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Experience Summary of the North American Steel Construction Conference (NASCC)-2016

By

John Morganstern

Graduate Student, Research & Teaching Assistant: University of Toledo

Vice President: University of Toledo Structural Engineers Association of Ohio (UT-SEAoO)

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Attending the NASCC in Orlando, FL this year marks the second year that I have had the

pleasure in attending this informative conference. This year I had three other students from the

University of Toledo accompany me to the conference: Souvik Mazumder, Andrew Taylor and

Kyle Blosser. This year the conference ran from April 13th to April 15th and like the previous

year the conference was held in another large convention center, this time at the Gaylord Palms

Hotel & Convention Center.

The location of the convention in a hotel resort, in which our group from UT booked a

room, made access to the exhibit halls and technical sessions very convenient as we could leave

our hotel room and access the conference within minutes. As with the conference last year

students gained access to dozens of displays on the exhibit hall floor that included various

products and services offered by the steel industry’s top manufactures, detailers, engineering

firms, erectors, contractors, structural software designers, etc. Some of these companies at the

exhibit hall included well established firms such as Lincoln Electric, Hilti Tools, Peddinghaus,

Tekla, ect. These products ranged from steel fastener tools to structural seismic hydraulic

dampeners to enormous steel Plasma Cutting machines. The services advertised at the exhibit

hall included consulting from various companies in regards to structural steel design analysis

using the industry’s top software, specialized seismic structural engineering firms,

nondestructive testing firms, architectural & engineering firms, etc.

As with last year, student attendees including myself were able to benefit from the

Students Connecting with Industry Sessions (SCIS) social event at the conference. The SCIS that

was held on April 14th is a social networking event in which young structural engineers from all

over the world are given the opportunity to meet each other as well as industry professionals with

extensive knowledge and experience in the structural engineering field. The SCIS included two

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key speakers on informative topics for young structural engineers: “What They Didn’t Teach me

at College (Or, at Least I Don’t Think They Did)” by Duane Miller, Manager of Engineering

Services and Welding Design Consultant at Lincoln Electric; “Insights Into a Career as a Bridge

Engineer” by Carmen Swanwick, Chief Structural Engineer for Utah D.O.T. I found both

presentations very insightful and informative, especially the presentation by Carmen Swanwick

regarding the use of Self-Propelled Modular Transporters (SPMTs) for Accelerated Bridge

Construction (ABC) projects since I was involved in the Pecos Street bridge move project which

used SPMTs in Denver Colorado in July of 2013.

After the presentations a catered lunch was provided to students for free and then the

adjacent conference room was setup for the Direct Connect portion of SCIS. Direct Connected

consisted of about 40 companies ranging from engineering design firms such as SSOE and

Bechtel, to structural steel member manufactures such as Nucor. The Direct Connect gave me the

unique opportunity to directly speak to engineers from these companies that could better relate to

my background more so than if a human resources representative was there instead. Direct

Connect was an enormous opportunity to expand my social network with industry professional

that I would unlikely meet otherwise if I had not attended this event.

That same evening as the SCIS a conference dinner was provided free to students in

which all attendees including engineers, exhibitors, as well as company representatives were

loaded on buses and sent to several restaurant marinas in which everyone to casually socialize

and relax. In my opinion the quality of food and ease in the atmosphere was much better at the

conference dinner than any other portion of the conference.

In addition to the SCIS and exhibit hall there were dozens of technical sessions

throughout the duration of the conference that provided informative tips and procedures for new

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and rehabilitated steel construction practices for an array of project types. I was able to attend

two of these sessions entitled “Strengthening and Repair of In-Service Bridges” and “90 Seismic

Design Ideas in 90 Minutes”. “Strengthening and Repair of In-Service Bridges” reviewed the

various techniques in which damaged in-service steel bridges could be rehabilitated and repaired

to regain their structural integrity and enable these bridges to continue to function for public use.

One rehabilitation technique that I found interesting was the use of heat treatment on the steel

structure at the damaged section; by inducing heat into the damaged member the absorbed

energy could be extracted and the warped steel member could be softened then straightened out

with tension devices. “90 Seismic Design Ideas in 90 Minutes” was a very face paced

informative session that provided essential tips in frame and connection design to resist lateral

movement, torsional moments, and other effects from out of plane force considerations brought

on my seismic activity.

Overall the experience that my colleagues and I shared at the NASCC was immensely

positive and beneficial in building our career network and knowledge. After taking two steel

design courses here at The University of Toledo I thought I knew everything there was to know

about steel design and construction. These experiences at these conferences have shown me

otherwise. There are a lot of continuous improvements in the field that are ever changing,

evolving the design and construction practices of structural steel that I hope one day to have

significant impact on.

NASCC 2016 Experiences 

Andrew Taylor 

University of Toledo 

There are many things that come to mind when I think of my experiences at the National Steel 

Conference this year.  First of all, this was my first opportunity to attend the conference and it 

was very memorable.  I had no idea that there would be so many people and vendors there to 

learn and connect with. Walking through the exhibit hall was the best way to meet and greet 

with many professionals that had some type of knowledge to offer. At first it seemed 

intimidating walking up to a new company I was not familiar with, but after a short time I 

realized it was much easier than I thought and a very rewarding decision.  I feel that I learned 

something from every vendor and/or company that I spoke with in the exhibit hall. Along with 

learning, it was a great networking opportunity and I made contact with companies that I could 

work with in the future.  

Another great part of the conference was the Students Connecting with Industries 

Sessions (SCIS).  We had two hours to meet and speak with any of the approximately 50 

companies that had sent representatives.  Many of them had job opportunities to offer, but if 

they did not, a student would still be able to learn what the company does and make a 

connection that could be beneficial down the road.  During the SCIS is learned a great deal from 

the two speakers that presented to is students.  I learned that there are many skills and 

attributes above our education that can help us become a successful engineer.  Personal skills 

and work ethic are two man parts of this as described by the speaker.  

In the educational sessions I attended, it seemed that constructability was a topic of 

emphasis this year.  Engineers and Fabricators that were presenting sessions and there booths 

in the exhibit hall spoke a lot about designs that are very intricate and beautiful, but would not 

be able to be built due to constructability.   The session I found the most interesting was “The 

Strengthening and Repair of In service Bridges”.  There were two gentleman that presented 

different bridges they had worked on during their years of service.  I found this interesting 

because of the large number of structures in DOT inventory across the 50 states.  There had to 

be a more efficient way to keep the older structures in working condition and that is where the 

skills of a talented engineer would come in to play.  The presenting engineer showed how 

simple solutions could be very effective and save on cost. 

Overall my experience of the NASCC in Orlando was amazing.  There were so many 

opportunities that I would not have been exposed to if it hadn’t been for the conference.  I ma 

grateful that I was able to speak with and learn from so many talented engineers.  It is definitely 

an event all aspiring structural engineering students should attend at least once if they can.   I 

am looking forward to the next Steel Conference so that I can continue learning and advance in 

my career as a structural engineer. 

 

Kyle A. Blosser, Student

University of Toledo

UT-SEAoO – President

NASCC Response Essay

My experience at the NASCC event was a very rewarding one. This

conference is definitely the largest that I have ever been to. Upon

attending the NASCC, I discovered that there are hundreds of

companies in various industries related to the field of structural and

mechanical engineering.

My favorite session during the conference was the Students Connecting

with Industry and Direct Connect sessions. These sessions were very

helpful with networking during the conference, especially students who

are close to graduation, such as myself. Surprisingly, there were

companies who knew other engineers that I have worked with during

my academic career at companies such as SSOE. The most interesting

conversation that I had during this session was with Autodesk. The

engineer showed me various smartphone applications that would allow

me to advance my knowledge and efficiency when performing structural

engineering calculations.

Aside from the SCIS, I very much enjoyed spending time in the Exhibit

Hall. There were countless companies with very interesting

presentations, which enhanced my motivation to further my knowledge

in the engineering profession. I spent many hours visiting companies

and trying their demonstrations. My favorite tangible item that I

received was free software from RISA. Also, S-FRAME showed me how

to download their analysis software. The engineers from S-FRAME

were familiar with a professor of mine, Dr. Serhan Guner, who is

working with Dr. Frank Vecchio to combine their software capabilities

with VecTor5. This was a very interesting conversation that might

have the potential to turn into a collaborative effort between analysis

software developers. Another interesting display was the Peddinghaus

area. They had very impressive equipment, most notably the drill lines.

It was very impressive to watch the shapes being created and cut all

with one machine. Also, the vehicles at the back of the exhibit were very

fascinating; one of the vehicles had a capacity of 81 kips!

One of the seminars that I attended was the Fun is in the Details session.

This session was about Architecturally Exposed Structural Steel, which

is a very interesting topic for me. I enjoy the look of AESS, mostly

because I work in refinery design and I find steel aesthetically pleasing.

The presenter discussed member-to-member and element-to-element

connections. Generally, welds are best done in the shop, and bolts are

best installed on the site. Architecturally, welds give a clean appearance,

while bolts offer a more technical aesthetic. Another important topic

was known as “distance to view”, which defines when welds ought to be

grinded, or when a bolted connection should be used. If the distance to

view is less than twenty feet, then a grinded weld should be used. If the

distance is greater than twenty feet, then a bolt can be used and the

welds do not need to be grinded. Finally, cast connections are very

architecturally pleasing, but quite expensive.

The NASCC was a wonderful event. I plan on attending next year, for

sure. Thank you for an awesome conference where I could expand my

network and learn valuable knowledge!

Best Regards,

Kyle A. Blosser

LinkedIn

Google Site

NASCC-2016 1  

Lessons learnt at North American Steel Construction Conference (NASCC)-2016

SOUVIK MAZUMDER

Graduate Student, Structural Engineering -The University of Toledo

Secretary - University of Toledo Structural Engineers Association of Ohio

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Like previous year, I attended North American Steel Construction Conference (NASCC)

in this year also and venue of the conference was at Gaylord Palms Convention Centre in

Orlando, FL. This event was sponsored by some big companies namely AISC/NSBA,

Peddinghaus, Ficep Corporation, Simsona, Bentley System, Trimble, Aveva, Nucor, Gerdau etc.

This conference gave me fantastic opportunity to learn from technical seminars and network with

lots of professional engineers and students of other universities.

I was accompanied by three UT-SEAoO members John Morganstern, Kyle Blosser and

Andrew Taylor. We arrived at the conference on 13th April and visited exhibition hall where

more than hundred companies of various sectors such as engineering and design software

companies, fabricators, equipment manufacturers were demonstrating their products at their own

booths. I met representatives of few engineering firms like Mclaren Engineering group, Moldtek

Technologies ltd.; design software firms like Autodesk, Bentley, CloudCalc, S –frame ;

fabricators and equipment manufacturing companies such as Peddinghaus, Ficep Corporation,

Python.

On 14th April I attended Students Connecting with Industry Session which was tailored

for the students. In that session, I met the one of the event organizers Brian Quinn who is

president as well as founder of SE University and I got few career guidance from him. I attended

two outstanding presentations which were very important parts of this session. Name of these

presentations were 1) “What They Didn’t Teach Me at College” by Duane Miller, manager of

engineering services and welding design consultant of Lincoln Electric, and 2) “Insights Into a

Career as a Bridge Engineer” by Carmen Swanwick, chief structural engineer of Utah D.O.T.

Both of these presentations gave me plethora of information which I am going to utilize in my

future career. The main and most important part of this session was Direct Connect where I had

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scope to connect and interact with leading industry experts and structural engineering

professionals from various design and construction companies. I met professional engineers of

few companies and I had gained valuable knowledge about the current market of Structural

Engineering. This part of the session was very helpful for me as I shall graduate soon and I am

looking for a job. On this day we enjoyed delicious lunch and dinner which were free for the

students.

On 15th April, I attended two technical sessions – 1) “Fun is in the Details” by Prof. Terri

Meyer Boake of University of Waterloo, and 2) “ ASCE 37: Design Loads on Structures During

Construction” by David I. Ruby and Jeffrey Gasparott. “Fun is in the Detail” session was mainly

about architecturally exposed structural steel detailing in Prof. Boake’s book “Architecturally

Exposed Structural Steel Design “. In this session the focus was given on how connection

detailing sets architecturally exposed structural steel well apart from any other kind of

application of steel with help of many examples of high quality welded, bolted, tension

connections. The second technical session was about the loading parameters described in ASCE

37 as well as how, when and why an erection engineer addresses temporary bracing of the

structural steel to ensure stability and safety. These sessions were very helpful to hone my skill

as Structural Engineer.

Finally, it was a big opportunity for me to attend the conference that has helped me to

network with professional engineers and to gain knowledge from the technical sessions. I would

like to express my appreciation to SEAoO for their consideration and funding to encourage

students to participate in this conference.

SCIS Session IPresented by Duane K. Miller, Sc.D., P.E. Manager, Engineering Services and Welding DesignConsultant, Lincoln Electric.Summarized by Abhishek Kulkarni

The student sessions took place on 14th April, 2016 from 9:00 AM till 2:30 PM. The sessionswere structured in three slots. The first one was the morning meetup slot, where the students got tointeract with each other over breakfast. The morning session was held in slot two at 10:00 AM. Twospeakers presented in this session. Both talked about overcoming challenges faced whentransitioning from an academic standpoint into the construction industry.

Mr. Miller talked about the things that one only learns when he or she starts working in the CivilEngineering industry and gets some hands on experience. He talked in detail about four major pointswhich he felt were critical to know, to get a general idea about how things fall in to place when onestarts working.

a) Customers and Selling:

The art of effective communication is very important in any business. No company will runwithout its customers. How do you define sales? “Selling is the act of persuading others to takeactions they wouldn’t have taken if you hadn’t showed up.” Another helpful attitude which oneshould follow to effectively guide a customer is that “One can’t win an argument with thecustomer.” If you are contradicting your client and making him or her feel belittled, they mightrather take up the project with someone else.

b) Troubleshooting and Problem Solving:

As an engineer, one must possess a problem solving mind set. It’s imperative to have that kindof an attitude when you are tackling actual problems in your project. Some of the key takeawaysthat Mr. Miller talked about while illustrating this point are as follows. For developing yourpersonality, “Take something away from everybody you meet”. Getting all the facts is difficult, tryto get as many as possible. Don’t create a problem to solve another. Trust your instincts. Don’tdiscount them. Take care of your people first.

c) Importance of First Impressions:

Appearance plays an important role in the business world. The first impression is primarilybased on what you see. Thus, a person’s appearance will often speak volumes regarding his or herpersonality. Mr. Miller told a short story about a meeting between the then US president RonaldReagan and the former General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union MikhailGorbachev in Geneva, Switzerland.

The temperatures were very cold and Mr. Gorbachev wore a thick coat. President Reagan didnot wear a heavy coat regardless of the cold weather giving him the advantage of looking youngerand more dynamic. The importance of first impression in well explained by this short story.

d) People Skills: D.I.S.C. Learning tool.

D = Dominant, Direct, Decisive, Driven.

I = Inspiring, Impressive.

S = Supportive, Sympathetic, Submissive.

C = Cautious, Careful, Contemplative, Correct.

SCIS Session 2Presented by Carmen Swanwick, Chief Structural Engineer, UDOT.Summarized by Abhishek Kulkarni

Miss Swanwick has worked in the field of bridge engineering and spoke about thecharacteristics of a successful bridge engineer in this session. She describes the following qualities onemust possess to become successful in the construction industry.

1) Aptitude: Pay attention to detail, possess professionalism and solutions oriented mind set,work with enthusiasm and enjoy the work you do!

2) Technical excellence: Foundations must be strong, Good knowledge of fundamentals,attributes and experience.

3) Quality: Extremely important skill. Understanding the owner’s role. Produce memos,records and documents.

4) Project delivery: Scope, budget, schedule, quality, risk, innovation, communication,procurement, designs, plans and drawings, visualize plans in 3D, follow standards andspecifications.

5) Multi-disciplinary team: Structures, environmental, utilities, public involvement andtransportation.

6) Constructability and construction: Meetings and contingency.7) Operate and maintain: 75 years design life, inspection, preservation, rehabilitation,

emergency repairs.8) Innovation: Accelerated bridge construction (ABC), means and methods, materials,

deliver projects in 3D.

Super Tall (and Super Cool) Buildings in Asia.Presented by Dennis Poon, Thornton Tomasetti & James C. Swanson, Halvorson & PartnersSummarized by Shivangi BhargavaThe speakers talked about the new design challenges brought by the developing technology in highrise construction. A lot of buildings are being constructed which go beyond the 500 meters mark.These buildings can be classified as mega tall buildings!

One such building is the Vietin Bank Tower in Hanoi, Vietnam. It is currently under construction. Ithas three towers. The office tower is 363 meters tall and Hotel tower is 230 meters tall along withthe Podium. As of now, it’s the tallest building in Vietnam,

It has typical cast in place concrete buildings in its surroundings and stands out as a mega tallbuilding. It has a central concrete core with outrigger walls. It has 4 storey landscape sky gardens atone third and two third of the height of the total building. The Atrium spine does not have a centralcore.

The structure is composite with steel to lighten the mass for load transfer. It possesses steel framingwith no interior columns at the atrium. It has multi storey diagonal elements in its design. Theconcrete used is high strength C70 concrete with fc = 7800 psi. All connections are field bolted.There are three levels of transfer trusses with additional diagonal members and chord plates. Thereare glass elevators throughout the span which give an ultimate view at the higher levels.

The second building talked about in this seminar was the Ping An Finance Center (PAFC) in Shenzhenprovince, China. It will be one of the tallest towers in China upon completion. The design isextensively checked for seismic safety. It has an inner concrete core and an outside steel momentframing structure which offers strength as well as the required flexibility. The structure has asupplementary damping system with two mass dampers installed.

The foundation of this structure is modelled and analysed using SAFE. The architectural aspect of thebuilding gives it the unique advantage of resisting wind loads to a certain level. This is called thevortex shedding effect.

Overall the seminar provided good information about the shape optimization of a structure and howa comprehensive structural analysis will lead to a more sustainable project.

Heat Straightening of, and Repair of Collision Damaged FractureCritical Designated Girder BridgePresented by Tyler Thomas and Eric SetzlerSummarized by Martin ButlerThis session covered the basics of heat straightening, and an in depth examination of a case studyregarding a two girder bridge that had one of its girders hit by a truck. I had never heard of heatstraightening before this session, though its use was also shown in another session at thisconference “Strengthening and Repair of In-Service Bridges”. In this second session heatstraightening was used in a couple of cases, one which stuck out to me was another fracture criticalbridge which had been hit by a truck, in this case though the member struck was not designatedfracture critical, though only because it was top chord member and thus was in compression, still itwas damaged in a way that it would almost certainly have collapsed if exposed to loadings beyondthe dead load. In both cases the use of heat straightening allowed the repair of a member or severalmembers that I would have expected to need to be fully replaced.

The process of heat straightening is not what I expected it to be, and it was clear from thepresentation that my assumptions based on the name are not uncommon. The heat applied duringheat straightening is always below the critical temperature of the steel. So it is not just heating amember until it is soft, shoving it into place, and letting it cool. This was my initial assumption andthe situations that this would be appropriate are probably so limited as to be ignored. Rather, theregions are locally heated and this portion is restrained from expanding away from the direction it isintended to move as it expands. The heated portion is not restrained in cooling and so the shape ofthe steel is slightly changed. If heating is done in a triangular or vee shape, a beam can be bent, orunbent, as the case may warrant. Line heats are along the top of the web and move the angle of theconnection of web to flange and spot heats take bumps out of webs by tightening the web. It isnotable that the process of heat straightening causes a movement of material, making portionsthicker and shorter. However, the effect of collision damage is largely to make members thinner andlonger as they yield. Buckling will also occur but in the cases shown the damage was so extreme that

membrane action sort of took over. If local buckling is all that occurs presumably the change inlength would be small enough that it would not be a dealbreaker.

The case study examined by the first session was a two girder bridge that was hit by a truck goingunder it. Relatively fortunately the point of impact was about halfway between the floor beams sothe connections were not as comprehensively destroyed as they could have been. The bottom flangehad been rotated 45 degrees and a four inch gouge was present in the web of the beam. Cracks didform from the heat straightening in this case, and so a splice plate was added to the bottom flange,and a creative connection was necessitated by the new floor beam connection. The speed withwhich this repair was done was remarkable, and the tools which needed to be mobilized were muchsmaller than would have been necessary if full replacement of the girder was done.

Two other case studies using heat straightening were presented. One repaired a through truss hit bya truck which was too tall, the other considered a truss with the first top chord member hit by atruck. Of these, the later impresses me more, as the top chord of a truss does so much for thesupport of the structure, while the through bits of a through truss merely hold the supportingelements in place. In all of these cases, heat straightening was able to be used to quickly get thebridge back into use without the expense of replacing parts.

10 things they didn’t teach me at CollegePresented by Duane MillerSummarized by Bala Anjani Vasudha Surampudi

Mr. Miller shared the experience he gained after graduating. He reiterated - “Technical things only getyou through the door” citing LeTourneau, the designer and manufacturer of various earth movingequipment for his rise as a giant in earthmoving industry solely through experience.

He then listed the 10 things he learnt over the years.1. Customers and Selling

It is important to understand what the customer wants and give them exactly that.2. Trouble shooting and Problem Solving

He said, “When you add 2+2 you don’t have to get 4 but you aought to get sufficiently close”.It is important to know what is necessary of you and act accordingly.Failures can be explained easily but sometimes successes do not have an explanation.

3. Don’t discount instinctLaw of Instinct: When the <40% of the information is known, do not make major decisions.When the information available is 40-70%, make any necessary decisions. At this point wehave information needed to make certain decisions and not all. So, listen to your gut wherevernecessary. And when most of the work is done, you will have >70% of the information, but itis too late to make decisions.

4. D.I.S.C.D.I.S.C. is a personality assessment index. Based on this you can categorize most peoplearound you. Strategize and deal with these people accordingly.D: Driven, Dominant, Strong willed – when dealing with them it is necessary to know the facts.You need to build respect.I: Inspiring, Social, Imaginative – This lot is friendly and talks about themselves. So talk aboutthem and their accomplishments.

S: Submissive, Stable, Good-listener – They like status quo.C: Cautious, Compliant, Careful, Logical – They are most engineers and like spreadsheets andpresentations. And to win them over it is best to present the ideas using the tools they prefer.

5. Importance of First impressionsNever underestimate the importance of first impressions. Most people perceive the personand reject or accept them within the first 4mins. And Visuals have a deal of great impact onhow we are perceived.

6. Elements of Credibility

At this point the speaker had to leave.

Fun is in the DetailsPresented by Terri Meyer BoakeSummarized by Bala Anjani Vasudha Surampudi

Ms. Boake is a professor in the School of Architecture at University of Waterloo, Canada. Thepresentation was all about AESS (Architecturally exposed Steel Structures). Focus was on connectiondetailing and their appeal when architecturally exposed. Various exposed bolted and weldedconnections were discussed and examples of each were provided.

AESS must fulfill structural functions while being aesthetically pleasing. For this to happendistance, invisibility and type of connection are key factors. Both Bolted and Welded Connections maybe used to create an appealing connection. Examples of beautiful bolted connections: Penn StateCommunity Swimming Pool, Tower of Human rights and Bank of America building, Boston.

Examples of connections with minor aesthetic defects away form eyelevel and difficult to spot. A)Weld Overspill: Canada Museum, National Airport- Washington, Federation Square –Melbourne,Australia. B) Weld Remediation: Welds at levels 1, 2 need grinding as they can be easily spotted.Grinding of the section she stressed that grinding is allowed only if the connections is closer that 20ftfrom eyelevel. Also, it is necessary not to over-weld. Body fillers should be used. Examples: King’sCross Station (Not so pretty weld at a considerable distance from eye-level), Seattle Museum of Flight,International Airport, Beijing, Ability Center Whitney, Canada (Splice with plates, details and shadowsare pretty), Canadian war Museum (Use of Shapes and different sizes).

Splices are said to be un-intrusive if, they are hidden splices. They are welded using hiddenwelds Examples: NYC- Steel basket. In case of splices, lighting illuminates details. Therefore, it isnecessary to talk to an architect before installing the lighting

Pocket connections are aesthetically appealing but the joint must be checked for possibility ofwater retention. Examples: Heathrow airport, Barcelona shopping Center, Madrid Airport, PearsonAirport – Toronto, Ottawa International Airport, Calgary International Airport (Tapering tubularmember).

Cast Connections though appealing need ornate framework. And weld needs to be moved topoint of low stresses. Example: Whitney Museum-NYC, Brisbane Airport etc.

The speaker went on to list tensile connections and their examples and gave an overview ofother connection types that may be left exposed as an architectural detail.

More Opportunities with Direct Analysis MethodPresented by Ron Ziemian and Larry GriffithSummarized by Bala Anjani Vasudha Surampudi

In slender systems, losses in bending stiffness cause deflections that in turn cause greater bendinguntil yielding occurs and system becomes unstable. Direct Analysis method (DM) allows us to watchthe system becoming unstable by modeling the instabilities. DM allows modeling of Cross section,Member and system behavior while allowing simplifications in design.

Of the 35 effects recognized to be affecting the stability of a structure, 5 are recognized as themajor culprits (Termed as Big 5 by the presenter). These are 1) Shear deformations, 2) Equilibrium ondeformed shapes (P-δand P- Δ effects). 3) Geometric Imperfections (Initial out of straightness) 4)System Imperfections (residual stresses) 5) Potential variation of Stiffness.

Chapter C in AISC Steel Design Manual-2010 discussed Direct Analysis method. In this method,‘The Big 5’ are modeled. Reducing the stiffness of the beam columns by 0.8τ does this and addingnotional loads equal to 0.02% N (where N= gravity load) or placing initial deformations of the order ofL/500. NOTE: Notional loads can only be placed when the frame is orthogonal otherwise, the framewill be subject to unexpected torsion. As a result, Stiffness reduction factor is reduced to 1.

But what if unbraced length is not known? Then ‘L’ cannot be defined. This is possible in Treecolumns, Arches, Ladder Columns and so on. In many such systems it is impossible to know theunbraced length. Engineers use approximation, averaging and engineering judgment to assume theunbraced length of the system while calculating Pn. The assumed value of unbraced length maytherefore be inaccurate and the member strength calculated may be incorrect. Therefore, a modifiedversion of Direct Analysis method was devised to model system and member imperfections such thatthe design simplification can be taken as (stiffness reduction factor) k=0. Thus eliminating the need offinding unbraced length before calculating capacity. Since, k=0, Pn = Ac * Fy.

In 2005, Direct analysis method was confined to Appendix 7. It was upgraded to be includedin Chapter C in 2010. And in 2016, Direct Analysis method will be modified and renamed as DirectModeling of Member Imperfections (DMMI). At present, second order moments are calculated bymodeling 0.8τ reduction in stiffness and initial out of straightness of L/500 and unbraced length is usedto calculate Pn. Based on DMMI, second order moments will be based on 0.8τ reduction in stiffness,initial out of straightness of L/500 and an additional L/1000 initial deformation to include residualstresses and unbraced length is assumed to be ‘0’.

A Policy Guide for Steel Moment Frame ConstructionPresented by Ron O. Hamburger, Simpson Gumpertz & HegerSummarized by Anne SchmidAfter the Northridge earthquake on January 17, 1994 inspections under ceiling tiles revealedunexpected fractures in beam column connections. Such failures led to the formation of the SACProject. In an assessment of typical moment frames, excessive stress and strain were found in thebeam flanges opposite column welds; also concrete experienced excessive strain. A36 was typicalfor beams and A572 Grade 50 typical for columns, but A36 steel was actually a stronger materialthan specified so the columns were less strong with respect to the beams than expected. Also E70T4produced low toughness CJP welds and poor or no welding specifications were in place.

AISC 341 introduced a capacity design approach, where connections were prequalified using theperformance criterial in chapter K. AISC 358 introduced connections prequalified using 10-30 testsand analytical evaluation with finite element software. The AISC 358-05 edition contained thebolted end plate connection (with three variations) and the reduced beam section connection, whichis the standard public domain connection. The list has since expanded to include bolted flange plate,WUF-W, Kaiser bolted bracket, ConXL, Sideplate, double T, slotted web, and Simpson strong frameconnections.

A source of future growth is in partially restrained connections, which are now allowed if theyexhibit equivalent performance. New references include ASCE 7-16 12.2.1.1.2 and FEMA P-695 andP-795. P-795 now requires both monotonic and cyclic testing of proposed connections. Monotonictesting shows more strength and deformation capacity because there is no deterioration of strengthdue to fatigue.

What Your Fabricator Wishes You Knew About HSSPresented by Kim Olson, FORSE ConsultingSummarized by Anne SchmidThis presentation was the result of discussion with a five fabricators about best practices forengineering with HSS. The speaker discussed shear connection details, moment connection details,matched and stepped trusses, weld types, the importance of wall thickness in matching curvededges, the increase in waste since HSS comes in fewer lengths than WF members, how to pick amember from the HSS availability charts, architecturally exposed connections, tolerances, curvedmembers, and various design guides used for HSS.

SCIS – Student SessionPresented by Duane MillerSummarized by Avinash Sharma Damaraju

Duane Miller, a manager for engineering services at Lincoln Electric, talked about ten managerialskills that would be needed once a student goes into the industry.

1. Customers and selling. He mentioned that the customers are very important and it is because

of them we do business. He also mentions that customers are not always right but it is our job

to make them understand what can be right.

2. The next point he goes through is troubleshooting and problem solving. The key point here

was that “Explanation for failure should be as robust as explanation for success”. We should

take something from everyone we meet.

3. Don’t discount instincts. We should always follow our instincts as most of the times our

instincts are right. Follow the laws of instincts.

4. At this point, he mentions the importance of people skills. People skills are always important

and also mentioned how an engineer can be weak at people skills and how to we can improve

them.

5. The importance of first impressions. He mentions that it is the first impressions we make helps

the people judge what kind of people we are and it’s important to make a good first

impression.

At this point the speaker ran out of time and could not complete all the other skills.

Top ten questions – AISCPresented by various speakers from AISCSummarized by Avinash Sharma Damaraju

In this session different questions from the AISC were answered which they found out to beimportant and commonly asked among the steel industry. In the summary I would present all thequestions and answers to those questions as mentioned by AISC according to the topics.

Bolts and Bolting:

1. Who performs the pre-installation verification on bolts?

Pre-installation verification is to be performed at the site by the bolting crew who install them.

2. Pre-installation verification was performed but not witnessed by inspector. Does the verification

need to be performed again or should the bolts be removed or replaced?

The answer to this NO according to the scope and tables in Section N1 in the manual.

3. Are lock washers permitted in AISC Specification to prevent loosening?

Lock washers are considered to be a compressible material. Use of lock washers are not

considered in AISC and RCSC Specifications.

Welds and Welding:

4. Can I use directional strength increase for PJP welds?

According to AISC-Section J2.4, NO

5. Do I have to check base material strength at the fusion zone for fillet welds?

According to AISC- Table J2.5 and AISC Design guide 21, NO

Material and general requirements:

6. Can I substitute material X for material Y? Are these two materials equivalent?

The answer AISC gave to this that they cannot make engineering decisions for us. We have to

compare carefully. Almost most of the materials used in construction are provided in Section

A3.

7. My condition is not shown in the material in the manual. Is it prohibited?

NO. The absence of a design example or an illustration is not intended to convey that a detail

is prohibited.

Code of Standard Practice for steel building and bridges:

8. My customer is making me do something that is costing me a lot of money. What should I do?

Go back to contract and look at what it says. Contracts are typically governed by code of

standard practice. The first step is usually read the code of standard practice and then read

the contract.

9. Can my customer make me do something that conflicts with the code of standard practice?

YES. Section 1.1- Scope gives the explanation.

10. What is the tolerance on any item?

Most tolerances are provided in AISC code of standard practices. It references some other

documents for further tolerances.

Ideas from AbroadPresented by various speakersSummarized by Avinash Sharma DamarajuIn this session speakers talked about the standards from other countries and the ideas they used intheir constructions. The session was divided into two parts where two speakers talk about differentideas.

Session 1

In this session the speaker talks about the European standards for Short Span Bridges. Theimportance of the rail bridges in Europe. There is 1 rail bridge for 10 road bridges. Different gradesof steels were used in European Construction

355K2 – Equivalent to Grade 50

460 M – Equivalent to Grade 65

500 M – Equivalent to Grade 70

Mostly the recent constructions use 500 M.

The speaker also talked about the bridge constructions where he mentioned that theconcrete is heavily reinforced in longitudinal direction. He also talked about retrofitting the oldbridges which would be economical compared to demolishing and building a new bridge. Solutionsin Europe for retrofitting and construction of small span bridges were also presented. The softwarethey used in the designing according the European code is ACOBRI.

Session 2

In this session the speaker mainly talked about a bridge in Spain. The design philosophy inthe construction was to bring all the complexity in the project and do it with simplicity. Explains thebeauty of steel and uses in the bridges. He also focused on efficient and economic bridges. Theexample of Girona Bridge over Ter River in Girona, Spain was given. They have achieved a landmarkquality in this project. There were 9 – span continuous decks. The king-post truss 120 meters longand 58.2 spans were used. The double composite action was considered in the design. Concrete wasplaced inside the box girder for negative bending moment. There were 20 segments in which thebridge was constructed. RMBridge V8i software was used to design the bridge.