I have a 100 year old building (six story) that requires a global analysis. We were going to use IBC 2006 for the loading and model and analyze the structure using SAP2000 version 11. However, the owner recommends that we use FEMA 310 (ASCE 31) to perform the seismic analysis. Does the FEMA...
I have a project where a 2 inch, 20 gage metal deck was specified to support a 5 1/2 total concrete slab depth. During the design phase, column center lines increased and the spacing of beams increased. It turns out that the 2 inch metal deck that was specified has an unsupported span of...
I have a commercial project with a 1/2" laminated glass railing with a 3" diameter brass top rail that needs to have 3 more inches of vertical height added to top to accommodate change in floor elevation (3 inches higher) and requirement for 42 inch high railing.
The bottom of the existing glass...
I have a W27x84 steel girder that supports steel roof joists. The girder is stressed to 80 percent allowable. The girder was hit by equipment and bottom flange is deflected laterally about an inch. How do I repair this girder?
When designing a steel lintel that supports block and/or brick, the unsupported length of the compression flange is equal to the span of the lintel. The block with rebar and brick provide no support for the top flange. Is this correct?
Can I get away with 20 foot spaced control joints in a concrete slab that is 4 inches thick that surrounds an in- ground pool at a country club. The control joint is about 1/4 inch deep. The area is somewhat irregular in shape requiring an unsymmetrical control joint pattern with maximum spacing...
I have a project with two old buildings (two stories) that share a common basement wall that consists of 20 inch thick stone rubble. The building to remain has a basement slab 12 feet below the first floor. The building to be demolished has a basement slab 8 feet below the first floor.
Our demo...
I have a ten foot high gabion wall that sits on a rock shelf. The base of the wall is nine feet wide. We are providing a concrete levelling pad that varies from six to eighteen inches thick to provide a slope to the wall.
Do we need to provide reinforcement in the pad? The wall resists sliding...
I have a new one story structure addition that is two hundred feet wide and three hundred feet long to be constructed against and parallel to face of existing two story structure. The existing structure has a basement at bottom of footing 20 feet below grade. The basement footing heel projects...
I have a single story building with 44LH9 roof joists that span 69 feet to W18x40 girders. The girders span between 10 inch columns at 26 foot spacing between column lines. The building is resisting lateral loads by perimeter masonry shear walls. The joists are simple span. At the column lines...
I have a 42 foot long W24 roof beam that needs to support 12 vertical feet of brick with stud backup below. I have C6 channel hangers every 6 feet supported from W24 and a plate in between 6 inch stud backup. The C6 hanger supports an 8x6 tube lintel with angle welded to it to catch brick. The...
I have an allen block wall that is eight feet tall. The wall is supported by geogrid reinforcement placed at 24 inches vertically. We want to place a four foot high fence with fence posts that are two inches in diameter behind the wall after the wall is constructed. It seems to me that this...
I've heard that shear studs should not be used on steel beams with webs that are less then 1/4" thick. Is there a reason for this that I am missing? When I run software on these designs, overstresses do not show up.
I have a project with existing 28 inch deep open web steel joists spaced 8 feet apart. New construction is putting snow drift onto the joists creating an overstress situation. How do I reinforce these? I cannot add more joists because of existing piping everywhere between joists. Its not the...
We have an existing W24x55 that cantilevers out 7 feet and we are increasing load on it because of a hanging partition. We are overstressing the beam by 10 percent with partition. How do we reinforce beam for negative moment with a metal roof deck directly above top flange?
I have a 40 year old concrete framed building with brick face and six inch block backup. Brick over windows is supported by concrete lintels that extend from the spandrel beams. The adjacent brick beyond the windows sits on steel relieving angles bolted to spandrels at the same elevation as the...
The BOCA Code calls for an engineered design (needs rebar) for a 8" basement cmu wall that supports more that 4 feet of fill. If the wall supports less than four feet of wall than reinforcement is not required (empirical design). I have a residential project where the existing 8 inch wall...
Can we space expansion joints 300 feet apart on a four story commercial structure in New York City if the joint is wide enough to accomodate expansion? The footprint of the structure ia approximately 550 feet x 250 feet. NYC Code indicates buildings longer than 250 feet require thermal force design
We are designing a three story 60,000 SF addition to an existing three story building of 200,000 SF. Code requirements dictate that the buildings be structurally independent so that only the addition need comply to seismic requirements for new buildings. The existing building and addition have...
I AM CURRENTLY DESIGNING A NEW FOUR STORY RETAIL MALL STRUCTURE AND WOULD LIKE TO GET A CONSENSUS ON THE LIMIT OF HORIZONTAL DEFELCTION AT THE TOP OF THE BUILDING, i.e. H/200, H/400 etc. THE STRUCTURE WILL CONTAIN LARGE GLASS WINDOWS.
