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What is the appropriate response to a prospective client who wants a house designed on a pier foundation? The house is located somewhere in the northeast area of Pennsylvania. I want to be able to explain what types of testing are required, what tests are optional(if any) and how to go about...

Focht3, you pegged that one. Soil profile type S4 was selected as a worst-case seismic coefficient for structural analysis. That seemed easy to do in this part of the country where it doesn't govern anyway - for a simple building like this.

BigH, yes, I guess you could say it is a structural definition. Soil type S4 is defined in the seismic section of BOCA 1996, Table 1610.3.1 as "A soil profile characterized by a shear wave velocity less than 500 feet per second, containing more than 40 feet of soft clays or silts." I...

PorkChopBobby, In addition to the comments about limiting the deflection, make sure you also consider how the deflections affect other components. A horizontal deflection of 1/2" or 3/4" might sound okay to a window manufacturer, but what happens if the window head is 12" from...

I am investigating the design of a 50' x 80' single story storage and/or work-shop type building that needs a foundation designed under it. Would a mat foundation thickened under the columns be the most appropriate? Or does the entire perimeter need to extend below the frost level? Building...

structuresguy, I think you are just scratching the surface of an entire industry of "standards" and assumptions that trouble many an engineer. I've been working in the industry and providing calcs for the very thing you are critiquing for over a year now (after working for years with...

I am looking for recommendations to upgrade my concrete text book to go with recent code updates and new design procedures. Are there any particular books that I should look to first? Preferably, it would reflect the latest ACI code.

Am I correct in assuming that you have limited space to play with where only the thickness of an angle leg will fit between the top of wall and the lower chord of the roof joists?

To overstate the obvious, control joints are only meant to control the location of the cracks, not the quantity. Is the reviewing engineer only stating this "deficiency" for the record, or is this a finished slab where the cracks look ugly as opposed to neat? The final finish on...

OzarkMTBr, Definitely use at least L/600 as the deflection limit for a masonry wall. Brick Industry Association Technical Note #28b (http://www.brickinfo.org/pdfs/28b.pdf) discusses brick deflection limits for a steel stud supporting wall. I would think the same logic would apply to your...

This note may be overdue in terms of this particular case, but I see welds spec'd between these dissimlar metal thickness all of the time. One thing that we have come across that is not mentioned in this post is that our erector prefers to use E60xx electrodes. Because they do so much welding...

In our line of business we often specify a lot of bent plate fabrications, typically from 16gage cold-rolled steel sheet to 3/8" hot-rolled plate. Often, we take it for granted that the materials are "bendable" and that there will not be any adverse affects from the bending...

Is it an appropriate practice to use an E6011 electrode for welding A653 SQ Grade 50 steel (light gage studs and sheet) to structural steel? The steel types are job specific and could vary from A36 to A572 Grade 50 and beyond. I have reviewed several AWS manuals and Welding Innovation...

MetalGuy, thanks for the info; is this published any place? I haven't seen information in typical engineering books, though I haven't looked too hard. CoryPad, great references. Unfortunately, the particular loads in this situation are too great for any of their fasteners. I looked up...

Where can information be found regarding what types of bolts and nuts are weldable. And from that, can these welds be designed using the same parameters as those for "typical" steel members? We want to use a threaded rod or bolt as a tension/compression member between two pieces of...

Thanks for all of the concerned responses. I have since found that RG88's reference to AISC Specification 1.17.6 Lap Joints is the same as AISC 9th Edition ASD, Specification J2.b, Lap Joints. Combining this note with the one from the AWS handboook, I am satisfied enough to take this one to task.

The "base metal" is actually 16 gage (.054 inch) steel studs (50ksi) at 16" on center. And the continuous plate being welded to the flanges of the studs is an in-place 8 gage (3/16" typical) cantilevered floor angle/pour stop. The upturned angle of the pour stop is being...

Vonlueke, That is the $10 question of the day. If the weld is so underdesigned that it has minimal bending capacity ( or that it only carries the shearing load, P ) then it becomes so flexible that it is essentially a pinned connection. Hence, therein lies the oxymoron, and the short-sighted...

Vonlueke, Thanks for drawing the picture, you interpreted what I said just right. But to make matters more troubling, the plate of width L is continuous into the page. Point '+' is being assumed as a pinned connection with a stitch weld of about 1 1/2" weld at 16" o.c. The force P...

Does anyone know of any documented statements regarding the loading of a line weld with a transverse moment about its weak axis? I need to convince a fabricator that their details are not acceptable, but I don't want to argue this alone. A statement from a credible source would greatly support...