I am a structural engineer at a design build firm where I have not needed to do any of the drafting, they do not use AutoCAD.
I'm starting to get architectural drawings from outside architects that they would like structural markups (I use bluebeam) and calculations for. I would like to make...
I was digging into the commentary on this section and noticed that it makes numerous references to having already applied strength reduction factors. These strength reduction factors are in line with TMS 402 (0.6 unreinforced, 0.9 reinforced).
Have I been applying double strength reduction...
First, I need to buy an old 1950s textbook on reinforced concrete so I can figure out what sort of design considerations these guys, or women, were making.
More immediately important though, I'm having trouble getting a 1950s building to pencil out for some new loads. The beams I'm looking at...
I posed this question to both Dewalt and Hilti. Dewalt told me I didn't need to apply spacing reduction factors and they would clarify their tables in next additions. Hilti gave me more of a boiler plate answer that instructed me to refer to their table but ultimately its up to my engineering...
I'm having a difficult time wrapping my head around this.
We often have aluminum tubes that connect to steel posts for our pergolas. Given the welding properties (or lack thereof) of aluminum, its been really hard to develop a satisfactory moment connection. One idea recently floated by our...
If I install some FRP at the bottom of roof beams and slabs, and 30 years from now water starts penetrating the roof and freeze/thawing between the concrete and the FRP, is there a risk of FRP delaminating from the concrete and failing?
I have used FRP on a number of projects, but now come to...
This isn't for any pressing issue, just something I'm looking to have in my back pocket if needed.
Hilti uses a factor of safety of 5. The hilti catalog says that a global safety of 4 to 8 has been industry standard for nearly three decades. Is there any scenario where you guys would use a...
I am installing a roof deck on a Chicago building built in 1942. I have about 13.3 kips of allowable load that I need to dump on a brick wall. I'm trying to ascertain the lower bound f'm of the material. 11.2.3.10 Default Properties of ASCE 41-17 says that if I can scrape the mortar away with...
I need a little bit of a sanity check on this. I'm installing a new pergola on an existing masonry. If I run this thing as a moment connection, the loads always blow up my anchors. I would like this to be a pin. My first thought was to bolt the HSS to two angles, which would then be epoxy...
I'm wondering if there is a way to apply an area load that is only picked up by the projected area of members. I know RISA has an "Open Structure" feature in its area loads application, but I want to apply different loads at different "walls" to account for different windward/leeward pressures...
I have a pergola that has a privacy screen (50% permeability) for most of the height on one side. Technically, this wall is less than 80% open and thus the whole thing is partially enclosed. Do you think its reasonable to only load this screen with the .55 GPCi pressure coefficient, and load...
I have an issue where I am trying to connect a pergola, topped with solar panels, to a less than ideal masonry wall. The pergola posts are pinned at the top, so my connections to the wall need to be fixed for lateral stability. This moment connection wont pencil out.
Another option is to run...
After a recent career change, it looks like I have a lot of existing truss repair ahead of me. Alexander Newman mentions sandwiching light frame trusses with plywood in Structural Renovation of Buildings as a repair option.
I'm looking for allowable stresses for plywood to use with the NDS...
