Establishing Patterns of Building Failures
Establishing statistical patterns of building failures can help engineers and architects prevent similar failures in the future and also reduce litigation. The Architecture and Engineering...
1986: The Year of the Connection
It is proposed that 1986 be designated the Year of the Connection and that the American Society of Civil Engineers take a leading role in overcoming problems now associated with structural...
Window Glass in Extreme Winds: Design for Flying Debris
Whether or not to change design procedures for window glass in buildings subject to very high winds was debated at the ASCE Convention in Houston. Preventing gravel and other debris from...
Civil Engineering Productivity�Can It Be Boosted?
In the past 20 years, construction labor productivity has declined while private business productivity has risen. And construction's percent of U.S. GNP has dropped nearly...
Structural Steel Details: Comments on Divided Responsibility
Five readers responded to an article on responsibility for structural steel details published in
Can Management Techniques Solve Pavement Woes?
Cities are increasingly turning to systematic procedures for allocating scare manpower and funds and measuring pavement repair and rehabilitation needs. Many cities have adopted pavement...
Fluid/Structure Interaction During Seismic Excitation
Hydrodynamic loading and other fluid/structure interaction effects need to be considered in the design of structures which contain, surround, or are submerged in fluids when subject to...
Probabilistic Mechanics and Structural Reliability
Computing in civil engineering has gone through serious adjustments in recent years. With the advent of computer-aided design and drafting systems (CAD) and microcomputers, computing capability...
Reinforcing Roof Truss Frames Under Load
Without altering the roof structure of an industrial boiler plant, a long-span steel truss frame was modified in place to support heavier loads. The owners of an industrial boiler plant...
High Rise Design: Accounting for Column Length Changes
In the late 1950's and early 1960's, the height of concrete buildings jumped from 20 to 60 stories. During the same period, architects introduced the use of exposed...
Managing Overhead in Consulting Engineering Firms
One of the ways an engineering firm can maintain - or increase - profitability is through judicious management of overhead. Yet various industry studies suggest that the typical engineering...
Computing in Civil Engineering
A broad spectrum of computer applications in civil engineering is covered in 73 papers presented at the Third Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering. Emphasis is on microcompters...
An Extreme-Value Model for Strength of Stiff Clays
The role of the distribution function in the safety analysis of soil structures is briefly discussed. Comparison of the two statistical distributions - normal and Weibull - reveals that...
Steel Girder Bridge Sets Record Length
The Veterans Memorial Bridge at Ottawa, Ill., is the longest plate girder, stringer type bridge in the country with spans of 385, 510 and 305 ft. Value engineering played an important...
Building Failures�Construction Related Problems and Solutions
A leadership group of representatives from the fields of structural design, construction, building inspection, the law and insurance agreed that if five changes are made in the way building...
A Look at the New ACI Concrete Code
Building Code Requirements for Reinforced Concrete (ACI 318-83) is discussed in terms of three major changes: limitations on chlorides, especially in aggregates, that affect durability;...
Tunnelling in Soil and Rock
The relationship between tunnel design and construction is covered with emphasis on case histories of field measurements and performance. A general report emphasizes the importance of...
Frost Action and Its Control
This state-of-the-art review addresses, in four separate papers, frost heave processes and their control. A review of the fundamental principles of soil freezing and thawing is presented...
LAX Takes Flight for the 1984 Olympics
LAX (the Los Angeles airport) had over two dozen contractors working on site to complete their $700 million improvement plan in time for the Olympics in July. They also came up with several...
The Case of the Bungled Bridge Rehab
Foundation failures and rehabilitations concern the owner, the engineer and the contractor. These parties face liability to one another as well as to third parties. There are contractual...
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