Steel Plate Shear Walls Resist Lateral Load, Cut Costs
Two new buildings have a seldom-used stiffening system�� steel plate shear walls. Reasons for using them, rather than reinforced concrete shear walls or steel or concrete rigid frames,...
Ontario Writes New Bridge Code
In 1976, Ontario's Ministry of Transportation and Communications decided to write its own bridge design code, breaking away from the AASHTO code, because: (1)It wanted a metric...
Top-to-Bottom Construction in High-Rise Buildings
This top-to-bottom construction method, called jackblock is a cousin of lift-slab. The main components are the jack and concrete block, hence the name. The top story of a building is constructed...
Design and Construction of Long-Span Metal Culverts
Long-span metal culverts are built of corrugated-metal plates bolted together. They have spans exceeding 15 ft. Principal applications include use as drainage structures, grade separations,...
Concrete Microwave Tower is Award Winner
A microwave tower in Florida was built of cast-in-place concrete instead of steel, because: (1)Concrete was considered more esthetic than steel; and (2)concrete was more resistant than...
Underground Buildings Save Energy
While properly designed underground buildings use less energy for heating and cooling, that's not always the reason they're underground. For example, San Francisco's...
Intercity Bridge: First Major U.S. Cable-Stayed Bridge
The Intercity Bridge spans the Columbia River, connecting the cities of Pasco and Kennewick, Wash. It is the longest cable-stayed, concrete bridge in the U.S. (2,403-ft) and it has been...
Largest Inverted Shell Houses Two Theaters
A meeting center in Albany, New York, has such a complex shape that it took months just to design its surface mathematically. Perched on a pedestal, it is nearly elliptical in plan. From...
Modern Engineering Saves Troubled Dam
A badly deteriorated and potentially unsafe dam has been recycled. The 135-ft-high, 300-ft-long LaPrele Dam is a concrete slab-and-buttress structure. Its sloping face slab has leaked...
Space: A Place to Work
An overview of the nation's space program as space shuttle capability nears reality. The cargo truck aspects of the shuttle will transform our efforts in space. In the near...
Building Skyscrapers in Orbit
NASA plans to build a host of large structures (communications antennas, remote-sensing radiometers, solar power satellites, etc.) in space. Three ways to build them are: (1)Fabricate...
Facelifting City Streets
Augusta, Georgia rebuilt a four-block, 10-acre section of the main street (Broad Street) to improve traffic flow, beautify the street, provide safe, efficient and convenient parking and...
Fighting Fire With Concrete
Fire departments have been required to handle an increasing number of fires in multi-story buildings. A fire department in a rapidly developing suburb of Indianapolis, Ind., undertook...
Testing Concrete in Place
Although modern concrete construction has developed during the past 60 years, one aspect has remained essentially unchanged�the use of molded cylinders tested in compression to estimate...
Stub Girders Cut Steel Use
One innovation in steel building construction, now 10 years old, is the steel stub girder floor framing system. By using a girder that is a composite of steel girder, metal deck and lightweight...
Jacked Pipe Provides Roof for Underground Construction in Busy Urban Area
Construction of a major underground station for the metro in Antwerp, Belgium was done in a busy downtown area employing a method that virtually eliminated ground subsidence. The method...
World's First Iron Bridge
In 1779, using a new man-made material, skilled English workmen built a single-span bridge of cast iron over a steep river gorge about 140 miles northwest of London. The result was a 424-ton...
Research Needs in Structural Engineering
Here are some highlights of the state of Research Needs in Structural Engineering, prepared at National Science Foundation�ASCE workshop in June 1979. Overall, the statement says, U.S....
Civil Engineering in the Oceans IV
This conference on Civil Engineering in the Oceans is sponsored by the Technical Committee on Ocean Engineering (TCOE) of the Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Division of ASCE in cooperation...
State-of-the-Art Report on Air-Supported Structures
A structure with a structural system which is dependent on pressurization, either positive or negative, is termed a pressure preloaded structure. Most pressure preloaded structures intended...
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