In a recent Structural Forum column, A Remarkable Profession!, September 2013, Stan Caldwell pointed out some of the negative aspects of structural engineering that often prompt complaints from its practitioners. Those comments resonated with me and, I suspect, many of the more seasoned engineers who have witnessed significant changes in the profession over the past few decades. …
Buro Happold Consulting Engineers was an Award Winner for the World Trade Center Memorial Pavilion project in the 2013 NCSEA Annual Excellence in Structural Engineering awards program (Category – New Buildings $30M to $100M).
The new National September 11 Memorial Museum Pavilion, located within the archaeological heart of the World Trade Center in New York City, opened to the public on May 21, 2014. …
Over the course of my career, I have worked in both engineering design and construction. While I have dealt with each of the systems described above, most of my experience has been with pre-engineered wood trusses. My purpose here is not to so much discuss their design, but rather focus on the overall coordination needed during the design process, including their role as a deferred submittal. – Dean Brown …
Among the many code provisions which may be characterized as ambiguous, few seem as pervasive as the issue of full-height blocking for either wood or cold-formed steel construction. Opinions regarding the need for full-height blocking widely varying, and it seems that even the purpose of full-height blocking is subject to debate. …
The model building codes in the U.S. cover virtually every safety-related topic associated with construction of buildings. Fire-related issues comprise a surprisingly large portion of the model codes. Designing for fire safety is a complex and multifaceted issue. Discussion in this article is limited to design of exposed wood members. Additional information on building code requirements for wood can be found in the American Wood Council’s (AWC) Code Conforming Wood Design documents, available for free download. …
A change is coming this year to the familiar ACI 318, Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete, published by the American Concrete Institute. The existing format of ACI 318 dates back to the 1960s, and feedback from code users in recent years has made it clear that a modernized version is necessary. Especially for rapidly evolving parts of the industry, such as tilt-up construction, the new code should ensure greater overall consistency and accuracy. …
March 31, 2014 marked the 125th anniversary of the inauguration of the Eiffel Tower. Erected in 1889 on Champs de Mars in Paris for the Fourth World Exposition, the Eiffel Tower became famous even before its opening. …
Balancing blast load design and research with project requirements can be challenging. A simple renovation, like one including window replacement, may seem straightforward especially when seismic rehabilitation is not a concern, but on a West Coast US Military Base it is anything but. Accurately incorporating blast research with what is known about the construction of an existing building is the focus of this article. …
The wind load provisions in ASCE 7 can seem overly complicated and confusing. One common criticism is that more than one method is permitted to compute the main wind force resisting system (MWFRS) loads for rigid low-rise buildings (≤ 60 feet high), and that this can produce different results. This article discusses the key research and the development of these different MWFRS wind load methods, and draws heavily from the archives of the Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA) – a key player in sponsoring research that has led to the understanding and codification of wind loads on low-rise buildings. …
Virtue ethics has been around for at least 2,500 years, and the classic work about it will always be Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. However, contemporary proponents must address a wide range of additional issues and objections that have come up over the intervening centuries, including those raised by modern alternative approaches like deontology and consequentialism (“Rethinking Engineering Ethics,” November 2010). …