In May 2016, the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) published ANSI/AISC 358-16, Prequalified Connections for Special and Intermediate Steel Moment Frames for Seismic Applications. It has been a significant influence on the research and development of products by government agencies, universities, and engineering research centers. Much of the research was done soon after the failure of steel moment frames during the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. …
Author Archives : Sompandh Wanant, P.E., M. ASCE
Sompandh Wanant, P.E., M. ASCE, is Building/Structural Section Supervisor in the Division of Building Plan Review, Department of Permitting, Inspections and Enforcement, Prince George’s County, Maryland. He may be reached at swanant@co.pg.md.us.
In Ground Improvement for Building Support by Damian R. Siebert, P.E. and Steven R. Kraemer, P.E. (STRUCTURE, July 2015), we learn more about issues surrounding the ground improvement (GI) for a building support system (stone columns, aggregate piers placed under reinforced concrete footing). It is an intermediate foundation system, i.e. the system between shallow spread footings and deep pile foundation systems. Although the system has been around in Europe since the 1930s and in the U.S. about a decade later, it remains mostly in the hands of the specialty contractor’s foundation engineers. …
Reducing Building Floor-to-Floor Height
At the early stage of building design, most architectural designers start with functional block schematic floor plans and the structural floor system. The selection of the floor system is one of the most important considerations in building design. Each alternative demands a certain depth, which results in different building floor-to-floor heights. …
In recent years, it has become more desirable, and in many cases necessary, for architects and engineers to design buildings and structural frames with beams and girders of limited depth. Shallower structural depth allows building floor-to-floor height to be lowered and the amount of materials used – such as exterior cladding, interior walls, partitions, and stairs – to be reduced. In high-rise building construction, it allows extra floors to be added within the proposed building height. On expansion projects, a shallower structural depth helps facilitate the need to match the existing floor elevations. …