Understanding the intricacies of structural engineering drawings is crucial for every architect and civil engineer. This article explores the various elements of these drawings, shedding light on load criteria, wind load criteria, foundations, slab on grid, soil improvements, reinforced concrete, and more.
Key Insights
- The structural engineering drawings are guided by the general note, which includes the general conditions and bases of design. These drawings elaborate on various load criteria like superimposed dead loads, live loads, wind load criteria, and more.
- Certain geographical factors like being in a hurricane or flood-prone zone also have significant impact on the overall design. These factors influence information about the lowest floor elevation, lateral load pressures, and conditions about soil improvements.
- Other important elements discussed in these drawings include reinforced concrete, post-tensioned concrete, concrete masonry, structural steel requirements, and post-installed anchors. All these factors contribute to the structural engineer's design of a building, keeping in mind the regional parameters set by the regulatory or building agency.
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Let's look at the first of our structural engineering drawings, the general note. There are general conditions and then bases of design. So structural has load criteria with which they're working.
They're saying, for example, superimposed dead loads, and this means the building itself for roofing is 10 pounds per square foot, different kinds of miscellaneous roof loads, live loads, live loads are people and furnishings in the building, the garage, the live loads for the vehicles, mechanical rooms would be the equipment, elevator machine rooms, kitchens. So what's happening is when they design the structural systems for these different components of the buildings, they need to meet these specific capacities. There are wind load criteria.
If you're in a hurricane or tornado-based zone, those factors must be considered in the overall design. If you're in a flood-prone area, you need information about the lowest floor elevation that's being analyzed for flood zone factoring. Then they also talk about foundations and slab on grid.
So again, the lateral load pressures that need to be held by that. There are conditions about soil improvements. Sometimes the soil under the project site is insufficient to meet the standard engineering load calculations.
So these are talking about the parameters that the soil must meet, otherwise the soil would need to be improved. Let's just slide up to the top. Reinforced concrete, again, the PSIs for typical foundations, for mat foundations, retaining walls, slab on grade, framed floor slabs, column and shear walls.
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Again, these are the structural engineering design loads. A comment here about tying reinforcing steel and embedment securely in place prior to placing the concrete. Standard common sense items.
Factors on post-tensioned concrete. The parking structure is post-tensioned. This is still about the post-tensioning.
Information about concrete masonry. There are reinforcing bars that are inside concrete masonry. So they're talking about the lapping requirements for reinforcing bars.
Structural steel requirements. Comments about bolting or welding. Metal decking, which is under a poured concrete floor.
Again, the parameters required for that. Hold formed metal framing. And post-installed anchors and adhesive anchored rebar.
This is systems that are installed after the steel has been installed. For example, anchor bolts to make sure that seismic parameters are being properly adhered to. These post-installed anchors typically require special inspections by a designated expert who would watch the work being done and confirm that the special inspection requirements were being satisfied.
So again, these are the general notes for the structural engineering drawings. And these form the basis of design upon which the structural engineer is designing their building. The regulatory or building agency will usually set the regional parameters for the specific requirements which must be satisfied.
These requirements are typically in addition to requirements for the general or universal building code requirements. So again, feel free to zoom in on this PDF and read a couple of more things. It's always interesting stuff.
See you in the next vid!
