Australia Structural Calcs

[fecope]

I am just wondering if anyone can help me. I have just moved to Australia from UK. I am thinking of going solo due to time constraint. Can anybody please send me some sample of structural calculations for Australian Building regs or are there any resources that I can access on line. many thanks in advance.

 

[cntw1953]

csd72:

You should be more clear on your request of qualification, its not that difficult, I mainly station in the US, but work on projects in 3 continents, America, ASIA & Africa (I qualified for triple-A membership . Hope it counts toward my qulification.

 

[cntw1953]

Difficult to shut-up when you think you know something

When deal with foreign projects, on top of review local regulations and codes, we will request the owner/sponsor/our coordinator to help in gathering pre-exist design materials (cal/specs/dwgs)/reports relevant to the projects. Most often, the collect documents will shorten our learning curve, or lead to further questions which might otherwise ignored due to unfamiliarity with local conditions/practices.

When apply for new job with unfamiliarity with their's practice, I usually ask the future employer to bring in some of their's simple design/standard sheets for general discussion. In return, I will bring in my sample cal/design to demonstrate the way I worked. Once hired, I will borrow some old cal and be acquaint with them ASAP.

Wish the above helps a little.

 

[hokie66]

This is going nowhere. BA has given good advice. I practiced first in the US, then in Australia. Starting on my own in Australia would have been impossible, I think. The form of calculations would be the least important consideration in this decision.

 

[cntw1953]

What are the most difficulties/challenges there, in terms of general practices?

 

[rowingengineer]

The difference is in the general accepted building practice.

The huge difference in what the buildings are designed for ie loads (earthquake, wind), but more importantly environmental effects. These are involved in every building design, but if you know the area they don't really show up in the cals all that much, more in the selection of building (ie 150 thick panels are the minimum size wall panels in the NT because they will sweat otherwise) and specification. But you need to know the area and how different material reacts, or you could spend a lot of time chasing your tail, or even worse having a building that doesn’t meet client requirements, even though it meets the code requirements.

Arguing with an engineer is like wrestling with a pig in mud. After a while you realize that they like it

 

[cntw1953]

Thanks. Good to know. It (local practices) is a barrier for people move from region to region even sometimes in their's own country. Takes time to work into it.

 

[msquared48]

Remember too, that Aussies do the calcs upside down. And only after 5 with a beer.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask

 

[csd72]

Redundancy is often an important consideration - have 2 beers in case you lose the first one!

All jokes aside, as some people have inferred it is the underlying assumptions that do not appear on the calcs that are the important ones.

A few specific differences from oz to the UK:

- precast concrete (including tilt up) is a lot more prevalent and therefore the codes are more advanced. Each state has stringent health and safety rules for the erection of these structures that need to be considered in design.
- No CDM as such.
- Steel connection designs in Australia are always done by the consulting engineer never by the fabricator.
- There is an earthquake code that always needs to be considered.
- snow and frost are almost never an issue.
- wind can be more extreme.
- Australian codes are not as extensive as UK or US codes so more things are up the the judgement of the individual engineer.
- Concrete beams are sized on deflection calculations not s/d ratios.
- Timber code is very different to the UK one including both long and short term deflection as well as termite resistance factors.
- Residential slabs and footing in australia have their own code which is often based on control of differential deflection rather than bearing capacity (too hard to explain here).

I could keep going on...

 

[rapt]

csd72

A cou-ple of important ones you missed

- concrete flat plates are not economical and are used much less frequently than in UK

- a large portion of concrete buildings are post-tensioned. Long spans in Australia mean post-tensioned conctruction, not structural steel as you would normally do in UK.