I’m in the early stages of planning and coordinating the project of a 160 ft. communications guyed tower (steel tubing) for a 9-mile point-to-point 5.7/5.8 GHz wireless link. The final location of the tower is still being discussed, and therefore subject to change if circumstances demand it. Due...
I'll try to describe the situation as best as I can.
I have to bridge a 7 ft-wide x 36 ft-long (2m x 11m) strip on the side of an existing culvert for truck traffic (no more than 22 Kips. per wheel). Fig. 1a shows how things look now and Fig. 1b shows how the projected lateral access will be...
Hello,
I have to build a new reinforced concrete pool inside an old, unmaintained and distressed one. The newer pool will be smaller and shallower, that is, the floor slab will be 6 ft. above the old slab which means that something like 6 ft. of fill will have to be placed and compacted over...
Hi,
I'm in the early stage of the design of a precast concrete truss... actually a counterfort (see reference [3] for an example). My initial goal was to investigate which arrangement, of all the known truss configurations and their combinations resulted in the fewest tension members for my...
Hi,
I have to design a rectangular concrete reservoir for containing sugar cane molasses/syrup (density=1500 Kg/m3).
Dimensions: length=100m, width=35m, depth=6m
Some of the project constraints are:
The walls must be of precast reinforced concrete panels. (no prestressing or post-tensioning...
Hello,
What book(s) would you recommend for learning the design process (emphasis on "design") of low-rise/mid-rise reinforced concrete buildings?
For example, after the architect hands me the typical plan view of, say, a 6-story building and asks me to design the structure (see picture for...
Hello,
I have to design the corner column (reinforced concrete) for a two-story house at the crossing of two streets, C1 in the picture specifically.
If loads controlled the design, it would be a 20cm x 20cm column with #4 bars, like C2, etc. However, corner columns are given a special...
Hi,
Just one question.
How can I soften hard water so as to make it viable for cattle consumption?
The predominant salt in the water is CaCO3 (Calcium Carbonate) and I'd like to know, out of all available methods, which one is the most convenient from the economic and practical points of view...
Hi,
This is a conceptual question on reinforced concrete design.
Given an arbitrary cross section subjected to a normal force F and a bending moment M (see picture), how do I tackle its design? Is it a beam with a normal force or is it a column with a bending moment? How do I tell?
Thanks.
Hello,
Think of a circular roofless tank constructed of precast concrete panels supported on a concrete ring footing. See the following picture.
My question: How do I analyze this cylindrical shell? Is this a hinged or a fixed base? Or is it a partially fixed configuration? I recall having...
Hello,
Let's consider this situation.
I need to design a concrete slab-on-grade for a site with an ML-type soil. (sandy silt). The contractor is going to strip the upper layer of natural soil (1.00m thick) and replace it with sheepfoot-roller compacted structural fill (k > 300pci). The...
Hi,
What is the smallest bonded tendon supported by mono-strand post-tensioning jacks ?
A better question would be: What mono-strand post-tensioning jacks support tendons smaller than 1/2" ?
As far as I could find, 0.5" and 0.6" are the two mainstream diameters that all jack vendors seem to...
Hello,
What is the rationale for selecting the concrete thickness for a slab on grade subjected to uniform loading ?
The available literature ([1] and [2]) on slabs on grade design focuses on case studies where bending moments or punching shear on the slab are the driving factors, as is the...
Hello,
Can anyone please refer me to a layman's primer on soil mechanics? Book..website..posts..whatever..
Preferably I'd like a super-short rule-of-thumb-type guideline that tells me how to identify and classify soils based on their Liquid Limit, Plastic Limit, Plastic Index and fineness (%...
Hello,
I've just posted my vicissitudes designing a precast concrete rectangular tank over on the "Water treatment & distribution" forum. Cross-posting is not permitted, but the topic pertains to "Structural engineering" as well, so I cordially invite the structural experts of this forum to...
Hello,
I'm designing a roofless underground rectangular wastewater storage tank with walls made from precast concrete panels. Each panel is 2.08m (6.8ft) high x 1.00m (3.28ft) wide x 0.10m (4in) thick. Every panel is bolted to its neighboring panels by means of nine 7/16" dia. bolts on each...
Hello,
I'm in charge of designing two circular concrete tanks. One will contain water with 5% sulfuric acid and the other will contain biofuel. These are two separate projects by the way, I just grouped my doubts in a single post.
My questions are:
1)
What measures do I have to take to protect...
