Design Methods From The Early 1900s Until The Early 1960s

Design Methods From the early 1900s until the early 1960s, nearly all
reinforced concrete design in the United States was performed by the

working-stress design method (also called allowable-stress design or
straight-line design). In this method, frequently referred to as WSD,
the dead and live loads to be supported, called working loads or
service loads, were first estimated. Then the members of the structure
were proportioned so that stresses calculated by a transformed area
did not exceed certain permissible or allowable values.
After 1963, the ultimate-strength design method rapidly gained

popularity because (1) it makes use of a more rational approach than
does WSD, (2) it uses a more realistic consideration of safety, and
(3) it provides more economical designs. With this method (now called
strength design), the working dead and live loads are multiplied by
certain load factors (equivalent to safety factors), and the resulting
values are called factored loads. The members are then selected so
they will theoretically just fail under the factored loads.
Even though almost all of the reinforced concrete structures the

reader will encounter will be designed by the strength design method,
it is still useful to be familiar with WSD for several reasons:
1. Some designers use WSD for proportioning fluid-containing

structures (such as water tanks and various sanitary structures).
When these structures are designed by WSD, stresses are kept at
fairly low levels, with the result that there is appreciably less
cracking and less consequent leakage. (If the designer uses
strength design and makes use of proper crack control methods, as
described in Chapter 6, there should be few leakage problems.)
2. The ACI method for calculating the moments of inertia to be used
for deflection calculations requires some knowledge of the
working-stress procedure.
3. The design of prestressed concrete members is based not only on
the strength method but also on elastic stress calculations at
service load conditions.
The reader should realize that working-stress design has several

disadvantages. When using the method, the designer has little
knowledge about the magnitudes of safety factors against collapse;
no consideration is given to the fact that different safety factors
are desirable for dead and live loads; the method does not account
for variations in resistances and loads, nor does it account for the
possibility that as loads are increased, some increase at different
rates than others.
In 1956, the ACI Code for the first time included ultimate-strength
design, as an appendix, although the concrete codes of several other
countries had been based on such considerations for several decades.
In 1963, the code gave ultimate-strength design equal status with
working-stress design; the 1971 code made the method the predominant
method and only briefly mentioned the working-stress method. From
1971 until 1999, each issue of the code permitted designers to use
working-stress design and set out certain provisions for its
application. Beginning with the 2002 code, however, permission is
not included for using the method.
Today’s design method was called ultimate-strength design for

several decades, but, as mentioned, the code now uses the term
strength design. The strength for a particular reinforced concrete
member is a value given by the code and is not necessarily the true
ultimate strength of the member. Therefore, the more general term
strength design is used whether beam strength, column strength,
shear strength, or others are being considered.
Advantages of Strength Design
Among the several advantages of the strength design method as

compared to the no-longerpermitted working-stress design method are
the following:
1. The derivation of the strength design expressions takes into

account the nonlinear shape of the stress–strain diagram. When
the resulting equations are applied, decidedly better estimates
of load-carrying ability are obtained.
2. With strength design, a more consistent theory is used throughout

the designs of reinforced concrete structures. For instance, with
working-stress design the transformed-area or straight-line meth
3. A more realistic factor of safety is used in strength design. The

designer can certainly estimate the magnitudes of the dead loads
that a structure will have to support more accurately than he or
she can estimate the live and environmental loads. With
workingstress design, the same safety factor was used for dead,
live, and environmental loads. This is not the case for strength
design. For this reason, use of different load or safety factors
in strength design for the different types of loads is a definite
improvement.
4. A structure designed by the strength method will have a more

uniform safety factor against collapse throughout. The strength
method takes considerable advantage of higherstrength steels,
whereas working-stress design did so only partly. The result is
better economy for strength design
5. The strength method permits more flexible designs than did the
working-stress method. For instance, the percentage of steel may
be varied quite a bit. As a result, large sections may be used
with small percentages of steel, or small sections may be used
with large percentages of steel. Such variations were not the
case in the relatively fixed workingstress method. If the same
amount of steel is used in strength design for a particular beam
as would have been used with WSD, a smaller section will result.
If the same size section is used as required by WSD, a smaller
amount of steel will be required.

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Design Methods From the early 1900s until the early 1960s, nearly all

reinforced concrete design in the United States was performed by the

After 1963, the ultimate-strength design method rapidly gained

Even though almost all of the reinforced concrete structures the

1. Some designers use WSD for proportioning fluid-containing

The reader should realize that working-stress design has several

Today’s design method was called ultimate-strength design for

Advantages of Strength Design

Among the several advantages of the strength design method as

1. The derivation of the strength design expressions takes into

2. With strength design, a more consistent theory is used throughout

3. A more realistic factor of safety is used in strength design. The

4. A structure designed by the strength method will have a more

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