The 'characteristic load' in IS 456 is the load with:
Choose the correct answer
100% probability of occurring
5% probability of being exceeded (95th percentile) in its lifetime
Mean value of all recorded loads
Minimum expected value
Correct Answer
B. 5% probability of being exceeded (95th percentile) in its lifetime
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Characteristic load: load above which only 5% of observations are expected to lie (95th percentile). IS 456 and IS 875 define characteristic loads for DL, LL, WL, EL. Partial safety factors (γf) are applied to get design (factored) loads. For DL: γf = 1.5 (unfavourable); for WL: γf = 1.5 or 0.9 (favourable).
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