The key is discovering value and avoiding waste.
Building Information Modeling (BIM) is used extensively throughout the construction industry, with some trades fabricating directly from BIM as standard practice. Even steel rebar for cast-in-place concrete is being modeled and fabricated using BIM. So why isn’t all Cold-Formed Steel (CFS) framing included in a model, and why do some CFS contractors consider BIM a waste of time?
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Bored piles primarily carry static vertical loads when supporting a building. In designing such piles, the shaft resistance and end bearing are often estimated when determining the pile’s load-carrying capacity. To ensure satisfactory performance, the pile also needs to meet specific settlement criteria at working loads. One helpful aid in pile design is using numerical simulations. With advances in computing, access to numerical simulations has become widely available and often quite economical. This article highlights some practical aspects of numerical simulations which can be helpful in pile design.
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Structural engineers typically design standard connections that can be solved in several minutes using Design Guides, spreadsheets, or simple software. The non-standard connections are the real challenge. The 80/20 rule applies: 80% of the time is spent on 20% of connections. Non-standard connections are not only more challenging to design but also more costly and prone to errors. …