In the Midwest, the standard is 8 inch with 1 no. 5 top and btm and no vertical reinf for a 8ft high basement wall. Walls over 8ft are typically 10 inches thick. Most times, it's difficult to get the values to check out if struct. calcs are required.
Personally, either way doesn't matter too much in my opinion. I'm in a small firm now. Your boss and working conditions matter the most. Everybody is looking for something different than the next guy, so take whats in here and come up with your own opinion. I've been offered higher pay from...
I've always dimensioned to outside face of wall on framing plans and to outside edge of trench footings for foundations. If any columns are present, I always have the architect or myself set up grids at column centerlines. This is useful for column footings and any necessary baseplates.
Post this in the Finite element forum. Also, look into research regarding material composites. Finite Element Analyses (FEA) have been perfomed on exotic materials before, so there has to be some sort of relationship to your model. Consider the fact that when new pipe materials are developed...
