Steel Research Topics 2

[LeonhardEuler]

I am in a graduate course for Advanced Steel Design and have a research paper to write for the course. I can pick the topic of my research and I thought that the engineers here may have some interesting research ideas.

What are some interesting research ideas you have related to steel design?

 

[271828]

Investigate the validity of the instantaneous center method for slip-critical connections and when bearing or tearout controls.

 

[271828]

Review of the available "fast connections" for steel construction. Include a cost savings study on a hypothetical building. Where labor is more expensive, these are probably more cost effective.

 

[271828]

There is a user note in Section J3.10 of the 14th Ed. Specification that says to combine the bolt rupture, bearing, and tearout strengths rather than check bolts separately from bearing and tearout. Analyze some connections to determine the magnitude of the differences between these approaches. Review the literature to find evidence for the two approaches and discuss.

 

[271828]

Explore the reasons behind cracks in composite slabs at girder lines. Discuss when they are a big enough deal to mitigate. Determine and discuss economy and effectiveness of typical mitigation methods.

 

[271828]

Case study of LFRS design of a tall building from a human comfort standpoint. Lateral motion due to wind.

 

[271828]

Some hospital floors must be designed to limit floor vibration in patient rooms per the FGI guidelines. These seem overly conservative to me. Investigate the origin of these and discuss why they're wrong. Oops, I meant discuss the reasoning behind them.

 

[FLCraneBuilder]

Overhead crane guy Here..
a couple topics I've delved into, but do not find time to really put in the work they deserve
OVERHEAD CRANE RUNWAY SYSTEMS -
1) allowable offset of crane rail from centerline of runway beam web. AISC publishes a VERY arbitrary allowable, but it is arguably inappropriate. I can easily find ways to prove their allowable needs work. Its much harder to come up with a allowable that is appropriate and calculable.
2) Solid bar runway rails are becoming common in the states and have long been used outside the US. I postulate that the bar can become a portion of the runway beams section and possibly reduce the size of the runway beam(s). How much weld is needed to make the bar to be considered a part of the beam?

I hope these ideas assist you