I've been using CSI SAFE and other software that allows the integration of design moments along a strip of a fixed width for my two-way slab design for over 10 years. Someone has asked me today what theory / reference this practice is based on, and to my surprise I was not able to find anything...
I've used stud rails before and it was a good experience, though maybe a bit expensive. Does anyone have any experience specifying stirrups as punching shear reinforcement above columns? I know the both ACI and CSA standards allow it, but I'm wondering if it the additional bars make the column...
The last time I had a look was about 10 years ago, external FRP reinforcement was next to useless because of the fire requirements in buildings (from memory, for flexure some percentage of service level loads needed to be maintained while ignoring the FRP reinforcement, which did not allow for...
Friend sent me this one, not sure what to make of it. Anyone know what kind of product this might be? Or are the anchor rods cut flush to the top of the nuts? I believe this is a new pedestrian bridge in Ottawa, Canada.
I've come across a simple (almost shameful) question that has me stumped. The initial question is whether we should "offset" all of the beams in our FEA models of steel structures so that the top of the beams all is level, which is how it's going to be in practice. I've never done this, but...
@matty54 At my last job I was lucky enough to have the support and respect of the big boss, which was crucial, but that did not translate into having support from anyone else in the business. Getting "regular" people on-board with trying to get things better organised and approved was my long...
I guess something that's not discussed often is how hiring an engineer is a double edged sword for businesses. Sure, you can get better insight into how things work and get things approved, but it's by no means a simple or easy process. It will take time and effort, and you will lose some of the...
@matty54
I've found myself in your situation at my last job, and I was thankful that I had some experience under my belt. Being less experienced would probably have lead me to take on work that I was not prepared for and would have lead me down a road of problematic ethics. There are some jobs...
Trying to explain this to someone else, I found out there is a gap in my knowledge. I can't find any information about it in SAFE documentation, but it's really a quite simple question. When beams are modelled in SAFE, there must be an area where the beam and the slab are overlapping? How does...
Following up on this thread: https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=450445
It's my understanding that 4.1.8.11.3) d) v) allows us to use a larger period specifically to check seismic deflections. This means I'll have a different base shear than my regular elastic analysis, so I always run a...
@Celt83 I'm not sure I understand how the Gauss points relate to all of this yet (where are gauss points in the original pages that I posted? Is it complexity that is brushed over?), but this makes sense with the results that I'm seeing. If I consider the lever arm for the moment to be from the...
@rb1957 I've been practicing for about 10 years. I ran into this issue trying to integrate axial membrane loads at the bottom of a shear wall made of plates. When integrating at the "bottom" of the wall, that is, right next to the supports, and multiplying by the lever arm, I'm getting 2-5% less...
Thanks for the insights guys. I guess I'm still wondering how I would go about going from nodal values to plate internal stresses or the other way around? Is it a matrix calculation that I have to do all at once? Does it depend on my plate porperties and dimensions?
I'm trying to understand an example in Bathe's Finite Element procedures, but there is something I'm missing. He goes from elements stress to equivalent nodal point forces (he says "in the virtual work sense"), but I don't understand he's doing the transition. Can the forces at element nodal...
@Smoulder What you are saying make a lot of sense. Maybe I am just not familiar with the relevant clauses, but my impression was that the Canadian Standards are always doing member checks. Splitting all checks into these two categories is a great idea: I can loop through the whole section for...
