My point was about coal not natural gas....
FWIW, from a perspective of Energy Economic, natural gas is way more efficient (in terms of MegaWatt supplied vs CO2 released) than coal.
But, why is that significant? Because the most COST EFFECTIVE way to reduce our carbon emissions is to...
Didn't we all come to the conclusion that the best representation of "efficiency" in the release of CO2 is something like Tons per GDP? I can't find the post right now. But, that is much better than looking at population. If your population is still living in squalor and you have high CO2...
Exactly the type of argument that a building official might make.
They'd have to counter that with an argument that would be that they are trying use a bolted end plate connection. They just want to reduce the demand on the end plate, panel zone or such.
Honestly, this is a perfectly...
Not that I know of. However, I can share a software issue that I ran into a few times when trying to determine what controls....
So, if you are away from an edge you use one type of punching perimeter and one equation for capacity. Then if you're close to an edge you use a different punching...
Well, it depends on what you mean? You could easily do it for an OMF and no one should bat an eye. But, if you do it for an SMF, then the AHJ may have a problem with your doing this. Especially if this were done for a school or Hospital building.
Personally, I think a lot of other...
Well, we used to do that for negative bending resistance. Which we still could do. Personally, I preferred to look at whatever negative moment could exist and provide 4/3 As required for it.
What would often happen for thicker slabs, we'd start with 4/3 As required in the bottom of the slab...
Close, but not quite. The minimum steel requirements merely ensure that the ultimate strength of the slab is greater than the cracking strength. So, if you were to go from an uncracked state to a cracked state you could get brittle failure. The steel would still yield, but it would be during...
So, there is a flaw (IMO) with the ACI code for minimum slab reinforcement when compared to beams.
When you have reinforcement in a slab, you are required to meet the same flexural minimums that were developed for beams. These insure that there is enough steel to avoid a brittle failure when...
Depends on who the "they" are that you are asking about?
a) The new world order types who are trying to take over our economies and assert more and more power over what we are allowed to do and how we are allowed to live? I agree that they will never admit their faults.
b) If the "they" is...
My starting point for any dynamic equipment pad / foundation is the ACI document on the subject. ACI 351.3-R Foundations for Dynamic Equipment.... That will give the basic guidance for dynamic equipment and foundation modeling.
I would say the work sounds good.... But, I think you may want to review their standard caveats on their contract documents. The key is what the contractor is promising. Is it to repair a settlement issue. Or, are they promising more than you would feel comfortable signing off on.
Also, of...
I don't know.... I don't think 100 psf is unreasonable. Remember we're probably talking about an event that takes place once in the design life of the building.
I think it's pretty common for restaurants to rent out their spaces for weddings or such. The dance floor at a wedding can be...
To be honest, Spain's attempt to use 100% renewable energy for a full day is beneficial. Probably stupid, but beneficial.
What I mean by that is these attempts are necessary to hash out the flaws in their plans. I think we (meaning those of us who live in countries that can afford the...
There's still OMF requirements to be followed:
a) The connection still needs to be designed to the "probable plastic moment". And, the shear strength requirement based on developing that probably plastic moment.
b) Alternatively (as discussed in the code commentary) you can design the...
Absolutely. I was nit-picking the reference to coal in particular. FWIW, here is the breakdown of electricity production for the USA (and California further down):
And, for California which appears to hardly use any coal at all:
First, I'm curious what you hope to accomplish by modeling the foundation with the superstructure.
My thinking is this:
1) When we model the superstructure separately we generally go with some basic assumptions that the foundation provides rigid support to the structure. This is not...
I wouldn't say that "most" electricity (at least in California) is produced by burning coal. In CA, we use relatively little coal. We have Natural Gas, Hydro power, Nuclear. But, very little coal.
Certainly, in locations that heavily lean towards coal, electric cars don't make as much sense...
So, usually the structural model includes the superstructure and there is a separate model for the foundation. That's generally good practice in my opinion.
If you are not REALLY experienced in modeling concrete structures and foundations, I would strongly discourage you from including the...
Yeah, I never really understood this either. We did the same thing with Earthquake loads back in the 90's. That made a little more sense because we were factoring an "event" level force down to a service level force then scaling it back up to a strength level force.
Maybe the wind guys wanted...
I saw this drivel in the news today:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/04/23/earth-climate-tipping-points-study-warning/83209239007/
My issue with the article is mostly about the use of a new "buzz word" to create fear. There are 16 climate related "tipping points" that...
