The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has launched the first-ever design criteria for tornado-resistant buildings in their revised code ASCE/SEI 7-22, “Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Building and Other Structures.” ASCE is the most widely used standard ...
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Grillage Foundation: Types, Construction, and Advantages
Grillage foundation consists of one or more tiers of beams (steel or timber) superimposed at right angles to each other on a concrete layer to disperse load over an extensive area. This type of foundation is generally used for heavy ...
Tube Structural System: Types & Features
A tubular structural system is used in high-rise buildings to resist lateral loads like wind and seismic forces. These lateral load resisting systems let the building behave like a hollow cylindrical tube cantilevered perpendicular to the ground. Thus the structure ...
Major Signs of Unsound Concrete, Causes and Field Testing Methods
Unsound concrete can be identified through various signs such as visible cracks, micro-cracks, spalling, scaling, blisters, and delamination. Multiple factors lead to different types of damages, and as a result, a specific repair strategy may be required for each type of ...
Castellated Beams: History, Properties, and Advantages
A castellated beam is a type of beam in which an I-beam is sliced longitudinally along its web in a specified pattern. The objective is to use the cutting pattern to separate and reunite the beam with a deeper web. These ...
CABKOMA Strand Rods: World’s Lightest Anti-Seismic Reinforcement
Japan-based Komatsu Seiten Fabric Laboratory developed an innovative thermoplastic carbon fiber composite called CABKOMA Strand Rod in 2016. It is an efficient seismic reinforcement material that is being used in Komatsu Seiten’s head office exterior to protect it from earthquakes. ...
What are the Architectural Factors Affecting the Choice of Long-Span Concrete Floor?
Nowadays, long-span slabs are highly desirable as building owners demand spaces without columns. The selection of floor slabs such as flat plate, flat slab, ribbed slabs, slabs supported on beams, and prestressed slab is governed by many architectural and structural ...
Chilled Beams: Ceiling-Mounted Heat Exchangers
A chilled beam is an air distribution device with an integral coil designed to heat or cool large buildings. Chilled beams are made up of convective coils placed in the ceiling’s thermal zone to provide sensible cooling and heating. They ...