Anchor Bolt Design for Shear and Tension

When column base plates are subject to both uplift and very large shear loads, two independent systems are normally used to resist tension in the anchor bolts and shear at the level of the base plate: (1) the length of embedment and the diameter of the anchor bolts are determined on the basis of uplift tension and (2) a shear key is welded to the column base plate to resist shear. If very large shear loads do not accompany the uplift, the anchor bolts can be designed to resist both shear and tension, without using a shear key, as in the following example.