Recent content by tclat

Hi I appreciate all the feedback. The rock fill is volcanic. Will try to get some more information on soundness to determine durability. We don't have lime. I understand that there will be settlement once the fill is added. Will backfill and compact up to the underside of the slab and will...

Moisture content is 67-70%. Tropical country There is a nearby stream and about 2-3m above sea level. I’m thinking of removing about 2 meters of material which will take me down about 600mm below the water level in the stream. Thinking it would be good if any fluctuations in the dry season...

We are structural engineers working in a very small country with no geotechnical engineers. Web have a client who wants to build a warehouse on a site with a very bad ground conditions. We have a “fat clay” with a LL of over 100 and a PI of over 65. The thickness of this layer is about 6m...

OG....the cut face is about 1H:10V. Why are you skeptical about the binder? Forgot to mention there is a cut off drain at the top of the wall.

Hi All, I looking at repairing an existing outdoor basketball court with a slab on grade. The court is several decades old and the surface has started to deteriorate. The school does not have the fund to rip out completely and redo. I'm proposing the following 1. Roughen surface using light...

The cut face is near vertical. Any thoughts on what the friction angle would be for the cement stabilised fill?

Hi, I'm doing a design review for the stabilisation of a 30 foot cut face. The slope of the land beyond the face is fairly steep at 27-30 degrees. The topsoil layer is about 3 feet thick but the rest of the face appears to be cemented granular material of varying consistency. See attached...

Thanks for the comments. I was able to review the link provided by JedClampett. The Residential Code has a maximum design wind speed limit of 140 mph (I imagine this is based on ASC7-05 and not ASCE7-10 which specifies ultimate wind loads). I will ask the fabricator to change the code spec to...

Hi, I have a timber truss fabricator from Florida who has supplied us with some shop drawings for review. The trusses are for a hotel in a hurricane prone region outside the US which is why the developer has engaged a fabricator from Florida. The trusses are generally for building blocks that...

Hi All, We are a civil/structural engineering company that does mainly structural work. Our civil work generally has been limited to road alignments, storm drainage, retaining structures and earthworks. On several projects we have done, the services engineers also deal with site works that...

Hi, I'm reviewing a concrete beam in a building under construction which was loaded accidentally from a falling object. Some diagonal shear cracks have formed near the supports on both faces. There are no flexural cracks so I'm thinking that the bars have not yielded and are probably still ok...

Is there a requirement for the length of the top and bottom part of the ties for anchorage? For a joist we would typically detail a 180 degree hook. For a 6” wide beam with 1.5” cover the length of the standard hook will be less than 3”. The tie size is 3/8”.

Hi, I'm reviewing drawings prepared by another engineer and he has 6" wide beams with two 2 -3/4 inch bars top and bottom. Because the structure is close to the sea, the concrete cover is 1.5" which doesn't leave any space between the bars. I raised this with the design engineer and he...

There is a note which states that "Rigid ceiling directly applied". I think you need advise that the ceiling is vaulted. I agree with the others, I would count on a truss plate forming a moment connection in timber. Why no ridge beam? It will be hidden by the ceiling. If not you will need to...

Hi All, I'm analyzing a five storey hotel that has 16 foot cantilever balconies. Floor to floor height is 10 feet. The good thing is there are reinforced concrete party walls at 15'0 centers between each room which also extent out to almost the end of the balcony. The party walls extend 30 feet...