Events > Tilt-Up Convention and Expo 2018 - Dallas > SESSION

Pitfalls of Alternative Tilt-up Design Approaches

September 21, 2018 from 9:30am to 10:30am Central Standard Time

Dallas Ballroom A3

Trent Nagele, P.E., S.E.

In most engineering firms tilt-up wall design is done by one of three methods: hand calculations, spreadsheets or similar calculations developed in-house, or using commercially available software.  Once established in an office, the underlying assumptions of these methods are often used for some time without being revisited or updated, possibly because various code changes may seem inconsequential or the cliché “if it works, don’t fix it” seems to apply. At other times, engineers may believe they’ve improved upon the code provisions with alternate equations from research or simply using a much more involved computational process with complex iterations or finite element modeling.  While it might be tempting to deviate from the design provisions within ACI 318, maybe with the intent to be more economical or more accurate, it is important that it is done with a clear understanding of the ramifications. This presentation will discuss some of the potential pitfalls of using alternate design approaches, which in reality can often be invalid and unconservative.