Thanks to all who took the time to respond. See here for a short video of the model which may answer some of the previous questions. The 4 cables are vertical (no horizontal component in the at-rest position. There is no lateral restraint. I'll try to state the objective more clearly as some...
My company has sponsored a capstone project at a local university. They're stumped and I'm hoping to assist them. We are trying to model a pendulum-like structure--a large mass suspended from the roof of a building by 4 vertical cables (like a Jumbotron). The question we're trying to answer...
If you read the rules/laws of each state, the majority of states technically require fancy verifiable digital signatures. However, we have found that most states aren't enforcing these requirements. In fact sometimes jurisdictions reject our legitimate digital signatures because they've never...
In ASD design, nominal capacities are divided by safety factors (omega in AISC). In LRFD design, nominal capacities are multiplied by phi factors. They serve essentially the same purpose, but they are not interchangeable. If you have calculated your demand using ASD load combinations, you have...
We run into this case all the time where I work. We have developed some rules of thumb for when to design as rooftop equipment versus as a parapet. In our collective opinion, the proximity to the edge and the aspect ratio (height vs. width) affect the design approach. In this particular case...
I would like to create a spreadsheet to determine the lateral capacity of a single embedded pile using the Broms method. This method involves several charts. You lookup one unitless parameter on the X-axis to determine another unitless parameter on the Y-axis. I've made an attempt to...
The firm where I work regularly designs large solid signs. We compute wind load using ASCE 7 - 05 Chapter 6. Do we have to compute a single wind pressure based on the elevation of the top of the sign or can we break up the sign into segments and use variable pressure based on the elevation of...
