
0- e-(pnfl+pn)<'cEc) = 0.203 (from Fig. 11). The additional stress in steel from Eq. (7) are:
Llf
s

855 X lO-G
X 0.203
= 0.0415 X 0.245 X 10-6
17,050 psi

Residual creep and shrinkage strains for column with

a reinforcing steel ratio of 4.15 percent using Eq. (9)
Ll(e:c+Es)

Llfs'
= Es

17 050 = 588
29 X 10-6
R t'10 Residual strains
a
Total strains

x 10-n in. per in.

588 X 10-6
855 X 10-6
0.69

The above ratio means that the total strains have

been reduced by the reinfoTcing by 31 percent. This
can be seen also in approximation from Fig. 10.
A similar design example carried out on a 14 in.
thick wall of the same concrete having 1.5 percent
vertical reinforcement and a dead load stress of 600
psi shows a residual creep and shrinkage stTain of
645 X lO-G as compared to 588 x 10-6 in. per in. for
the column.
For the height of the entire building of 324 ft (98.76
m), the differential shortening between the column
and the wall (assuming the same shortening for all
36 stories) will be 0.222 in. (0.563 em).

Sinopsis-Resume-Zusammenfassung
Efectos del Flujo Plcistico y Ia Contracci6n en
Columnas de Estructuras Altas-Predicci6n del
Acortamiento lnelcistico de Columna
Se detalla un procedimiento para predecir la
cantidad de deformaci6n por flujo plastico y
contracci6n con base en el estado actual del
conocimiento. Se toma en consideraci6n la historia de
carga de las columnas en edificios de varios niveles las
cuales reciben sus caTgas en incrementos a medida que
se construye el edificio, reduciendo considerablemente
el flujo plastico comparada con una sola aplicaci6n
de la carga. Tambien se consideran la relaci6n
volumen/superficie de las secciones y el efecto del
refuerzo en el flujo plastico y la contracci6n.

Effet de Fluage et Retrait de Colonnes

de Grands Immeubles-Prediction du
Retrait de Colonnes lnelastiques
Un precede pour prediction de !'amplitude des forces
de fluage et Tetrait est detaille sur la base des
realisations actuellement construites. Une
consideration est donnee a !'experience acquise dans la
construction d'immeubles a etages multiples dans
lesquels la repartition des charges intervient dans les
nombreux increments de construction d'un immeuble
a etages multiples, reduisant ainsi considerablement le
fluage par comparaison a une application avec chaTge
simple. Egalement le rapport volume-surface des
sections et l'effet d'armature sur le fluage et retrait
sont consideres

NOTATION
At
Ec
Es

fc
fci
fs

n
p
Uage

aave

area of gross column section

modulus of elasticity of concrete at initial
loading
modulus of elasticity of steel
initial elastic stress in concrete
stress in concrete due to incremental load
stress in vertical column reinforcement
modular ratio Es!Ec
reinforcement ratio of section
= coefficient to conside-r the effect on creep of
age at loading
= coefficient to consider the effect on creep of
duration of load application (construction
time)

ACI JOURNAL I DECEMBER 1969

Der Einfluss des Kriechens und Schwindens der

Saulen in hohen Gebauden--die Vorherbestimmung
der anelastischen Saulenverkiirzung
Eine Vorherbestimmungsmethode flir die Grosse von
Kriech- und Schwindverformungen wird gegeben, die
auf den derzeitigen Wissenstand auf diesem Gebiete
aufbaut. Dabei wird die Belastungsgeschichte der
Saulen in hohen Gebauden beriicksichtigt. Die Last
wird in ebenso vielen Stufen aufgebracht, wie das
Bauwerk Stockwerke enthalt. Damit wird die
Kriechverformung im Vergleich zu einer einmaligen
Beanspruchung mit de-r Gesamtlast wesentlich
reduziert. Auch das Verhaltnis von Volumen zu
Oberflache der Querschnitte und der Einfluss der
Bewehrung auf das Kriechen und Schwinden werden
beriicksichtigt.

967