Design Specification Loads and Design Methods

Specification: The design and construction of buildings is regulated by municipal bylaws called
building codes. These exist to protect the public health and safety. The definitive design
specification for reinforced concrete buildings in North America is the Building Code
Requirements for Structural Concrete (ACI318-08) and Commentary (ACI 318R-08). The code
and the commentary are bound together in one volume. This Code is generally referred to ACI
Code.

Building Research Institute of Bangladesh has prepared a similar code known as Bangladesh
National Building Code (BNBC) for Bangladesh.

For highway bridges related design specification is LRFD Bridge Design Specification. This is
prepared by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
(AASHTO).

For Railway bridges, the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of way Association
(AREMA) has published the Manual of Railway Engineering.

DESIGN LOADS

Loads that act on structures can be divided into three broad categories

1. Dead loads
2. Live loads and
3. Environmental loads.

Dead loads are those that are constant in magnitude and fixed in location throughout the lifetime
of the structure. Usually the major part of the dead load is the weight of the structure itself.

For buildings, floor fill, permanent partition wall, floors finish, and plastered ceilings are usually
included as dead loads, and an allowance is made for suspended loads such as piping and
lighting fixtures.

Live toads consist chiefly of occupancy loads in buildings. The minimum live loads for which
the floors and roof of a building should be designed are usually specified in the building code
that governs at the site of construction.

Environmental loads consist mainly of snow loads, wind pressure and suction, earthquake loads
(i.e., inertia forces caused by earthquake motions), soil pressures on subsurface portions of
structures, loads from possible ponding of rainwater on flat surfaces, and forces caused by
temperature differentials. Like live loads, environmental loads at any given time are uncertain in
both magnitude and distribution
 Typical Live Loads Specified in ASCE/SEI 7-05
Uniform, psf
Apartment buildings
Private rooms and corridors serving them 40
Public rooms and corridors serving them 100
Office buildings
Lobbies and first-floor corridors 100
Offices 50
Corridors above first floor 80
File and computer rooms shall be designed
for heavier loads based on anticipated
occupancy
Schools
Classrooms 40
Corridors above first floor 80
First-floor corridors 100
Stairs and exit ways 100
Storage warehouses
Light 125
Heavy 250
Stores
Retails
Ground Floor 100
Upper floor 75
Wholesale, all floors 125
 Live loads specification in BNBC

Building W P
Occupancy Use of floor kN/m2 kN

house, flat and apartment, family dwellings

1. Room, internal corridor, private stair 2 1.8
One or two
(Occupancy- A)RESIDENTIAL

2. External stair and corridor 3 2.7

1. Bed room, living room, bath room, toilet,

Hotel, hostel, boarding

2 1.8
dressing room
2. Office room 2.5 2.7
3. Cafeteria, restaurant, kitchen, laundry, lounge,
3 4.5
game room
4. Corridor, retail store, staircase 4 4.5
5. Store room 5 4.5
bungalow

6. Garage, car parking, ramp - -

SERVICEABILITY, STRENGTH, AND STRUCTURAL SAFETY

To serve its purpose, a structure must be safe against collapse and serviceable in use.

A. Safety requires that the strength of the structure be adequate for all loads that may
foreseeably act on it.

B. Serviceability requires
1. deflections be adequately small
2. cracks, if any, be kept to tolerable limits
3. vibrations be minimized

DESSIGN METHOD OF REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURE

Two major calculating methods of reinforced concrete have been used from early 1900's to
current. The first method is called Working Stress Design (WSD) and the second is called
Ultimate Strength Design (USD). Working Stress Design was used as the principal method from
early 1900's until the early 1960's. Since Ultimate Strength Design method was officially
recognized and permitted from ACI 318-56. The main design method of ACI 318 Code has
gradually changed from WSD to USD method.
Although ACI code discarded the WSD method, Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC)
still uses WSD method for reinforced concrete design.

Working Stress Design (WSD) Method: A structural design method whereby a structural element
is designed so that the unit stresses computed under the action of working or service loads do not
exceed the specified allowable values.
Stress¿ S e rvice Load ≤ Allowable stress

Allowable stress in concrete = 0.45 f 'c

Allowable stress in steel = 0.4 f y

Ultimate Strength Design (USD) Method: A structural design method whereby a structural
element is designed such that the required strength (i.e. factored load) does not exceed the lowest
design strength of the structure or structure group considering all possible failure modes.

Design Strength≥ Required Strength

ϕ Sn ≥U

M u≤ ϕ M n

Pu ≤ϕ Pn

V u ≤ ϕV n
 Design Process

Architectural Functional Plan

Final Design and Detailing

Select Structural System

OK

Redesign
Trial Section, Assume Selfweight
NG Acceptable

Design Loop

Analysis for Internal Forces in Member

Member Design