Discipline: Engineering
A parabolic compressive stress distribution, equivalent to a rectangular stress distribution, was used to study the equivalence of the coefficients provided by NSCP Vol. 1 and those by ACI 318-95 for the analysis and design of reinforced concrete sections in bending. Assuming a parabolic stress distribution in the concrete compression zone, the analysis and design equations differed only slightly from those provided by the NSCP and ACI 318 and were equally user-friendly. Based on the· ACI rectangular stress block approach, the equivalent rectangular stress block in this study employed coefficients obtained from the parabolic stress distribution.