In the design of a structure a great number of decisions must be made. What is acceptable to one engineer may not be acceptable to another. It is crucial that the user understands the decisions and assumptions being made by the RAM Concrete Column Design module. If these are not appropriate for the specific conditions of a particular building, the user should augment or replace the results from RAM Concrete with those of some other tool.

The purpose of the Technical Notes is to explain the assumptions and methodology of the RAM Concrete Column Design. Every effort has been made to include a discussion of significant decisions and assumptions made by the program. Generally, if there is any question as to how the Column Design mode handles a particular condition, a small model can be quickly created and analyzed, and the results verified with hand calculations.

The RAM Concrete Column Design has been extensively tested and used. It is impossible, however, to anticipate every possible configuration that could be encountered by the program. Ultimately the engineer is responsible for the safety and adequacy of the building's design.

If ACI 318 is selected as the design code in the concrete analysis module then design is based on the requirements of the concrete design specifications published by the American Concrete Institute in ACI 318. The implementations of the sections of the code accounting for the design of concrete columns are subjected to certain assumptions and limitations as outlined in the Technical Notes. For ACI unless otherwise noted all references to sections and equations are from ACI 318-99.