Title:
ACI-Based Design Approach for Reinforced-Concrete Panels in Industrial Facilities (Prepublished)
Author(s):
Carlos Alberto Madera Sierra, Saahastaranshu R. Bhardwaj, and Amit H. Varma
Publication:
Structural Journal
Volume:
Issue:
Appears on pages(s):
Keywords:
EC2 sandwich model approach, experimental and analytical validation and verification approaches, numerical simulation, proposed ACI-based design approach, reinforced concrete wall panels
DOI:
10.14359/51749163
Date:
9/10/2025
Abstract:
Industrial facilities (such as offshore platforms, power plants, and treatment plants) are typically labyrinthine structures because they possess intricate layouts (resembling mazes or labyrinths), and most of their structural walls are interconnected. These reinforced concrete (RC) structural walls need to be designed for eight simultaneous demands. The existing US codes provide limited procedural guidance for the design of these walls. A novel Panel-based ACI (PACI) design approach for RC walls, rooted in the design concepts and formulations of ACI 349 and ACI 318.2, is proposed. The PACI approach is validated using two validation and verification (V&V) approaches. For the first V&V approach, existing experimental data is used to estimate PACI approach-based reinforcement areas, which are then compared against the reinforcements provided in the experiments (and against the reinforcement areas suggested by the EC2 sandwich model approach). Benchmarked numerical models are developed to compare the capacities of specimens using PACI-based reinforcements with experimentally observed capacities and with EC2-based reinforcement. For the second V&V approach, analytical data of publicly available design demands for real-world structures are used to estimate PACI-based reinforcements for a critical region of a nuclear power plant. Numerical models are developed to compare the capacities of the panels with PACI-based reinforcements against the design demands. The results from V&V1 approach showed that the PACI approach: (i) suggests similar reinforcement areas than those used in the experiments, with an average ratio of PACI suggested reinforcement areas over experimental provided areas of 0.97 for all 21 tests; and (ii) suggests similar reinforcement areas that those suggested by the EC2 approach, with an average ratio of EC2 based reinforcement areas, over PACI based reinforcement of 1.01 for all 21 tests as well. For the V&V2 approach, the numerical capacities of the models with PACI suggested reinforcements are greater than or equal to the design demands. The V&V studies illustrate that, despite its methodological simplicity, the PACI approach results in reinforcement recommendations that closely approximate the outcomes derived from the more rigorous procedures inherent to the EC2 approach. The design implementation of the PACI approach is also illustrated using a sample calculation.