Bulb-Tees Make More Efficient Long-Span Bridges
The bulb-tee girder has helped erect new bridges with fewer I-beams, and is also shown in studies to be a structurally efficient, cost-effective alternative for long-span bridges....
Timber!
For engineers accustomed to working with steel, using large wood beams in structural applications can be an unusual experience. Three Midwestern construction projects�a nature center,...
Florida's Big Bellies
FPL designed and installed double reverse tapered poles, affectionately called big belly because the width gradually increases toward the middle and narrows at both ends. The poles replace...
Historic Downtown Dilemma (Available only in Structural Engineering special issue)
Many older commercial masonry buildings built of locally quarried stone or fired brick in downtown areas suffer from roof leaks. Because a studwall cavity often is located between the...
Turnback Project Moves Ahead
The $202 million Muni Metro Turnback (MMT) Project, scheduled for completion in September 1996, includes an 840 ft section consisting of twin steel-lined tunnels that connects to the Embarcadero...
Re-engineering Cowboy Heaven (Available only in
On a wooded hill overlooking the north end of Oklahoma City sits one of the foremost repositories of this country's Western heritage, the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. Contained...
The Timberlake Dam Failure: A Hydrometeorological Assessment
Extremely heavy rainfall over the Timberlake basin in southwest Virginia on 23 June 1995 caused an earthen dam to fail and resulted in fatalities. The meteorological conditions are examined...
Swimming in Style
The Deerfield Academy's new $10 million swimming and squash facility, built in the floodplain of a river, is a jewel-box created from glue-laminated timber, galvanized steel,...
Reinforced Glued Laminated Timber
In record time, reinforced glued laminated timber (glulam) has moved from an experimental product to wide-spread commercial acceptance. Several case studies illustrate applications and...
Marine Borers Are Back
Cleaning up the nation's harbors has brought a resurgence in marine borer activity. These organisms, mainly the teredo and the limnoria, eat at timber piers, undermining critical...
Parking Lot Corrosion Cure
The $3 million structural repair and restoration of a large post-tensioned parking structure required engineers to replace 2,400 tendons while keeping the parking garage in service. After...
Guidelines for Evaluating Aging Penstocks
Northridge Postscript: Lesson on Steel Connections
Immediately after the Northridge earthquake in January 1994, the general concensus was that steel-framed buildings performed extremely well. Later, inspectors were surprised to find weld...
Wood Working
Engineers may be more accustomed to working with concrete and steel, but for certain projects aesthetics, cost or other considerations may make wood the preferred choice. According to...
More Parking Above
Vertical expansion of six (6) new floors of parking garage on top of four (4) floors of existing structure that was built over three decades ago, adding 155,000 square foot of new structure....
Sounding Out Scour
As engineers are aware, detection of bridge scour is the best protection. A method for monitoring scour during low, normal or high water flows would also help alleviate some of the ambiguity...
The Winds of Change?
In 1992, Hurricanes Andrew and Iniki combined to generate an estimated $30 billion in damage. The storms also generated their share of reports and recommendations about how best to mitigate...
Dynamic Analysis of a High Speed Transport Model by Using a Piecewise Continuous Timoshenko Beam Model
Conventional treatment of structural dynamic analysis and control is based on the finite element structural model. But such a treatment uses a very large number of elements which is usually...
An Inflatable Antenna for Space-Based Low-Frequency Radio Astronomy
Antennas for a low-frequency orbiting radio telescope must have minimal problems in deployment, a directional beam, and a wide-angle scanning capability. Inflatable antennas with deposited...
Load Duration Effects in an 85-Year-Old Timber Structure
Duration of load (DOL) effects are assessed in 85-year-old heavy timber trusses using five common DOL models. These models are based on the idea of static damage accumulation. Material...
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