COMPUTERS AND STRUCTURES, INC.

, BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA DECEMBER 2001

CONCRETE FRAME DESIGN ACI-318-99

Technical Note

Design Load Combinations

The design load combinations are the various combinations of the prescribed
load cases for which the structure needs to be checked. For the ACI 318-99
code, if a structure is subjected to dead load (DL) and live load (LL) only, the
stress check may need only one load combination, namely 1.4 DL + 1.7 LL
(ACI 9.2.1). However, in addition to the dead and live loads, if the structure is
subjected to wind (WL) and earthquake (EL) loads and considering that wind
and earthquake forces are reversible, the following load combinations should
be considered (ACI 9.2).
1.4 DL
1.4 DL + 1.7 LL

(ACI 9.2.1)

0.9 DL 1.3 WL
0.75 (1.4 DL + 1.7 LL 1.7 WL)

(ACI 9.2.2)

0.9 DL 1.3 * 1.1 EL

0.75 (1.4 DL + 1.7 LL 1.7 * 1.1 EL)

(ACI 9.2.3)

These are also the default design load combinations in the program whenever
the ACI 318-99 code is used. The user is warned that the above load combinations involving seismic loads consider service-level seismic forces. Different
load factors may apply with strength-level seismic forces (ACI R9.2.3).
Live load reduction factors can be applied to the member forces of the live
load condition on an element-by-element basis to reduce the contribution of
the live load to the factored loading. See Technical Note Overwrites Concrete
Frame Design ACI 318-99 for more information.

Design Load Combinations

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