STRUCTURAL DESIGN MANUAL
FOR ENERGY CENTER PROJECTS
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
June 2006
CRITERIA UNIQUE TO VA: All new facilities and new additions to existing
1.
facilities shall be designed in accordance with VA Handbook H-18-8, "VA
Seismic Design Requirements for VA Hospital Facilities".
2.
GENERAL:
2.1
Structural design shall comply with the latest editions of the
following:
A.
Reinforced concrete design - ACI Standard 318M (metric
version) and 318, "Building Code Requirements for Reinforced
Concrete", American Concrete Institute.
B.
Structural steel design - "Specification for the Design,
Fabrication and Erection of Structural Steel for Buildings",
American Institute of Steel Construction.
C.
Unless otherwise noted above - "International Building Code",
International Conference of Building Officials.
D.
Significant variations from the above in local building codes
shall be brought to the attention of the Director, Area
Project Office, for approved substitution prior to their use
in the structural design.
2.2
Where applicable, verify the load-bearing capability of the
existing structural elements to support the new design loads.
2.3
Where alterations are made to the structural elements in existing
buildings, these elements individually and the buildings as units,
must maintain adequate strength to safely resist both gravity and
lateral loads. Any resulting deficiencies must be reinforced
accordingly.
2.4
Follow VA Construction Procedures 1 and Fire Protection Design
Manual for fireproofing requirements of structural elements.
3.
STRUCTURAL DESIGN LOAD REQUIREMENTS:
3.1
Minimum uniform basic design live loads shall conform to the
Uniform Building Code (UBC) requirements, except as shown in
Table 1.
3.2
Provision shall be made in designing floors for a concentrated
load of 900 kg (2000 lb), placed upon any space 750 mm (2.5)
square, wherever this load upon an otherwise unloaded floor would
produce stresses greater than those caused by the uniform load
required therefore.
3.3
In order to provide a flexible design allowing certain range of
occupancy changes in the future, generalized live load categories
should be applied to large areas preferably one category to any
one floor.
3.4
Roof live loads shall be based on geographical location and local
governing building code requirements; however, they shall not be
less than 100 kg/m2 (20 psf).
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