Structural Engineering: 2008-04-13

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Testing Connection >> I have not been receiving messages during the past weeks?

Testing link to Structural Engineers Association.

Jim L. Chatterley PE

Composite Framing Systems, Inc.

2723 Currier Ave. >> Simi Valley, Calif 93065

805 520 3666 >> Fax 805 583 1434

www.CompositeFramingSystems.com

RE: Distribution of Wind Loads to diaphragm in Spreadsheets

Joe –

How do you break up a diaphragm up into anything smaller than something that attaches to either a shear resisting element or a transfer diaphragm?

T. William (Bill) Allen, S.E.

ALLEN DESIGNS

Consulting Structural Engineers
V (949) 248-8588 • F(949) 209-2509

-----Original Message-----
From: Jnapd@aol.com [mailto:Jnapd@aol.com]
Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2008 1:58 AM
To: seaint@seaint.org
Subject: Re: Distribution of Wind Loads to diaphragm in Spreadsheets

Dennis

I break the building into smaller diaph if applicable and apply loads per area A & C or 1E & 1.

Simplified or Low rise methods. Full height of walls.

Joe Venuti
Johnson & Nielsen Associates
Palm Springs, CA

Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos.

Re: Concrete-filled steel piles

>
>
> From: Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl
> To: Mr. Kevin Below
> Subject: Subject: Concrete-filled steel piles
> Date: April 19, 2008
> CC: Seaint@seaint.org
>
> Dear Mr. Below: In my previous e-mail , I had indicated that please
> feel free to put my comments under any of your categories of
> "comments, opinions, diatribes, irony, satire or knowledge" but not
> under "satire" Well, digging down into the root of diatribe, I find
> that there are the meanings such as "curse" and verbal attacks"
> associated with the meaning of word "diatribe". So, please do not
> consider my comments as diatribe either.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, Ph.D., P.E.
> (www.ce.berkeley.edu/~astaneh) and (www.astaneh.net)
> Professor and Consultant on Structural Engineering, Earthquake
> Engineering and Protection of Buildings and Bridges against Blast and
> Impact.
>
==========================================================

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*
* Questions to seaint-ad@seaint.org. Remember, any email you
* send to the list is public domain and may be re-posted
* without your permission. Make sure you visit our web
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RE: Climate Change

If a climatologist told us that structural engineering is a bunch of “hocus pocus” because the stack of assumptions used to derive the lateral loads that are used to size the members used are based on limited data, how would we respond? I’m not interested in what SEs have to say about climate change any more than I care what a weatherman has to say about properties of Chinese steel vs US steel, or their opinion on OSHPD review criteria. Neither group really understands the issues involved in the other’s decision making, and we all do the best we can with the data we have.

I will generally take the opinion of the majority of structural engineers (coupled with my judgment if I’m qualified) when I make an engineering decision. By the same token, I will accept the preponderance of opinion of the climatological community; if the opposing arguments build enough data, then the opinion will change.

I was at a conference where a climatologist was speaking a few weeks ago, and someone (decidedly skeptical) asked him what he thought about the issue—his response was interesting. If I remember right, he made some references to the preponderance of evidence, but he also said that we the issue is being used as a distraction by folks who don’t want to deal with the realities of pollution and energy use, his point being that not believing in global warming or disliking environmentalists is not an excuse to pollute and be wasteful. I thought that was pretty good advice.

The media is another story. Go ahead and nail them to the wall for their alarmism.

shaun

Shaun Dustin, MS, PE

From: Stan Caldwell [mailto:stancaldwell@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 8:45 PM
To: seaint@seaint.org
Subject: Re: Climate Change

I am finally ready to concede global warming. Here in Texas, it is fact. It is undeniable that things will get a good deal warmer before we get any relief. We have a name for this phenomenon. We call it SPRING.

Seriously, anyone losing any sleep over global warming should study history. In the 60s, it was the Population Bomb. If we kept having kids, we would all starve to death by the end of the millenium. It didn't happen, I weigh more now than I did then. In the 70s, we were all going to die because of the proliferation of nuclear power plants. Americans listened and shut them all down. Only the French and the Swedes stayed with nuclear. Now we envy them for their foresight (but not for anything else). In 20 or 30 years, our grandchildren will look back at our current panic over global warming and have a good hearty laugh. Then they will put on their parkas and go polar bear hunting in their personal helicopters, just for fun.

And good old Prof. Astaneh will be blaming the big chill on corruption by his fellow engineers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 8:06 PM, Christopher Wright <chrisw@skypoint.com> wrote:

On Apr 17, 2008, at 5:36 PM, Terry Weatherby wrote:

End of political rant. Please return to your regularly scheduled
STRUCTURAL discussion....

But you did start it. If you want another look at the global warming contrarians check <http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/05/skeptic200705> for a point-by point head-to-head comparison of science to smoke and mirrors.. Here's another rebuttal from the UNion of Concerned Scientists <http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/global_warming/exxon_report.pdf>, containing some very informative e-mails in an Appendix.

Christopher Wright P.E. |"They couldn't hit an elephant at
chrisw@skypoint.com | this distance" (last words of Gen.
.......................................| John Sedgwick, Spotsylvania 1864)
http://www.skypoint.com/~chrisw/

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Re: Weak Rivets of Titanic, Weak Steel Bearing Walls of WTC, Weak,Levees of New Orleans- Weak Gussets of I-35W Bridge= 6000 deaths

To: Structural Engineers Association International Members
From: Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl
Date: April 19, 2008
Subject: Weak Rivets of Titanic, Weak Steel Bearing Walls of WTC, Weak
Levees of New Orleans- Weak Gussets of I-35W Bridge= 6000 deaths

Dear SEA-Int. Friends:
Thank you for comments you made yesterday on "Weak Rivets, ... " and in
response to an e-mail by my scientist friend Mike. Unfortunately, some
are somewhat impolite and not at the level of a structural engineering
professional posting on a professional site. I will send the one that is
polite in my view to my scientist friend. I just can't share the rest
with him or anyone else outside my Seaint tribe. My yard stick for
this are the policies posted on almost all forums and comment sites (I
am surprised that SEAINT does not have a moderator nor "posting
policy" to ensure that inappropriate comments are not posted. May be
there is such a note and I have not seen it, but if there is not Seaint
should have one just for the sake of protecting itself against lawsuits
for providing means of delivery for unlawful statements and posting them
permanently for public view.

As an example, I have taken the following from the Comments section of
the Pioneer Press newspaper in St. Paul Minnesota , a very fine paper
(www.twincities.com):
----------------------------
"/The Pioneer Press is happy to host community conversations about news
and life in the Twin Cities. As hosts, we expect guests will show
respect for each other. That means we don't threaten or defame each
other, and we keep conversations free of personal attacks. Witty is
great. Abusive is not. If you think a post violates these standards,
don't escalate the situation. Instead, flag the comment to alert us.
We'll take action if necessary./

/It's not hard. This should be a place where people want to read and
contribute -- a place for spirited exchanges of opinion. So those who
persist with racist, defamatory or abusive postings risk losing the
privilege to post at all."
/

/----------------------------------
/

Sincerely,
Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, Ph.D., P.E.
Professor and Consultant on Structural Engineering, Earthquake
Engineering and
Protection of Buildings and Bridges against Blast and Impact.
> ===========================================

******* ****** ****** ****** ******* ****** ****** ********

test

tset

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Concrete-filled steel piles

From: Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl
To: Mr. Kevin Below
Subject: Subject: Concrete-filled steel piles
Date: April 19, 2008
CC: Seaint@seaint.org
BCC: Graduate Students in CE247-Design of Steel and Composite Structures course at UC Berkeley

Dear Mr. Below:
Thank you for your question and particularly your last light-hearted sentence on asking for "comments, opinions, diatribes, irony, satire or knowledge" . I provide my 2-cents comments below and hope that you will not place them in satire category. Any other category(ies) in your list will be just fine! Here are my comments:

Not knowing whether or not your steel pipe piles are going to be subjected to lateral loads at all or any seismic effects, I am providing the following comments assuming that there may be some lateral load on the piles causing bending and shear in them in addition to axial loads. I also assume that there is seismic effect.

Adding concrete inside the steel pipe piles will make them composite Concrete Filled Tube (CFT)section. The advantages compared to bare steel tube are that the pile section will have larger axial load as well as bending and to some lesser extent additional shear capacity . The shear capacity may not be much since the concrete inside such a relatively small pipe is not reinforced. Also, there will be additional axial, bending and shear stiffness added because of not only presence of concrete but because of its composite interaction with the steel pipe. To establish additional strength and stiffness, the provisions of Part II of the AISC Specifications and the 13th Edition of the AISC Manual of Steel Construction would be what I will use. Also, there are plenty of design-oriented literature , in particular, proceedings of Composite Construction Conferences ( every four years or so) that can be very useful. ACI-318 also has valuable information on design of composite columns.

Adding concrete inside also improves local buckling condition of the CFT pile since the steel tube cannot buckle in an s-shape with half of since wave going in and half coming out . In CFTs, local buckling can happen primarily by steel tube buckling out (the concrete inside braces it and prevents its buckling inward. That is why local buckling limits for D/t ratio in CFTs (Part II of the AISC Spec.) is higher than the D/t ratio limits for bare steel pipe given in Part I of the AISC Spec. Corrosion behavior of inner surface of a CFT is also expected to be better (with less corrosion) than the similar but bare steel pipe pile filled with moist or saturated soil or just water. the reason is continued supply of oxygen is needed for corrosion to continue to occur. If you fill the pile with concrete, even if the whole pipe is in the water and the concrete inside is saturated, the flow of water inside the pores of concrete will be much slower than the flow of oxygen in saturated soil or water. These items have been observed in submerged members of steel offshore platforms made of steel pipes.

If seismic loads are involved, addition of the concrete inside the steel pipe pile will increase the ductility, specially in bending, and significantly improve energy dissipation capability as well as low cycle fatigue life. Again, local buckling under seismic load also will improve for CFT compared to hollow or soil/water filled pipes.

Now, having said all of this, I feel that your piles will be driven into the soft soil with their end open. If this is the case, then there will be soft soil inside the pile after it is driven. in this case, the geo-grouting is the best and may be only solution to add strength and stiffness to these piles. Geo-grouting from what I understand is pushing grout under pressure into the soil to make it stronger, stiffer and more stable, but I am not a "geo" guy and hope others will correct me if I made incorrect statement here. If the piles are driven using pile tips, then there will be no soil inside the pile and it can be filled with concrete.

Last, looks to me a combination of geo-grouting of the lower parts and concrete-filling of the upper parts near foundations and may be a better and more economical solution here since these are friction piles , as you stated, and the bottom portions of the piles do not have as much axial load as the top (the load is continuously being shed to the soil.) If you had direct end bearing hollow piles I would think filling it throughout with concrete would make more sense.

Hope my comments are somewhat helpful.

Sincerely,

Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, Ph.D., P.E.
(www.ce.berkeley.edu/~astaneh) and (www.astaneh.net)
Professor and Consultant on Structural Engineering, Earthquake
Engineering and Protection of Buildings and Bridges against Blast and Impact.

---------------------------

From: "Kevin Below" <kbofoz@gmail.com>
To: seaint@seaint.org
Subject: Concrete-filled steel piles

For a project on very soft soil, subject to liquefaction, we will be going
with friction pile foundations, which will also serve the geothermal tubes.
Piles will be 8" dia. steel tubes.
What are the structural advantages of filling them with concrete ? The
geothermal people need to fill the tube with something that is a good
conductor, such as their geo-grout (I don't know what that is exactly, just
that it remains liquid) or concrete, or even water.

Thanks in advance for comments, opinions, diatribe, irony, satire or
knowledge.

Re: Distribution of Wind Loads to diaphragm in Spreadsheets

Dennis

I break the building into smaller diaph if applicable and apply loads per area A & C or 1E & 1.

Simplified or Low rise methods. Full height of walls.

Joe Venuti
Johnson & Nielsen Associates
Palm Springs, CA

Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Distribution of Wind Loads to diaphragm in Spreadsheets

I’m seeking some advice or comments from those of you who have created tools (spreadsheets or any other type of programming is applicable). I am struggling with a decision as how best to model a lateral distribution of loads tributary to the diaphragms in a multistory light-framed structure that complies with flexible analysis.

The most conservative model would calculate the end zones of the block that I am modeling and simply apply the end zone wind force across the entire diaphragm width. The logic is that the location of interior resisting shear elements probably do not align with the location where 2a and the Interior zone meet which makes the calculation in a spreadsheet where lines of resistance change a bit difficult to calculate.

The second choice is to assume the building is broken into blocks and that each block is consistent in width and depth at each diaphragm level. In this choice the total load caused by both end zones (2a*w_wind) and interior zones can be calculated for the entire tributary area at the edge of the diaphragm. Calculating the total diaphragm load due to wind would then be divided by the tributary area of the entire diaphragm width in the block and this load (in psf) would be applied to the entire edge of the diaphragm as a unit load (2a*w_wind is combined and proportioned into the unit shear at the level under consideration).

The first choice is very conservative while the second can store the corner shears (2a*w_wind) for use later when designing the wall cladding and components. The second is less conservative but easier to deal with when attempting to look at the entire structure in order to compare wind and seismic in each line of resistance. The second also makes it easier to turn shear resisting elements on and off and quickly rebalance the distribution of forces in each interior and exterior grid line where a shear resisting element occurs.

Finally, when designing each line of resistance for the worst case Wind vs. Seismic force at that grid line or line of resistance, the actual load becomes conservative by the nature of using the worst case reaction.

Do you:

1. Apply the corner zone shear across the entire diaphragm (tributary height adjacent to diaphragm) and compare against seismic OR

2. Do you calculate the end zone at 2a*w_wind and average this into the Interior zone loads to apply across the diaphragm and compare against seismic.

3. Does it matter?

TIA

Dennis S. Wish, PE

California Professional Engineer

Structural Engineering Consultant

La Quinta, CA 92253

dennis.wish@verizon.net

http://structuralist.wordpress.com

http://www.structuralist.net

Re: Climate Change

And good old Prof. Astaneh will be blaming the big chill on corruption by his fellow engineers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 8:06 PM, Christopher Wright <chrisw@skypoint.com> wrote:

On Apr 17, 2008, at 5:36 PM, Terry Weatherby wrote:

End of political rant. Please return to your regularly scheduled
STRUCTURAL discussion....
But you did start it. If you want another look at the global warming contrarians check <http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/05/skeptic200705> for a point-by point head-to-head comparison of science to smoke and mirrors.. Here's another rebuttal from the UNion of Concerned Scientists <http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/global_warming/exxon_report.pdf>, containing some very informative e-mails in an Appendix.

Christopher Wright P.E. |"They couldn't hit an elephant at
chrisw@skypoint.com | this distance" (last words of Gen.
.......................................| John Sedgwick, Spotsylvania 1864)
http://www.skypoint.com/~chrisw/

******* ****** ******* ******** ******* ******* ******* ***
* Read list FAQ at: http://www.seaint.org/list_FAQ.asp
** This email was sent to you via Structural Engineers* Association of Southern California (SEAOSC) server. To* subscribe (no fee) or UnSubscribe, please go to:
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RE: Concrete-filled steel piles

In Alaska they normally use a passive cooling system, that cools the soil in
the winter, with hollow piles and filled with a refrigerant that evaporates
below grade and migrates to the top of the pile where it condenses.

-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Below [mailto:kbofoz@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 2:54 PM
To: seaint@seaint.org
Subject: Concrete-filled steel piles

Thanks in advance for comments, opinions, diatribe, irony, satire or
knowledge.

Concrete-filled steel piles

For a project on very soft soil, subject to liquefaction, we will be going with friction pile foundations, which will also serve the geothermal tubes.
Piles will be 8" dia. steel tubes.
What are the structural advantages of filling them with concrete ? The geothermal people need to fill the tube with something that is a good conductor, such as their geo-grout (I don't know what that is exactly, just that it remains liquid) or concrete, or even water.

Thanks in advance for comments, opinions, diatribe, irony, satire or knowledge.

RE: A Programming Question

-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher Wright [mailto:chrisw@skypoint.com]
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 11:42 AM
To: seaint@seaint.org
Subject: Re: A Programming Question

On Apr 18, 2008, at 12:39 PM, Scott Maxwell wrote:

> To my knowledge, VBA is not going away any time soon in the Windoze
> version of Office. It is just dead and gone in Office 2008 for the
> Mac.
The party line is that MS was having programming issues with VBA on the Mac
version that they couldn't address in time for shipping. The fact is that
the Excel 2008 Mac version wasn't an improvement at all, and with the lack
of macro support, wasn't much of anything. I can't imagine why anyone would
consider it an upgrade. I also can't imagine why a program as transparently
cross-platform as Excel

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
With the introduction of .Net (managed environment), MSFT is ditching
classic VB (last one was VB6) in favor of VB.Net. I doubt the current VBA
stays for long, evern on PC platform, except working as a interface between
Excel and .Net.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

would suddenly become incompatible, especially since were looking at Intel
chips.
Needless to say there are all kinds of theories going around. The bottom
line is that MS considers itself a law unto its own and you never know what
they're going to do.

Christopher Wright P.E. |"They couldn't hit an elephant at
chrisw@skypoint.com | this distance" (last words of Gen.
.......................................| John Sedgwick, Spotsylvania
1864)
http://www.skypoint.com/~chrisw/

******* ****** ****** ****** ******* ****** ****** ********

Re: A Programming Question

On Apr 18, 2008, at 12:39 PM, Scott Maxwell wrote:

> To my knowledge, VBA is not going away any time soon in the Windoze
> version
> of Office. It is just dead and gone in Office 2008 for the Mac.
The party line is that MS was having programming issues with VBA on
the Mac version that they couldn't address in time for shipping. The
fact is that the Excel 2008 Mac version wasn't an improvement at all,
and with the lack of macro support, wasn't much of anything. I can't
imagine why anyone would consider it an upgrade. I also can't imagine
why a program as transparently cross-platform as Excel would suddenly
become incompatible, especially since were looking at Intel chips.
Needless to say there are all kinds of theories going around. The
bottom line is that MS considers itself a law unto its own and you
never know what they're going to do.

******* ****** ****** ****** ******* ****** ****** ********

retrofit vertical reinforcement in masonry wall

I occasionally analyze single story residences where the construction permit has expired and the building has to be brought up to current codes.

Masonry buildings sometimes require that additional vertical wall reinforcement be specified.

I am familiar with a procedure for retrofitting deformed bars into an existing wall; however, in some cases where the wall has been poured solid there are no empty cells available for the usual retrofit method.

I’m wondering if a retrofit could be specified in a manner similar to that used in Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) construction where a vertical slot is cut into the wall and a threaded rod is grouted in place with a washer and nut at the top and post-installed anchor (adhesive or mechanical) at the base.

Thanks in advance.

Christopher Banbury, PE

President

Ark Engineering, Inc.

PO Box 10129, Brooksville, FL 34603

22 North Broad ST, Brooksville, FL 34601

Phone: (352) 754-2424

Fax: (352) 754-2412

www.arkengineering.net

Re: A Programming Question

Scott,

There are no plans to remove VBA from the Win version. As for me, I'd
rather drop the new Office in favour of VBA.
See http://blogs.msdn.com/excel/archive/2008/01/16/clarification-on-vba-support.aspx
for example.

My point is that if the program is simple (say up to 200 lines of
code) and uses interactive input like this:
160 PRINT "<ENTER STUFF (Ft)"
170 INPUT Ft : CLS
then it would be better to do a minor rewrite to VBA so that it would
take its input from spreadsheet and yield results thereto, thus
killing two hares - calcs and report layout. I just want to see the
source code - it may be easy enough for me to do it straight away.

On 4/18/08, Scott Maxwell <smaxwell@umich.edu> wrote:
> To my knowledge, VBA is not going away any time soon in the Windoze version
> of Office. It is just dead and gone in Office 2008 for the Mac.
>
> Regards,
>
> Scott
> Adrian, MI
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Christopher Wright [mailto:chrisw@skypoint.com]
> Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 12:41 PM
> To: seaint@seaint.org
>
> Subject: Re: A Programming Question
>
>
>
> On Apr 18, 2008, at 7:44 AM, Gary L. Hodgson and Assoc. wrote:
>
> > What would be the most efficient way for somebody with very limited
> > programming skills to bring these old DOS programs into the 21st
> > century? My first impulse is to just write some Excel spreadsheets
> > but I wondered if there were some other, simpler options I'm
> > overlooking.
> Your first obligation is to correct the error in the DOS version so
> that doesn't go any further while you're re-writing stuff. Excel is a
> good option for quick and dirty unless you need macros or some other
> manifestation of VBA, which I hear is going away. MathCAD may be an
> option or some other calculation package like Mathematica's
> CalcCenter or RealBasic .
>
> I'm faced with the same thing with an ASME Code calculation Excel
> workbook, and some other programs I've written for billing and
> section property calculation. MathCAD isn't an option for me
> (Machead) nor would I go back on my vow to dance naked down the
> Nicollet Mall on New Years Day before I ever do business with
> MathSoft even if it were. RealBasic looks like the answer, but I
> haven't given up on CalcCenter. My rationale is to stick with a stand-
> alone package able to produce stand-alone apps rather than depend on
> Microsoft's whims.
>
> Christopher Wright P.E. |"They couldn't hit an elephant at
> chrisw@skypoint.com | this distance" (last words of Gen.
> .......................................| John Sedgwick, Spotsylvania
> 1864)
>

http://www.skypoint.com/~chrisw/
>
>
>
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> * Read list FAQ at: http://www.seaint.org/list_FAQ.asp
> *
> * This email was sent to you via Structural Engineers
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> *
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> * send to the list is public domain and may be re-posted
> * without your permission. Make sure you visit our web
> * site at: http://www.seaint.org
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>
>
>
>
>
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--
Alexander Bausk
CAD manager, Structural engineer at
Nuclear Engineering&Research Lab
Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine

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RE: A Programming Question

To my knowledge, VBA is not going away any time soon in the Windoze version
of Office. It is just dead and gone in Office 2008 for the Mac.

Regards,

Scott
Adrian, MI

-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher Wright [mailto:chrisw@skypoint.com]
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 12:41 PM
To: seaint@seaint.org
Subject: Re: A Programming Question

On Apr 18, 2008, at 7:44 AM, Gary L. Hodgson and Assoc. wrote:

> What would be the most efficient way for somebody with very limited
> programming skills to bring these old DOS programs into the 21st
> century? My first impulse is to just write some Excel spreadsheets
> but I wondered if there were some other, simpler options I'm
> overlooking.
Your first obligation is to correct the error in the DOS version so
that doesn't go any further while you're re-writing stuff. Excel is a
good option for quick and dirty unless you need macros or some other
manifestation of VBA, which I hear is going away. MathCAD may be an
option or some other calculation package like Mathematica's
CalcCenter or RealBasic .

I'm faced with the same thing with an ASME Code calculation Excel
workbook, and some other programs I've written for billing and
section property calculation. MathCAD isn't an option for me
(Machead) nor would I go back on my vow to dance naked down the
Nicollet Mall on New Years Day before I ever do business with
MathSoft even if it were. RealBasic looks like the answer, but I
haven't given up on CalcCenter. My rationale is to stick with a stand-
alone package able to produce stand-alone apps rather than depend on
Microsoft's whims.

******* ****** ****** ****** ******* ****** ****** ********

RE: Slab-on-grade sloped for sprinkler drainage under access floor

Harold:

There are no stupid questions, just stupid engineers. I am assuming there is
no problem sloping a slab on grade under an access floor from your response.

Scott.

-----Original Message-----
From: Harold Sprague [mailto:spraguehope@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 8:17 PM
To: seaint@seaint.org
Subject: RE: Slab-on-grade sloped for sprinkler drainage under access floor

Scott,
I would consider making the elevated floor flat. Adjust the pedistals as
required and go ahead and slope the slab on grade.

Regards,
Harold Sprague

> Subject: Slab-on-grade sloped for sprinkler drainage under access
> floor
> Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:45:15 -0800
> From: Scott.M.Haan@usace.army.mil
> To: seaint@seaint.org
>
> I'm designing an office building with an access floor. They are
> sprinklering under the access floor. The mechanical engineer is
> telling me that I need to slope the slab-on-grade to sump pits.
>
> What is the maximum you can slope a slab supporting access floor? I
> thought I heard .5" maximum change over the whole thing.
>
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Re: Drawing file conversion from handwriting and pdf file to Auto Cadd dwg file

By digitizing the drawings and working them in autocad, I'm afraid you
will only be bringing the client into the 20th century. As much as I
have been known to rail against BIM as it applies to my practice, this
may be the right time to suggest the client consider building a model of
the building in 3 dimensions using one of the popular BIM packages. It
will provide a great deal more flexibility in future work on the
building to have as much of it in solid form as can be made.

Most conversion programs I've seen (there used to be a dozen services
advertised in Cadalyst) are just line sements - there's very little
clean up and no adherence to a set of customized drawing standards. If
simple on-line storage is the goal (i.e. to be able to bring up and
either electronically transmit or print out portions of files) then
there are a couple of solutions. Steel Dynamics in Roanoke, VA has done
with their plant drawings though the scans may be in a proprietary
format. You might also see if your local university has done the same
with their old hand drawings. VT has a system, but - thanks to my
architect friends - I have not had to use it much.

Scanning is cheap if you can get the right shop or cut a deal. I was
getting scans at $1/sheet (D or E) in Roanoke, and for $1.25 in
Blacksburg (had to negotiate that one). For $15k I picked up a laser
plotter/scanner/copier this spring that does up to 36" wide sheets, and
does a pretty good, fast job (5-6 second D size scan, 15 second D size
print).

You might also check the forums on AUGI.com - they're are people there
who have transitioned from paper to digital.

Jordan

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RE: Drawing file conversion from handwriting and pdf file to Auto Cadd dwg file

Doesn't work for me:( Using 2004.

-----Original Message-----
From: Martin Li [mailto:mli@tb-engr.com]
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 8:29 AM
To: seaint@seaint.org
Subject: RE: Drawing file conversion from handwriting and pdf file to Auto Cadd dwg file

Try www.autodwg.com/pdf-to-dwg-converter/

Martin

-----Original Message-----
From: Micayas, Julius [mailto:jmicayas@riverconsulting.com]
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 9:22 AM
To: seaint@seaint.org
Subject: Drawing file conversion from handwriting and pdf file to Auto Cadd dwg file

Dear List,

I understand this queries is beyond or below our “know how” however, I’m pretty sure there are lots of PM (project manager) out there that encounter this kind of client’s request.

I got this project involved converting the whole plant drawings made out from a classical presentation, the client’s wants to bring this plant to the 21^st century (i.e. drawing by hand to AutoCAD file).

Can anyone share what software available in the market that converts a hand written drawing to an AutoCAD file?

Thanks,

Julius

Engr. Julius Micayas

P.E. license no.32969

Project Manager/Sr Lead Structural Engineer

River Consulting LLC

111 Veterans Memorial Boulevard

Suite 1600

Metairie, Louisiana 70005

Phone - 504-841-3014 (direct)

504 837-5275 (office)

Fax - 504-837-2986

E-mail: jmicayas@riverconsulting.com

W-page: www.riverconsulting.com

Re: A Programming Question

On Apr 18, 2008, at 7:44 AM, Gary L. Hodgson and Assoc. wrote:

******* ****** ****** ****** ******* ****** ****** ********

RE: Drawing file conversion from handwriting and pdf file to Auto Cadd dwg file

We usually convert the PDF file to a TIFF file, then we copy the TIFF file into the AutoCAD drawing and trace over the TIFF drawings, when done tracing just delete the TIFF file. It seems to be as fast or faster as converting the PDF to DWG and then fixing the drawing.

Jason

From: David Topete [mailto:d.topete73@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 10:34 AM
To: seaint@seaint.org
Subject: Re: Drawing file conversion from handwriting and pdf file to Auto Cadd dwg file

The pdf-to-dwg converter seems somewhat handy, but it breaks the line work into an individual line segment. and, it depends on how high a resolution the pdf is. So, a single vertical line such as a handwritten capital i can be broken up into 200 (or some crazy amount of) line segments. Bottom line- if the drawing will be manipulated, every line will need to be redrawn or traced, and changed to an appropriate layer, color, linetype, etc. Clunky and cumber some. GL with it.

On Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 8:30 AM, Thor Tandy <vicpeng@telus.net> wrote:

Let me know if this works ... I've had no luck at all with a number of so-called converters

Thor A. Tandy P.Eng, MIStructE, Struct.Eng
Victoria, BC
Canada
vicpeng@telus.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Martin Li [mailto:mli@tb-engr.com]
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 8:29 AM
To: seaint@seaint.org

Subject: RE: Drawing file conversion from handwriting and pdf file to Auto Cadd dwg file

Try www.autodwg.com/pdf-to-dwg-converter/

Martin

-----Original Message-----
From: Micayas, Julius [mailto:jmicayas@riverconsulting.com]
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 9:22 AM
To: seaint@seaint.org
Subject: Drawing file conversion from handwriting and pdf file to Auto Cadd dwg file

Dear List,

I understand this queries is beyond or below our "know how" however, I'm pretty sure there are lots of PM (project manager) out there that encounter this kind of client's request.

I got this project involved converting the whole plant drawings made out from a classical presentation, the client's wants to bring this plant to the 21^st century (i.e. drawing by hand to AutoCAD file).

Can anyone share what software available in the market that converts a hand written drawing to an AutoCAD file?

Thanks,

Julius

Engr. Julius Micayas

P.E. license no.32969

Project Manager/Sr Lead Structural Engineer

River Consulting LLC

111 Veterans Memorial Boulevard

Suite 1600

Metairie, Louisiana 70005

Phone - 504-841-3014 (direct)

504 837-5275 (office)

Fax - 504-837-2986

E-mail: jmicayas@riverconsulting.com

W-page: www.riverconsulting.com

--
David Topete, SE

Re: Drawing file conversion from handwriting and pdf file to Auto Cadd dwg file

On Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 8:30 AM, Thor Tandy <vicpeng@telus.net> wrote:

Let me know if this works ... I've had no luck at all with a number of so-called converters

Thor A. Tandy P.Eng, MIStructE, Struct.Eng
Victoria, BC
Canada
vicpeng@telus.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Martin Li [mailto:mli@tb-engr.com]
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 8:29 AM
To: seaint@seaint.org

Subject: RE: Drawing file conversion from handwriting and pdf file to Auto Cadd dwg file

Try www.autodwg.com/pdf-to-dwg-converter/

Martin

-----Original Message-----
From: Micayas, Julius [mailto:jmicayas@riverconsulting.com]
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 9:22 AM
To: seaint@seaint.org
Subject: Drawing file conversion from handwriting and pdf file to Auto Cadd dwg file

Dear List,

I understand this queries is beyond or below our "know how" however, I'm pretty sure there are lots of PM (project manager) out there that encounter this kind of client's request.

I got this project involved converting the whole plant drawings made out from a classical presentation, the client's wants to bring this plant to the 21^st century (i.e. drawing by hand to AutoCAD file).

Can anyone share what software available in the market that converts a hand written drawing to an AutoCAD file?

Thanks,

Julius

Engr. Julius Micayas

P.E. license no.32969

Project Manager/Sr Lead Structural Engineer

River Consulting LLC

111 Veterans Memorial Boulevard

Suite 1600

Metairie, Louisiana 70005

Phone - 504-841-3014 (direct)

504 837-5275 (office)

Fax - 504-837-2986

E-mail: jmicayas@riverconsulting.com

W-page: www.riverconsulting.com

--
David Topete, SE

RE: Drawing file conversion from handwriting and pdf file to Auto Cadd dwg file

Let me know if this works ... I've had no luck at all with a number of so-called converters

Thor A. Tandy P.Eng, MIStructE, Struct.Eng
Victoria, BC
Canada
vicpeng@telus.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Martin Li [mailto:mli@tb-engr.com]
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 8:29 AM
To: seaint@seaint.org
Subject: RE: Drawing file conversion from handwriting and pdf file to Auto Cadd dwg file

Try www.autodwg.com/pdf-to-dwg-converter/

Martin

-----Original Message-----
From: Micayas, Julius [mailto:jmicayas@riverconsulting.com]
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 9:22 AM
To: seaint@seaint.org
Subject: Drawing file conversion from handwriting and pdf file to Auto Cadd dwg file

Dear List,

I understand this queries is beyond or below our “know how” however, I’m pretty sure there are lots of PM (project manager) out there that encounter this kind of client’s request.

I got this project involved converting the whole plant drawings made out from a classical presentation, the client’s wants to bring this plant to the 21^st century (i.e. drawing by hand to AutoCAD file).

Can anyone share what software available in the market that converts a hand written drawing to an AutoCAD file?

Thanks,

Julius

Engr. Julius Micayas

P.E. license no.32969

Project Manager/Sr Lead Structural Engineer

River Consulting LLC

111 Veterans Memorial Boulevard

Suite 1600

Metairie, Louisiana 70005

Phone - 504-841-3014 (direct)

504 837-5275 (office)

Fax - 504-837-2986

E-mail: jmicayas@riverconsulting.com

W-page: www.riverconsulting.com