Title:
Allowable Capacities of Power-Actuated Fasteners in Concrete
Author(s):
F. Michael Bartlett, Peter Grzesik, and Christopher Gill
Publication:
Structural Journal
Volume:
123
Issue:
1
Appears on pages(s):
3-14
Keywords:
abrasion and impact resistance; aggregate; factor of safety; lightweight concrete; Monte Carlo simulation; normalweight concrete; power-actuated fastener (PAF); reliability; working-stress design
DOI:
10.14359/51749130
Date:
1/1/2026
Abstract:
This paper proposes new procedures for determining allowable loads for power-actuated fasteners that are consistent with ASCE/SEI 7-22. Thirty new load test data sets for single fasteners in shear and tension and fastener groups in shear are analyzed statistically. The current ICC-ES AC70-2021 procedure yields allowable loads that are quite variable, even negative, and very sensitive to “reject-as-outlier” decisions. In addition, ICC-ES AC70 procedures to determine allowable loads can currently not be clearly linked to the reliability requirements of ASCE/SEI 7-22. Monte Carlo simulation demonstrates that the proposed simplified method, derived from the described detailed method, is robust for sample sizes as small as 10 specimens. It yields allowable fastener loads that are 10 to 25% greater than those obtained using the current ICC-ES AC70 procedure yet are typically 60 to 90% of the actual allowable fastener loads, derived from the described detailed method to assess allowable loads in line with ASCE/SEI 7-22 reliability requirements. The new provisions are extended to cases where the coarse aggregate hardness in the test specimens differs from that in the structure, which is not addressed in ICC-ES AC70.
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