Tretinate ot of atts
Is to forecast the behavior
of an as-yet unbuilt structure
to be certain that it will
be able to comply with
preestablished performance
criteria during its life span.
‘These performance criteria,
Luis E, Garcia, ACI President include strength, stiffness
to account for unwanted
deflections and excessive slenderness, durability,
serviceability, and others. Even though it sounds simple,
the complexity involved in meeting the performance
criteria could be considerable even for a simple structure.
To make this endeavor feasible, numerous simnpl
must be made, both in the definition of what is required
of the structure, generally expressed in terms of
strength and deflections, and in the description of the
behavior of the structure through analysis. This is
especially true for the design of reinforced concrete
structures and the reason why engineering judgment and,
experience are required,
‘We are witnessing tremendous advances in the field of
structural engineering that have caused a reduction of
safety factors compared with those used before the
advent of the computer, increasing the designer's
responsibility. Meanwhile, the time allocated for structural