scope:

This guide is intended for the planning, design, and construction of reinforced concrete structures in new lowrise buildings of restricted occupancy, number of stories, and area. Although the information presented was developed to produce, when properly used, a reinforced concrete structure with an appropriate margin of safety, this guide is not a replacement for a licensed design professional's experience and working knowledge. For the structure designed by this guide to attain the intended margin of safety, the guide should be used as a whole, and alternative procedures should be used only when explicitly permitted herein. The minimum dimensioning prescribed in the guide replace, in most cases, more detailed procedures prescribed in ACI 318, ASCE 7, and the International Building Code (International Code Council 2015).

Purpose

This guide provides a licensed design professional with sufficient information to design structural reinforced concrete members that comprise the structural framing of a low-rise building with the limits set in 1.3. Design rules set forth in this guide are simplifications that, when used together, comply with the more detailed requirements of ACI 318, ASCE 7, and the International Building Code (International Code Council 2015).