Headed cast-in specialty inserts are internally-threaded steel shell elements welded to a bearing plate that is cast into concrete members. Hilti’s KCM is an example of headed cast-in specialty inserts. These anchors are used to attach structural and non-structural components. In general, the American Concrete Institute’s (ACI) Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete (ACI 318) provides design requirements for cast-in anchors in concrete. However, the wide variety of shapes and configurations of specialty inserts make it difficult to prescribe generalized tests and design equations. Hence, they have been excluded from the scope of ACI 318. AC446, Acceptance Criteria for Headed Cast-In Specialty Inserts in Concrete, establishes requirements for the qualification of headed cast-in specialty inserts and provides a path to designing headed specialty inserts according to ACI 318 anchoring to concrete provisions. This article discusses AC446 provisions for testing and prequalification of headed specialty inserts.

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