Structural concrete code revisions open for public comments

The American Concrete Institute’s completely reorganized ACI 318-14, “Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete and Commentary,” is open for public review for a 45-day period.

“Members of ACI Committee 318 have been actively working on this completely reorganized Code for over 10 years, and have collectively dedicated over 96,000 work hours to improve its usability and increase confidence among all Code users,” said Randall W. Poston, Ph.D., P.E., S.E., Chair, ACI Committee 318. “The committee encourages Code users and those interested in ACI 318 to visit the web portal at www.concrete.org/ACI318, download and review the complete draft of ACI 318-14, and provide the Institute with insight and comments for further improvements by June 17, 2014.”

ACI 318-14 has been reorganized for greater ease of use and to address design requirements for specific member types, such as beams, columns, walls, and diaphragms. All design provisions for a specific member type are contained within a single chapter. The committee also enhanced the readability of the document.

Many lengthy provisions were parsed into multiple shorter provisions addressing single requirements, and several provisions were defined using tables. The increased use of graphs and tables instead of text provides clearer presentation of the information. Code language was edited for consistent use of terms and symbols.

Significant highlights of the new ACI 318 include:

· Improved language and style consistency

· Improved logic and flow of information

· Member-based organization to quickly locate relevant code information

· Construction requirements centralized in one chapter

The 2014 edition of ACI 318-14 “Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete” is expected to be available in fall 2014, and be referenced in the 2015 edition of the International Building Code.

(http://www.concrete.org/News/NewsDetail.aspx?f=51686960)

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.