Announcement:
We are pleased to announce that Tyler Roberts, Project Engineer, has passed the Professional Engineer (PE) exam in Nevada. Please join us in congratulating him on this monumental achievement!
Tyler is already working on his next goal, to become licensed in the State of California. |
Who We Are:
THOMAD Engineering is a client-focused structural engineering firm established in 2003. We are committed to providing excellent services always above and beyond expectations.
To learn more, spend a 'moment' at our website!
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Newsletter Archive
'Structural Moments' is a monthly e-newsletter published by the staff of THOMAD Engineering to our valued clients, associates, and colleagues in the A/E/C industry. |
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Greetings!
I recently attended a panel discussion by several prominent local real estate developers about the state of the industry. The event was organized by the Southern Nevada chapter of NAIOP, the real estate development organization.
The new reality is that speculative development is no longer an option due to tight financing and high vacancy rates of existing properties. Until the economy rebounds, these developers discussed how they are forced to shift their focus from new construction to some other areas. Here is a snapshot of some points that caught my attention:
- Upgrade existing properties to be more energy efficient and attractive to lease and thus preserve current asset values.
- Acquire undervalued properties and repossessed properties from banks that hold them.
- Manage and nurture their relationship with lenders more than ever before.
- Find businesses which are willing to build-to-suit rather than convert existing space.
- Pursue development of government projects.
- Capture the increase in demand for space from outside exhibition companies relocating to Nevada.
How do you think these changes are going to effect the architectural, engineering and construction side of the industry? Do you think we should also adapt and embrace similar changes?
 Best Regards,
Mohammed Thomad, PE, SE |
| Focus On: Progressive Collapse |
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The Ronan Point Collapse, 1968 |
The term "progressive collapse" means that the failure of one structural element in a building will lead to the failures of other structural elements, and ultimately partial or complete collapse of the structure.
Building and material codes already implement some provisions to guard against progressive collapse, however, building collapse is progressive in nature so designing against all progressive collapse is impossible. A term that would better describe what engineers design against would be "disproportionate collapse". The idea is that the amount of collapse should be proportionate to the amount of initial damage and force applied to the structure. An example of a "disproportionate collapse" would be that of the 1968 Ronan Point incident. In this collapse, 24 stories fell as a result of a small gas explosion destroying a primary column. Most of the building remained, but the amount of collapse compared to the damage incurred by the building was very disproportionate. The explosion was so small that a woman only a few feet away survived. In contrast, the World Trade Center collapses, while progressive in nature, were far more proportionate when considering the amount of initial damage and force exerted by the planes and the burning jet fuel.
There are three ways to design against progressive collapse; increase the redundancy of the structure, increase the connectivity of the structure, and increase local resistance. Increasing redundancy means designing the structure to not rely on a single member for structural stability. Increasing connectivity allows for alternate load paths in the case that a load path is removed (by damage or failure). Increasing local resistance simply means providing increased structural resistance to damage. Implementing these three strategies in structural design is often difficult and complex, but ultimately leads to safer, more structurally sound buildings. |
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