The New Australian Concrete Structures Standard AS 3600:2018 – Aspects of its Complexity and Effectiveness

Abstract

Providing design guides, the first of the AS 3600 standard series, Australian Standard for Concrete Structures AS 3600-1988 was published in March 1988. Since then, AS 3600 has been revised four times and published consecutively at between six to nine-year intervals as AS 3600-1994, AS 3600-2001, AS 3600-2009 and the latest, AS 3600-2018. The changes and/or updates made in AS 3600-2018 are mainly in the following requirements: > Stress-block configuration for bending analysis and design of reinforced and prestressed members > Shear and torsional strengths of members > Values of capacity reduction factor, Ø, for different member strengths > Effective moment of inertia for deflection calculations Most of the abovementioned modifications have resulted in more complicated procedures and additional computational efforts. Academically, such added complexity might be considered as a disciplinary upgrade. On the other hand, the practitioners deserve to be advised of the effectiveness, or worthiness, of such an advance. In each of the concerned topics, analysis and design calculations have been carried out using the updated specifications given in AS 3600-2018, as well as those available in the superseded AS 3600-2009. Based on the numerical data and design outcomes, observations are made in this paper regarding the complexity and effectiveness of this the latest version of Australia’s premier concrete structures code.