ACI Committee 348

Structural Safety

Minutes of Meeting held Monday, October 25, 2004

San Francisco, CA

ATTENDANCE
Voting Members: Visitors:
Diniz, S. Chair Nur Yasdani
Krstulovic, N., Secretary
Nassif, H.
Sandberg, H.

1. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Chairlady Diniz.

2. PREVIOUS MINUTES
Minutes from the Washington, DC meeting on Sunday, March 14, 2004 were approved unanimously.

3. GENERAL DISCUSSION
Development of Rational Strength Reduction Factors for ACI 318
Nassif discussed the issue of available calibration data that can be used to develop rational strength reduction
factors. A large database was developed as a result of a PCA funded project. Nassif will clear with PCA whether the
database can be published.
Nassif pointed out that there is also a need to re-visit Load Factors and is suggesting that the committee should
organize a session that would focus primarily on Load Factors. Emphasis should be put on live loads in office
buildings, earthquake loading, wind loads, load combinations, fire loads, blast loads, etc.

4. FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Dissemination of Basics on Reliability Concepts and Probabilistic Design: This information could be
disseminated via an article in Concrete International. Nassif suggested that the committee also develops both a
session and a workshop to follow up the session. The goal would be to cover both the background on the

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probabilistic design as well as provide guidance on how to apply it into actual design. Specific topics to be covered
include:
• Load modeling,
• Material variability
• Probability-based evaluation of existing structures
The session and the workshop could be co-sponsored with other ACI committees, such as ACI 437 and ACI 342.

Nassif also informed the committee that a group from Denmark has recently provided him with information on the use
of probabilistic methods in bridge design.

Security Applications: Nur suggested that the 348 committee should address more directly Security related issues
such as progressive collapse of structures, etc. Risk analysis of security-related topics is of increasing interest to the
community.

4th International Workshop on Life-Cycle Cost, Analysis and Design of Civil Infrastructure Systems: The
workshop will be held at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Cocoa Beach, Florida, May 8 – 11, 2005. The workshop organizers
are committee members A. Nowak and D. Frangopol. They asked the committee for a no-cost co-sponsorship. The
committee gave its full support and suggested that a higher-level ACI approval also be sought. This issue is being
pursued by Nowak.

4. RECENT AND FUTURE CONFERENCES

• ACI Technical Sessions in New Orleans, 2005: Two sessions on Concrete Containment Structures for
Cryogenic Liquids: Current Needs and Recent Developments are being proposed jointly with ACI Committees 348
and 544. It is anticipated that the presented papers will be organized into a Special Publication. Contact: Krstulovic.

• 9th ASCE Specialty Conference on Probabilistic Mechanics and Structural Reliability, Albuquerque, NM,
July 26-28, 2004:
This conference had sessions organized by committee members Diniz (Modeling Uncertainties in Wind Load
Effects on Buildings) and Frangopol (Probabilistic Life Cycle Performance Assessment, Maintenance &
Management of Aging Infrastructures), as well as presentations by ACI 348 committee members.

• 2nd IABMAS Conference, Kyoto, Japan, October 18-22, 2004:

Conference organized by the International Association for Bridge Maintenance and Safety (IABMAS), with chairs
Eiichi Watanabe from Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan and committee member Dan Frangopol.

• ICOSSAR’05, Rome, Italy, June 19-23, 2005:

The conference is organized by the International Association on Structural Safety and Reliability (IASSAR).

• Seventh International Symposium on the Utilization of High-Strength/ High-Performance Concrete: June 20-
24, 2005, Washington DC.

5. MEMBERSHIP REPORT
Diniz informed that Robert Sexsmith has resigned.

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6. NEW BUSINESS
Krstulovic was assigned to be a new committee secretary.

7. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Neven Krstulovic
Secretary, ACI 348
March 31, 2005

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