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Queensferry

Module 16

An integrated design: one structure, end to end

A single floor of a building carried from the slab to the ground, with every check named — and the one that actually governs identified.

What this module covers

  • Carry a load take-down from a slab through beams and columns to the foundation
  • Keep the self-weight bookkeeping straight, and never count the slab twice
  • Apply the multi-storey reduction to variable load, and say why it is legitimate
  • Name every check on every member, and identify which one governs
  • Explain why fixing the governing check moves the others
  • Recognise that a design report saying 'all checks pass' has thrown away its most useful finding

Lessons

  1. 16.1

    The load path, end to end

    Every previous module answered a question about one member. This one follows the load from where it lands to where it stops.

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  2. 16.2

    Every check, and the one that governs

    The design is not a list of passes. It is a set of utilisations of which exactly one is largest — and in this building it was not the one anybody expected.

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Module checkpoint

Check what you have taken in

6 questions

  1. Question 1

    A 200 mm one-way slab spans 5.0 m and carries w = 14.63 kN/m². What is the design moment, in kNm per metre width?

  2. Question 2

    A 650 mm deep beam has 35 mm cover, H10 links and H32 main bars in one layer. What is the effective depth, in mm?

  3. Question 3

    A beam is 350 wide and 650 deep and sits under a 200 mm slab. What is its self-weight per metre, in kN/m?

  4. Question 4

    At the base of a column Gk = 937 kN and Qk = 281 kN, with an imposed reduction factor of 0.8. What characteristic load should the pad be sized for, in kN?

  5. Question 5

    A beam's effective flange width is 2780 mm and its web is 350 mm. By what factor does treating it as flanged rather than rectangular reduce K?

  6. Question 6

    In the finished building the utilisations are: slab span/depth 0.94, slab bending 0.87, foundation bearing 0.93, beam span/depth 0.71, beam bending 0.69, column axial 0.45, beam shear 0.43, punching 0.18. What is the governing utilisation?