Micro Tilt-Up Construction for Super Low Cost Structures

Overview of Cementitious Materials Used

In this article, the term “cement” was used throughout, referring to various cementitious materials. The first Dome was built with a standard non-structural mortar mix that can be purchased at any retail home improvement store. The panels can be fabricated with any number of cementitious mixes, including grout, mortar and concrete. The second Dome is under construction using a grout mixture with excellent results. Additional materials will be tested in conjunction with the carpet in the future. …

Green Terraces Present Design Challenges in a 10-Story Senior Housing Complex

Around 1900, the School Sisters of Notre Dame settled on a wooded hill in Milwaukee. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the nuns built “a little pioneer home hidden under mighty trees.” More than a century later, greenery crowns another home built on the same hill: Convent Hill, a $9.9 million, 10-story senior residence with roof terraces filled with day lilies, spirea, phlox, shrubs and grass. The terraces are extensive. …

Off-Site Assembly Reduces Schedule, Enhances Safety, and Cuts Costs

Domestic gas fields are rejuvenated using technologies such as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, which can substantially increase the supply of natural gas. Many formations also contain heavier hydrocarbons such as ethane, propane, butane, and gasoline. These natural gas liquids (NGL) have a higher market value when separated from the natural gas stream and segregated into their individual components in a fractionation facility. …

The New NY Bridge Project

The Tappan Zee Hudson River Crossing (or “New NY Bridge”) is perhaps the largest and most challenging bridge project currently under construction in the US. The project includes two parallel, 3.1 mile-long bridges crossing the Hudson River between Rockland and Westchester Counties, approximately 25 miles north of New York City. …

Malaysia is a country which became independent from the British is 1957 and has been developing its economy and infrastructure ever since. Malaysia is the 3^rd largest economy in Southeast Asia and 29^th worldwide based upon exports of natural and agricultural resources and petroleum. It has a large manufacturing sector; however, one of the economic goals is to increase tourism. …

Erecting a Long Single Span Curved Steel Girder Bridge

In 2009, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority began work on a 35 mile widening from Exit 8A to Exit 6 consisting of extending the dualization of the roadway for car and truck lanes. The finished roadway will consist of six (6) lanes in each direction. Five (5) interchanges were reconstructed and/or reconfigured, along with the replacement or widening of all bridges along the route. …

Part 3: Foundation Revisions

The subject building is an existing timber-framed, multi-story structure that is over one hundred years old. Previous installments of this article have discussed the investigation and resulting need to evacuate the occupants, the nature of the deterioration observed, and the solutions considered for repair of the deteriorated columns. …

Engineering advancements can have a major impact on the end design of buildings, improving their aesthetics and therefore their marketability. Cutting edge techniques employed for a six-story tilt-up speculative office building near Houston prove that advancements in the field of tilt-up concrete construction are having a positive impact on real estate profitability. …

Department of Defense (DoD) facilities have never had a more complex set of protective needs than they do today. Following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the DoD published its Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC) 4-010-01, DoD Minimum Anti-Terrorism Standards for Buildings. In 2013, this document was updated to its current version. UFC 4-010-01 identifies what reasonable precautions can be taken – for a reasonable cost – on buildings owned, leased, privatized or otherwise occupied, managed or controlled by or for the DoD. …

Delivering Water under Pressure

Installed between 1952 and 1973, the 78-inch and 96-inch-diameter Bay Division Pipelines (BDPLs) 3 and 4 are two of the major regional transmission pipelines in the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s (SFPUC’s) Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System. …