Starting in 1987, a solution
to the constructability problem plaguing conventional transverse
reinforcement has been under development.Tested in laboratories at five U.S. universities and the national
laboratories of Canada and the U.S.,Welded Reinforcement Grids (WRG) have solved constructability
problems.Members reinforced with WRG
have shown ductile performance superior to those with conventional transverse
reinforcement.Professor Murat
Saatciogluattributes this superior
ductile performance to the welds at each intersecting rod of the WRG which
creates many smaller confinement cells inside the structural member.
The WRG are manufactured
under a very strict quality assurance program, approved and monitored by the
International Council of Building Officials (ICBO), which in 1999 issued an
Evaluation Report ER-5192.Similar approvals
have been issued by the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego,
Phoenix and New York.