The economics of reducing seismic risk has generally received less attention in regions of lower seismicity than in higher-risk regions of the country. Though less heralded, the subject is important: what investment in risk reduction is appropriate to the extant risk? …
Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is a quantitative means for assessing the environmental impact of an object. In structural engineering, the object of interest may be a building, bridge, or other structure. In order to provide a complete picture, the environmental impacts from the entire life-cycle of the object is considered: from the acquisition of the raw materials needed to form the members, through the energy and ancillary materials involved in the processing and transportation of these materials and members, excavation required during construction, future maintenance such as redecking or painting, up to the end use or disposal of the members. …
Structural engineering is undergoing a profound change towards a life-cycle-oriented design philosophy to fulfill the continuously increasing demand from societal, political, economic and environmental needs. In this approach, the classical point-in-time design criteria are extended to account for more comprehensive time-variant performance indicators over the entire service life. …
This article references several detailed Tables. Unfortunately, space constraints dictate not reprinting Table 1 from the May 2016 issue of STRUCTURE.
Efficiency and economy of structures are important parts of structural engineering. Efficiency and economy are not new ideas: engineers build many remarkable bridges and buildings under strict financial constraints. …
Efficiency and economy of structures are important parts of structural engineering. This is not a new idea. Many remarkable bridges and buildings have been built under strict financial constraints. …
Steel joist and deck systems are already an efficient means of construction, but there are ways an engineer can design these systems more efficiently and cost effectively. Techniques include designing support framing to maximize deck strength utilization, selecting seat sizes to accommodate long joist top chord extensions, …
A common, simplifying assumption used for specifying polystyrene insulation under concrete slabs results in material costs that are significantly higher than necessary. Using a design equation based on a more rigorous analysis of the design conditions can help avoid over-engineering the insulation and save thousands of dollars on the project. …