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Ketchum 4

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Back when I was learning to design structural steel, there were a few necessary books that we all had. Over and above, individuals owned single copies of some precious books, these were so iconic that they had single names. One of them was; "Ketchum", a book by Milo Smith Ketchum, (at the time, I thought that a strange American name), the problem was there were a couple of different Ketchums, different books that is. Later to seeking reference on more diverse structures, I found even more Ketchums. Today, while looking for something else, I found them on Google Books, and they are free!!

For any young engineer interested in how we analyzed and designed before computers, these should yield wonderful insight.


Michael.
Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
 
Click to expand...
What? The section on wind is only 5 pages long! Such total lack of obfuscation. Please see current ASCE 7 which now has wind divide into multiple sections because wind loading wasn't complicated enough yet.

Its also missing the information about iron workers removing cross bracing on mill buildings and not replacing them (or even considering their impact to the system).

Also looking for a section on gypsum roofs. The novel idea of using a water sensitive material to build roofs out of (if you don't know what type of roof it is don't walk on it!).
 
Good stuff
I have used some of the formulas in this book for doing weight take offs for mill bldg demolition jobs!!!!

I have rarely seen a mill building that didn't have haphazardly removed vertical bracing.

Almost frustrating when you consider how many mill buildings are standing now for a 100 + yrs having been designed with basic approaches and not ridiculous codes we now have.
Steel Mills arguably see some of the worst loading and abuse one can imagine for a building structure.
 
I read a study of a residential test. Building was fully loaded.

They has to cut out 2/3 of the members before they got a failure!!

Interesting??
 
And yet, we have Port-au-Prince nearly leveled, while a similar sized one in Loma Prieta resulted in substantially less damage with about 1/100 the number of people left homeless.

So, I really don't have a problem with a building being able to survive 2-sigma+ events, because that's what we expect and is what's reflected in our standard of living. If removing a few structure elements resulted in a building collapse, I'd be looking for someone to sue. That's one reason I'd never want to live in, say, Baja California, because I'm almost certain that removal of substantially fewer than 2/3 of the members on any building down there will most likely cause total collapse and failure.

TTFN

FAQ731-376
Chinese prisoner wins Nobel Peace Prize
 
@paddingtongreen:

Thanks for the link! I would love to take a look at this, but when I click on your link, I see the book's front cover, "Related books" (links to other editions, etc), and a (non-clickable) Table of Contents. I can't seem to access the text of the book itself.

Am I doing something wrong? (Is it because I am outside the USA, for example?)

Thanks!
 
Sorry, it is the title what you have to click, then pdf.
 
@jhardy1, The covers of the related books and the index are clickable for me.

Perhaps Google Books are blocked where you are. Try doing a google search for the actual name of the book.

I think one of the main reasons so many of these buildings are still standing is that we considered only primary load paths, leaving a decent redundancy for insurance.

Michael.
Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
 
Google Books doesn't seem to be clickable / readable for me - I am guessing this could be some sort of regional licensing / copyright issue?

However, the OpenLibrary option works fine - thanks to everyone for the links - terrific stuff!
 
jhardy1 - You are right, copyright laws are very different in various countries. Google's program to digitize books has been so controversial with book publishers that they (Google) go to great lengths to comply with even the most conservative interpretation of various copyright laws. For example, in the USA, this means that books published before 1923 are, by law, in the public domain... but this is not necessarily true in other countries.

Nice link, Michael.

[idea]
[r2d2]
 
Milo S Ketchum was a member of the examining board for my MSc degree. During the proceedure he fell asleep..he was an old man by then.He was hugely respected and it was well deserved.
 
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