Month: August 2011

New Scenario of Building Construction | Technological Advancement

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Architecture and Civil Engineering | Technological Advances

Technology has really changed the world. Architecture and Civil Engineering have developed immensely with developing Technology. It’s amazing how the scenario of the world has changed in just a matter of 50 years.

Amazing Video. Must watch. Gives you the feeling of being proud of being an Architect or a Civil Engineer…!

Do you feel proud for being a Civil Engineer or an Architect??

 Just have a look at how construction technology has done wonders in the field of construction. Engineers and Architects have taken the technological advances pretty well.

I have always seen a conflict between Civil Engineers and Architects. Both of them have their own egos and think one is superior than the other.

I am presenting some of the patent dialogues from a Civil Engineer and an Architect…

Civil Engineer: I am the one who makes a structure stand on the ground successfully.

Architect: All you do is put some steel into the design made by ME. So, I am the creator and the entire credit goes to me.

Civil Engineer: Architects are crazy. They just draw lines and make weird shapes and forms and think that it could be brought into reality. Do  they know how much trouble it is to give a structural design for such a building?

Architect: Civil Engineers always keep cribbing about the rights and wrongs. They should learn to respect creativity. They should be able to respect the designer’s ability to design something unusual and exciting. It is so difficult for them to break away from their routine box designs.

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RCC Building Design and Construction | Structural Design

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Step by step procedure to RCC building design | Design of RCC Structures

A building is composed of various structural components such as Foundations, Plinth beams, Columns, Beams, Slab, Staircase, Doors and Windows.

RCC Building Design
RCC Building Design

Design of Foundation | RCC Building Design

Foundation design is the structural component from where the RCC design is initiated. The foundation design guide discussed earlier includes in detail the design procedure for isolated column footing. Column footing is the most commonly used type of foundation. It serves a variety of different buildings.

  • Design of Foundation – the most commonly used foundation is Column footing.
  • Calculation of loads in Foundation Design Calculation of loads is very important for the purpose of structural design. This article outlines the thumb rules for the calculation of various loads in foundation design.
  • Types of Foundations This is a generic article on different types of foundations. It covers some commonly used shallow foundations and also explains pressure distribution under a foundation.

Design of Beams | RCC Building Design

Beams are mainly classified into two types:

  1. Doubly reinforced beam (most commonly used in RCC Construction)
  2. Singly reinforced beam
    A series of articles have been written for the design of Singly reinforced sections. The articles include basic definitions and formulas, understanding stresses and modular ratios, assumptions for singly reinforced sections, Design method 1, Design method 2, Moment of resistance and a number of solved numerical examples.

Design of Columns | RCC Building Design

Design of RCC columns

The article discusses the classification criteria for a column,  and design of different types of reinforcements for columns which include longitudinal, transverse and helical reinforcements.

Thumb rules for designing a Column Layout

The articles important thumb rules to be followed for column layout design. Three important thumb rules have been discussed.

  1. Size of the Columns
  2. Distance between Columns
  3. Alignment of columns

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Calculation of loads for Column and Foundation Design | Structural Design

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How to calculate the total loads on a column and corresponding footing?

This article has been written on the request from my readers. Engineering students generally get confused when it comes to calculating loads for column and footings design. The manual process is simple.

Types of loads on column

  1. Self weight of the column x Number of floors
  2. Self weight of beams per running meter
  3. Load of walls per running meter
  4. Total Load of slab (Dead load + Live load + Self weight)

The columns are also subjected to bending moments which have to be considered in the final design. The best way to design a good structure is to use advanced structural design software like ETABS or STAAD Pro. These tools are leagues ahead of manual methodology for structural design, and highly recommended.

In professional practice, there are some basic assumptions we use for structural loading calculations.

You can hire me for your structural design need. Contact me.

For Columns

Self weight of Concrete is around 2400 kg per cubic meter, which is equivalent to 240 kN. Self weight of Steel is around 8000 kg per cubic meter. Even if we assume a large column size of 230 mm x 600 mm with 1% steel and 3 meters standard height, the self weight of column is around 1000 kg per floor, which is equivalent to 10 kN. So, in my calculations, I assume self weight of column to be between 10 to 15 kN per floor.

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