ACI 318-02

[jheidt2543]

I just returned from a 1-1/2 day seminar on the changes made in the ACI 318 code from '99 to '02. This code is becoming an albatros! Between the changes in IBC 2000 and ACI 318 it is becoming a full time job just to keep up. It just seems that the "research community" is pumping out more and more complicated solutions to perceived problems.

Yes, I agree that wind loading and seismic considerations can be critical in SOME locations, but between these two codes virtually every building is affected. How is it that all these structures built before these code revisions are still standing? Do we really need to engineer these buildings down to the "gnat's a--"? An extra yard or two of concrete is cheeper than the added engineering and field labor costs the new details require. Even anchor bolt design has become a major event!

Am I the only one that feels this way?

 

[JedClampett]

Absolutely not! I recently went to the same seminar. Besides the fact that way too much of the instruction was directed at narrow specialties (prestressed, emulative design of special moment frames, etc.), the anchor section was awful. Where I used to go to an ICBO report, stay away from spacing and edge distance reductions and pick an allowable load from an easy to read table, now I have to fight through seven factors, manufacturer's tables and god knows what else.
Possibly the bigwigs at ACI need to study what happened to the AISC LRFD code.