Expected yield strength of reinforcing steel

[leartt]

Greetings,
I have a question regarding the expected yield strength of reinforcing steel that is calculated by default by SeismoStruct. Being fully aware that it can be changed by the user, is there any specific reason why the factor is 1.15? Paulay and Priestley recommend the value of 1.1 for strain rates of 0.01 s-1, AISC recommends values of 1.05-1.1 etc.
Kind regards
Leart

[leartt]

Greetings,
I have a question regarding the expected yield strength of reinforcing steel that is calculated by default by SeismoStruct. Being fully aware that it can be changed by the user, is there any specific reason why the factor is 1.15? Paulay and Priestley recommend the value of 1.1 for strain rates of 0.01 s-1, AISC recommends values of 1.05-1.1 for expected yield strength. Does the 1.15 somehow combine these two effects?
Kind regards
Leart

[huffte]

The ratio of expected yield strength to specified yield strength varies from 1.1 up to as high as 1.6 in AISC 341 (Table A3.1), depending on the material specification for structural steel. For A615 and A706 reinforcing steel, AASHTO uses 1.13. I suspect that 1.15 is simply an approximate default (as good as any other knowing, as you say, that t is the user's responsibility to enter the value appropriate for the steel being used on a given project).