Sources: American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, Mich.; CP staff
Gathering in Washington D.C. for its fall convention, ACI officially released the completely reorganized ACI 318-14: Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete, to be referenced in 2015 International Building Code.
As outlined during draft and comment phases earlier this year, ACI 318-14 is organized from an engineer’s perspective. By focusing on structural member design, authors note, requirements flow more intuitively and have fewer cross-references. Compared to the legacy code, they underscore 318-14’s greater ease of use; improved logic and flow of information; structural member-based organization to quickly locate relevant code information; and, construction requirements centralized in one chapter.
“ACI 318 is one of the most essential and valuable standards with respect to the design of concrete structures, and the reorganization is designed to meet the needs of users in the modern design and construction environment,” says Committee 318 Chair Randall Poston, Ph.D., P.E., S.E. “The new format will more easily accommodate new topics well into the future. The code encourages better structural concrete design [and] supports better communication among designers, engineers, contractors, and construction professionals. Additionally, the code is much easier for students and new engineers to learn and apply, and, because of the member-based organization, the user is assured that a design is complete and has met all code requirements. ”
The 2014 edition is ACI 318’s first major reorganization since 1971, and represents nearly a decade of work. The United States and more than 22 countries around the world base their national building codes on all or part of ACI 318. The 318-14 code is available in various electronic formats for access on desktop, tablet and mobile devices, plus the traditional printed volume.
Approximately 50 seminars are being scheduled for 2015 in various locations for professionals who wish for more information about the reorganized 318-14. ACIʼs Reinforced Concrete Design Manual will be updated and published in accordance with the reorganized 318-14, and will be available in 2015.
“To aid engineers in transitioning to the member-based ACI 318-14, the American Concrete Institute has published transition keys that map provisions in ACI 318-11 to their location in ACI 318-14,” Poston notes. “Using these keys along with the Reinforced Concrete Design Manual, an invaluable companion to the 318-14, will ensure a smooth conversion.” — www.concrete.org/ACI318