American Concrete Institute is finalizing ACI 318-14: Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete, announcing at World of Concrete 2014 the streamlined document’s new orientation to engineers; more intuitive flow of requirements compared to earlier versions; and, centralized construction requirements in a single chapter.
ACI 318-14 will maintain requirements, plus appendices A and D, from the ACI 318-11. In the new version, each structural member type has its own chapter—clarifying many provisions that previously used general language such as “flexural members.” Committee 318 members have also approved significant new chapters on Diaphragms and Building Systems.
“This first major reorganization of ACI 318 since 1971 represents nearly a decade of work and will feature improved language and style consistency, more expansive use of tables and charts, and be organized so that engineers have increased confidence they have satisfied all necessary code requirements,” affirms ACI Committee 318 Chair Randall Poston, Ph.D., P.E., S.E.
The U.S. and 20-plus countries around the world base their national building codes on all or part of the ACI benchmark, which will be available in English, Spanish and Chinese, plus U.S. Customary and System International (SI) units. In addition to the traditional printed copy, the document is expected to be available in various electronic formats for desktop, tablet or mobile devices.
A public comment period this spring will enable users and stakeholders to review ACI 318-14 provisions and submit feedback to Committee 318 members. Along with several transition resources,
the approved code is scheduled to be published by year’s end. Sample chapters and table of contents are posted at www.concrete.org/ACI318.