January Post: Grade Beam Detail

Recently, I've been working on more cross sections of structures. The drawings below shows the inner layers of a grade beam and grade slab. In drawing A, the grade beam is connected to the grade slab with reinforcements such as rebars and bolts. What are rebars you may ask? Rebars are a bundle of steel bars in a pattern linear formation. The rebars, in detail D, are located between the bolts inside the grade beam, supporting the load coming from the grade slab. 

I drew this structure a long time ago and showed it during my lesson 1 presentation. This blog post is focused on a portion of this structure, which is located (in this drawing) on D.

 This is the process of me finishing Grade Beam Detail (D).

This is my finished work of Detail D.

Blog 12: Third Interview Questions

1.      How can a structural engineer best design a building for earthquake resistance?

2.      How does a design for earthquake resistance make a building safer?

3.      Do you design structures that provide earthquake resistance? Can you describe the designs?

4.      How does the magnitude of an earthquake change a design of a building?

5.      Can you talk to me about buildings that your firm has built which are earthquake proof?

6.      What procedures does your firm follow before designing an earthquake proof building?

7.      Does providing a building with more earthquake resistance have any negative effects?

8.      How do you build a better foundation?

9.      How does AutoCAD play a role in how you design a building for earthquake resistance?

10.  What signature structures does your firm incorporate into a building designed for earthquake resistance?

Blog 11: Mentorship 10 Hours

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?

I'm doing my mentorship at Kanda and Tso.

2.   Who is your contact?

My contact is my mentor Tzuoh-Jaw Wu.

3.   How many total hours have you done (total hours should be reflected in your mentorship log located on the right hand side of your blog like your WB)?   

So far I have completed 39 hours of my mentorship.

4.   Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.

I focused on sketching detailed parts of the SMRF system. These parts are the column base detail, panel zone, and the grade beam. Most of the details I had to sketch within these parts involved labeling, adding bolts to specific structures, indicating welding, and indicating flanges.

5.   Email your house teacher the name of your contact and their phone number confirming who they should call to verify it. 

Ok

Blog 10: Senior Project: The Holiday

Content:

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you over the break with your senior project?

I did more detailed drawings on the SMRF (Special Movement Restraint Frame Elevation). Specifically I worked on the footings the panel zones of the SMRF, drawing more details such as indicating bolts and welding. 

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did and why?  What was the source of what you learned?

The most important thing I've learned from what I did is that there's always a lot of support in keeping a structure intact. There's never one main component holding a structure together; every single support structure is important. When a structure is specifically designed for earthquakes, there are more supports and that the supports are also composed of even more supports. For example, a footing connects with a column through bolts, hinges, welding and a grade beam. Inside the grade beam contains more bolts, hinges, and welding. Also, the footing is also surrounded by soil to not only withstand the load of the building, but also to put the footings in place with the beams.  This learning experience comes from the knowledge of my mentor and the blue prints that were given too me.

3.  If you were going to do a 10 question interview on questions related to answers of your EQ, who would you talk to and why?

I would talk to my mentor because he has done simulations of buildings reactions to earthquakes on the computer and he also has over 20 years of experience in his career.

I would maybe also ask the boss of my mentor, since he has more experience as a structural engineer than my mentor.

Pad Footings

Recently, I've been working on footings during my mentorship. Footings are the foundations of a structure or building (basically holds the structure/building in place). One type of footing that I've been working on is the pad footing. Pad footings are designed to be embedded in the soil, transferring the buildings' load to the soil. Pad footings are usually placed below a gradient beam, made of concrete, and is connected with column that goes through the gradient beam. This can all be seen in the picture below.

Also, on one of my previous posts, I had to redo the panel zone, since my mentor made some changes to make the drawings simpler for me to draw. This can be seen on the picture below.

Manuals for Building Element Measurements

During my mentorship, I've been starting to use more books to help me calculate building elements. Most engineers can't remember every scale or measurement for every single building element. There are too many components for each type of building element for a single engineer to memorize. These components can be weight, height, depth, thickness, dimensions, etc. Recently, I've been studying more on a building element called Wide Flanges. Wide Flanges help stabilize beams and also let the beams expand their limber properties. To find the measurements to find the weight capacity of the beams, I have to consider these wide flanges in the equation. This book (on the bottom) helps not only give me the measurements for different sizes of Wide Flanges, but also for all steel building elements.

On the top left hand corner of this page there's a picture that's in a shape of an I. That picture is an example of a Wide Flange. This page also shows an example of what measurements structural engineers have to look for during their work hours.

EQ

1.   I reviewed the rule of three for writing an EQ.

Essential Question 
Once a topic is chosen, the student will develop a working essential question.  The purpose of the working essential question is to help the student build a strong foundation of research which will allow him or her to create an essential question that encourages depth and rigor in the chosen topic.  An essential question must:

·                     Provide a framework for studies (It calls for breadth and depth of research, Is not a yes/no question)

·                     Takes a stance (Allows you to argue some point, Cannot be a recitation of facts or a list)

·                      Format (It is specific, The wording makes sense)

2.  Review the following EQs and

·                     Tell us if it meets the rule of 3 criteria.

·                     Tell why it does or why it doesn't

 a.  What is the most important factor in healthy weight loss?

There are many factors to losing weight in a healthy process. For examples, spicy food increases an individual's metabolism compared to other types of food. This can go on to further research on the chemical compounds of spicy food and how this can contribute to weight loss. Since there is more than one answer to this question, it's very easy to take a stance in one effective routine for healthy weight loss. So yes this follows the rule of three because it's specific in what type of weight loss (healthy), there are many answers to answer this question, and there is lots of scientific research involved in finding factors for healthy weight loss.

 b.  What is most important to securing a conviction in a criminal investigation?

I would say this follows most of the rule of three because there are many options to find a criminal guilty such as DNA testing, so it's easy for someone to take a stance to choose what the best way to convict criminals is. The only issue I have with this question is I don't know what type of person is being convicted. So I wouldn't say this question meets the rule of three.

 c.  What is most important in creating a hairstyle that best satisfies a customer?

Same as part b, I wouldn't say this question follows all the rules in the rule of three because it's not clear on what type of demographic the question is aiming for. The question should specifically cite what type of customer because different demographics have different interests in style.

 d.  How can an Anesthesiologist best treat chronic pain?

Yes this follows the rule of three because the question is specific on who is treating the chronic pain, its shows that there can be research because chronic pain isn't an easy topic, and it's easy to take a stance because there are many ways in medicine and therapy to treat chronic pain.

3.  Based on your review of the rule of 3 and your experience with assessing four EQs, please write another draft EQ for your senior project.

How can a structural engineer design structural parts for a building to be resistant towards earthquakes?