With all due respect to the victims of this tragedy, there are also lessons to be learned from a forensic engineering standpoint.
I have done a lot of forensic investigations of wind damage, but this is one of the few lateral pressure failures of CMU that I have ever seen (at least IMO it is)...
A couple of weekends ago I rented a grinder to do a couple of different jobs. While I had it I took care of a troublesome control joint at our office with about a half inch of vertical displacement, it was quite a tripping hazard. Anyway, I thought this was an interesting cross sectional view of...
This guy sounds like he was telling the client what they wanted to hear, instead of the truth, and knew very well the roof was in bad shape. If this is proven to be true, then throw the book at him. Also, with something of this much importance, why this wasn't all in writing is very suspicious...
I am surprised there was no mention of the banking or insurance industries getting involved in this, as they are also major stakeholders. It could be looked at as an overall investment, as the money and lives saved if there is a major EQ would be huge in comparison to the cost of the upgrades...
This article from the most recent Structure Magazine addresses this oft-discussed topic that doesn't have a lot of good code/spec guidance...
http://www.structuremag.org/article.aspx?articleID=1797
This topic seems to come up from time to time on here, and it seems there is not a whole lot of good technical literature on the subject.
Thumbing through the latest ACI Catalog, I found this:
SP-273: Further Examples for the Design of Structural Concrete with Strut-and-Tie Models
This may be...
Was it common going all the way back to 1959 to build small single family homes out of CIP concrete in the greater Miami-Dade area? Not necessarily near the coast...
I am searching for any technical publication, magazine article, basically any published and reputable source of guidelines to the evaluation of cracks in existing reinforced CMU walls. I have looked long and hard and yet to find what I need (NCMA TEK notes, google, my forensic books, etc etc.)...
Just want to reaffirm what I thought I have known for a long time- epoxy injection is the best method of concrete crack repair (generally), especially when its not really a structural crack per se?
The case is your basic backyard pool with a vertical crack. I have eliminated soil issues as a...
I did some searching in the past Tips on the subject, and still have a couple of questions. This was the best one I found:
www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=290066
Typical office building floor, steel wide-flange composite beams with composite steel deck and concrete slab system. WWF is...
I assume it was some version of the Standard/Southern Building Code. But most importantly, I need to confirm the roof live load for a 4:12 slope, less than 200sf of trib area. I cannot imagine this particular loading has evolved much over the years, going back to the 2001 FBC it was 16psf, I...
What type of neoprene specifically would you recommend for bearing pads at expansion joints?
What value on the Durometer chart?
Please see the link for the specifics.
Specifically for WF girder bearing and roof joist bearing..
In section 4.3.1.1, for tops of slabs-on-grade a number of 3/4" is given.
I read this to say that for a slab-on-grade, if the plans say to place this at 100'-0" elevation above sea level, and you also cite ACI 117 tolerances, you could be at 99'-1/4" or up to 100'-3/4", and the slab level...
I don't have my copy handy, does anyone know if there are criteria or limits to deflection of continuous wall foundations? I don't have a specific problem in mind, but the situation is a typical residential foundation. There are no such limits in our code (Florida Building Code), and I would not...
Some good aerial shots of wind damage where you can actually speculate as to what failed. Some of it pretty textbook when it comes to what sections of the roof failed.
OK, not a very technical question, but for those with experience with slab grinding its an easy one.
I'm personally renting a concrete grinder to remove surface contaminants (old vinyl flooring adhesive, slab imperfections, small pieces of thin set mortar, etc) and to open up the pore structure...
I have been told by another SE (peer review) that INSIDE corners are exempt from zone 3 and 5. I don't disagree, I just cannot find this in ASCE. Its for my C and C diagram for the CDs, not for calcs... Can anyone point me to the note or section that says this?
Wondering what you ladies and gents are specifying these days for slump. We currently call out for 4" max slump for all concrete, except 3" for SOG. Its been in our general notes for a long time and I honestly don't know where it came from. Never had a question, comment, problem or concern, but...
If you have a composite beam with 2" of camber, your total deck and slab thickness is 6-1/2", your headed stud installed height is 5", you have 1-1/2" clear distance when the beam is level. But prior to deck and slab installation, the HS will theoretically be projecting 1/2" above the finished...
When you guys have a beam that has to frame into a tilt wall panel joint, and you use a "bridge" type connection (one connection on each side of the joint with a steel member between), do you let one side of the bridge slip in the plane of the wall?
I know not to connect panels together for...
