Structural engineering design must consider a structure’s stability, strength, and capacity to meet the requirements of its intended use.
The Structural Engineering design specifies what materials should be constructed for a structure to maximize strength and safety. Early in the design phase, before any heavy equipment, building supplies, or it brought other supplies to the construction site. Before any work begins, a structural investigation is also necessary.
In this blog, we’ll look at the three key factors that structural engineers must consider while working on any size or type of building project.
Structure Design Factors
Before beginning any new residential or commercial construction projects, structural engineers should consider these three key factors.
Design Codes and Standards
Before starting the design and structural analysis of any construction project, a structural engineer should ensure that the project conforms with all applicable building codes. You should also ensure that all required city, state, and federal permits and approvals are received.
You also ensure that any construction project you plan conforms to all appropriate design and building codes. These guidelines and design specifications must be because they differ depending on several factors, including the site’s location.
Design guidelines and standards are essential because they ensure the stability of the building and the ability of the materials.
2. Load Considerations
When performing structural analysis, consider the many types of loads that your structure may experience throughout its use. There are many loads, but depending on your structure’s height, the materials created for it, and where it is located. Whether it will have a lower or higher occupancy, you will only consider certain ones.
All design parameters for structural engineering will state the maximum load (s) that the structure can support throughout its lifetime.
The two fundamental categories of loads are dead loads and live loads.
The structure’s weight, which won’t change, is a dead load (DL). A dead load is the structure’s weight, which won’t vary during its lifetime (DL).
Live loads (LL) can refer to various factors, including the population of a building, snowfall on it, items inside the structure, etc. Everything might impact the weight or load that the building must bear.
These weights can be vertically or horizontally. Undoubtedly, the structure’s design, architecture, material choice, and building techniques will be the size of these loads. As a structural engineer, it is essential that you thoroughly assess these loads in real-time.
Use your structural analysis with caution; it’s always advisable to err on caution.
Focus on building a solid structure above anything else. One that can withstand typical loads that the structure may encounter during operation, such as wind, hydrostatic pressure, seismic loads, snow loads, forceful impacts, and more.
3. Framing
Another crucial element in construction engineering is framing. The frame of a structure is crucial in determining its stability and safety.
When we talk about framing, we’re talking about particular building parts like the slab’s size, orientation, and thickness and the design footings. Each element will contribute to the structure of the building.
Thanks to technological advancements, you can use tools like Building Information Modeling (BIM) to help you with this.
BMI is a 3D digital representation tool often used in the design stage of many architectural projects. It is a helpful structural engineering tool that offers crucial details on the frame and other structure parts.
Conclusion
Even though it is just one part of the construction process, structural engineering design is essential for the creation of a safe, stable, and strong structure.
It is going to be one of the first things you do – way before getting into any nitty-gritty details like having a BQ done or reaching out to places like Rent1 rentals for a quote on an excavator or backhoe.
There needs to be a combined effort between structural engineers and contractors for this to happen. In addition, quality must be maintained at every step.
Structural engineering is an essential part of modern life. A well-designed structure will stand the test of time (and weather). It will be able to withstand all loads, both dead loads and live loads. And it will have a solid frame. But most importantly, it will be a solid structure able to meet its intended use throughout its life cycle.
