Ultimate Limit-state Design of Concrete Structures: a New Approach

Structural concrete members often show great deviation in structural performance from that predicted by the current code of practice. In certain cases the predications considerably underestimate the capabilities of a structure or member, while in others the predictions are unsafe as they overestimate the member's ability to perform in a prescribed manner. Clearly, a rational and unified design methodology is still lacking for structural concrete. This book presents a simplified methodology based on calculations which are quick, easily programmable and no more complex than those required by the current codes. It involves identifying the regions of a structural member or structure through which the external load is transmitted from its point of application to the supports and then strengthening these regions as required. As most of these regions enclose the trajectories of internal compression actions the technique has been called the 'compressive force path' method. Ultimate limit-state design for concrete structures will provide designers with a practical and easily applied method for the design of a concrete structure, which is fully compatible with the behaviour of concrete (as described by valid experimental evidence) at both the material and structural level.