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Recent content by a2mfk

  1. a2mfk

    Miami-Dade County NOA - Roof Panels

    I have been an engineer in Central FL my whole 25 year career, but not much work other than inspections in S FL. Since your client just wants the roof to be designed to the wind speeds for the area of the building, then there is nothing magical about wind pressures in a different area, they are...
  2. a2mfk

    HP 15c re-release, Anyone still using calculators

    You all are a bunch of NEEERRRRRRDDDDDDSSSSSS!!!!!!!!! I wish I could give wedgies over the internet. I just was went through a box and was thrilled to find my old HP48G from college, still works great, forgot how much I loved the stack method. Just turned 49, so guess what that makes me...
  3. a2mfk

    Very high-end residential - structural design fees are challenging/confusing me

    What a great post! The range in fees is crazy, but so is the range in types of construction. I have a colleague who does mostly residential, just him and a CAD tech, and they did around 400 projects last year including some smaller stuff probably, some light commercial. He does not charge...
  4. a2mfk

    HELP! Vibration effect on nearby structures (:

    Joel hit the nail, errr, pile on the head. Sorry. Used to work for a company with a geophysicist, and I was involved with the structural evaluations. There has been a TON of research on this subject, particularly several decades ago because of the mining industry. The one quick takeaway is...
  5. a2mfk

    GPR & x-ray concrete

    GPR has been great for me, been using them a lot lately for location of filled cells and rebar in CMU and concrete. Pretty accurate, +/- a bar size, and I want to say location within 1-2". They can scan a lot of linear feet quickly. I found a local company that is reasonable in price and...
  6. a2mfk

    Pipe Brace to TALL Masonry Parapet and steel bar joist

    Used to do LOTS of these types of storefront details, and agree with phamENG. Always did these out of lt gage steel framing. That gets you continuous diagonal bracaing, and also I would want to distribute that diagonal bracing load to every roof joist, not just 10 ft on center. Those reactions...
  7. a2mfk

    Steel Column Base Repair

    Isn't the load path: tension in the bolts, compression in the horizontal plate, then stiffener plates transfer that load via shear into the face of the column? I have only used these when the uplift force is so great you would need too thick of a base plate to work as a cantilever in bending, so...
  8. a2mfk

    Residential cracked basement wall

    Without getting into the concrete basement question, regarding real estate transactions these have been largely a waste of my time. Most people have never hired a engineer and think they are going to get a letter for a couple hundred bucks and then they can go buy/sell the building. But I...
  9. a2mfk

    Determining an Existing Foundation Thickness

    We have had good experiences with a local GPR company (central FL) for scanning CMU walls, slabs, foundations, concrete beams and columns, etc. The tolerances for rebar are within one size, rebar spacing within a couple of inches, and thickness also within an inch or so. I suppose like with...
  10. a2mfk

    Miami Beach, Champlain Towers South apartment building collapse

    Just got off the phone with my geologist buddy who is a sinkhole expert, worked with him as a structural engineer for over 8 years all around Florida. South FL geology is very different from Central and N FL geology, so a sinkhole as most know them is very unlikely. We are thinking on the beach...
  11. a2mfk

    things to consider - anchoring steel L section with a single bolt

    Unless you are conservatively assuming all of the shear reaction goes into your first bolt, it is very difficult to calculate how much shear that bolt will actually get. As the angle is loaded and deflects, the ends rotate upward, which will cause less shear in each fastener moving outward until...
  12. a2mfk

    ASCE 7-10 Wind Uplift (Roof Suction)

    SteelPE - depending on where you are, a way to reduce mass concrete just for wind uplift resistance is to use a helical pile at each footing to supplement the dead load of the footing. They can be surprisingly inexpensive, especially with a big job like yours.
  13. a2mfk

    What's the purpose of these concrete beams and columns in Wall?

    That system was fairly common in Florida with larger commercial building exterior walls (one-story), guessing before 1970 or so. The CMU is usually unreinforced, so the concrete "frame" is there for out-of-plane wind and seismic. That had to be an exterior wall as others have said. Our approach...
  14. a2mfk

    FL Residential Post Tensioned SOG - Field Review

    Hokie66- long time no speak. Decided to come back on for some research on another topic and thought I would chime in. There are some regions of very plastic (shrink/swell) clay from north of Tampa (Brooksville) all the way up the I-75 corridor, including Ocala, Gainesville and Lake City. I spent...
  15. a2mfk

    Attic Trusses

    What is the point of this post? Are you a mechanical engineer who is now dabbling in structural engineering? I went to your website and read your bio, and not to be too harsh my man, but I am not sure what it is you are doing with this business or your career, and if it is ethical. We are not...
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