Investigating the Adequacy of Vertical Design Loads for Shoring

In contrast to design of structures for their service life, very little information is provided to the engineer for selecting appropriate design loads for construction. Before new design loads or load combinations can be recommended or existing recommended values modified, the adequacy of current design loads for construction must be evaluated. This can be accomplished only by comparing actual load data with design loads prescribed by available standards. This paper presents the results of one such study to investigate the adequacy of current construction load provisions in the context of vertical loads on shores during reinforced concrete construction. Construction load provisions from ACI 347, the OSHA standard, ANSI A10.9, and the proposed ASCE construction load standard are first reviewed. Design loads recommended by available standards are evaluated and compared with actual (measured) axial shore loads. Shore load data from six sites are considered, including two recently instrumented projects and four multistory buildings studied previously.