9.1 —Design philosophy
These design recommendations are based on limit-statesdesign principles. This approach sets acceptable levels of safety for the occurrence of both serviceability limit states ( excessive deflections and cracking) and ultimate limit states ( failure, stress rupture, and fatigue). In assessing the nominal strength of a member, the possible failure modes and subsequent strains and stresses in each material should be assessed. For evaluating the serviceability of a member, engineering principles, such as modular ratios and transformed sections, can be used.
FRP strengthening systems should be designed in accordance with ACI 318-05 strength and serviceability requirements using the strength and load factors stated in ACI 318-05. Additional reduction factors applied to the contribution of the FRP reinforcement are recommended by this guide to reflect uncertainties inherent in FRP systems compared with steel reinforced and prestressed concrete. These reduction factors were determined based on statistical evaluation of variability in mechanical properties, predicted versus full-scale test results, and field applications. FRP-related reduction factors were calibrated to produce reliability indexes typically above 3.5. Reliability indexes between 3.0 and 3.5 can be encountered in cases where relatively low ratios of steel reinforcement combined with high ratios of FRP reinforcement are used. Such cases are less likely to be encountered in design because they violate the strengthincrease limits of Section 9.2. Reliability indexes for FRPstrengthened members are determined based on the approach used for reinforced concrete buildings (Nowak and Szerszen 2003; Szerszen and Nowak 2003). In general, lower reliability is expected in retrofitted and repaired structures than in new structures.