Tuesday, March 31, 2020

What’re Pre-Engineered Buildings? Understanding the Basic Concept


Pre-Engineered Buildings or PEBs are one kind of the building components that are designed at the factory & assembled on site. Generally, PEBs are the steel structures and best alternatives to the conventional pre-engineered buildings. PEB structural units are fabricated at a factory to precise size, shifted and assembled on-site, generally with the bolted connections. This kind of the structural concept will be used for building:
·         Small Retail & Commercial Office Structures
·         Industrial & Small Manufacturing Buildings
·         Warehouses & Storage Units

What’re Pre-Engineered Metal Structures?

The pre-engineered metal structures make use of the combination of:

·         Metal roofing system
·         Wall panels of different materials
·         Structural steel framing

Wall panels come in many different choices, right from the single sheeting with insulation to sandwich panels. This concept is made to provide the building envelope system that is:

·         Energy efficient
·         Air-tight
·         Best temperature control
·         Made to suit user specifications


Benefits of Using the Pre-Engineered Structures

Lower Expense
Because of a systems approach, there’s a huge saving in the structural component design, on-site erection and manufacturing cost. Secondary members & cladding bundled also can reduce transportation cost.

Lesser Construction Time
Structures are delivered in some weeks after the approval of drawings. Anchor bolts and foundation are cast with finished and ready for site bolting. The use of pre-engineered structures has potential to reduce the total construction time. It allows quick occupancy and realization of the revenue for owners.

Quality Control
Since buildings are made totally in a factory under controlled conditions its quality will be simple to manage than on the project sites.

Expansion Flexibility
Buildings are expanded easily in length just by adding extra bays. Also, the expansion in height and width will be possible just by pre-designing the PBEs buildings for any future expansion.

Energy-Efficient Roofing & Wall Systems
Buildings are supplied with the fiberglass blanket insulation or polyurethane insulated panels to attain required U values.

Low Maintenance
PEB’s are designed with the best quality of paint for steel and cladding, and applied in the controlled environment that results in the long durability & low maintenance expenses.

Systems Availability & Compatibility
As a complete pre-engineered building is supplied by one single vendor, the compatibility of all building components or accessories is assured. It is one major advantage of the PEB systems.

Architectural Versatility
The building systems are supplied with different kinds of metal panels, canopies, fascia, or curved eaves and made to accommodate the pre-cast concrete panels, block walls, curtain walls, and other wall systems.

Is Pre-Engineered Building The Right Choice for Your Project?
Pre Engineered structures aren’t the best or right system for all types of building so let Prajukti help to guide you on the type of system that suits your project requirements. No matter whether the best building system is structural precast concrete, conventional steel frame, or pre-engineered building, you do not need to sacrifice on design and creativity by selecting one over another. Teamed with the right design expert you will have it all.


Thursday, March 19, 2020

What Structural Consultants Suggest When it Comes to Pile Tests in Construction…?




If you are a bit aware of the field of civil engineering then you must know that structural engineers play a vital role in all the processes of construction of your place such as planning, designing, supervision, and implementation of a construction project. Structural engineers are considered as the backbone of the construction project which is basically your “home” sometimes. Team of such responsible structural engineers are in charge of keeping your place safe and sound from design to completion. 

This group of people are responsible for the overall design and management of the design of the project in terms of feasibility, economic, strength, and integrity of the structures. Overall, by analysis of the prajukti which is one of the top structural engineering firms have said that the duties of structural engineers or structural consultants begin with planning through proper coordination with the architects and MEP engineers.

Depending upon proper coordination and interaction with the client, the design and analysis of the project is moved further towards approval and then implementation. Its approval and completion are also classified into the responsibilities of structural consultants. A project needs to go through many ups and downs and many tests are done on the design and the place on which the structure is going to stand. 

The quality control is necessary when the construction of the building is taken into consideration. To do so, various tests are there which are mentioned by the government. Some are compulsory for approval and some tests are suggested by structural consultants for the safety of your loved ones. The integrity test is one of the essential parts of quality control in either cast-in-place or precast concrete. This is because according to a survey of prajukti, there are some cases in history that have been tragic and the piles are the main reason to cause the damage.  So, to prevent the possible structural faults from pile installation such as cracks, changes in cross-sections and likewise can be detected with this method. This tests is categorised into Non-distracted Test (NDT) method. Such tests are used to evaluate the continuity and consistency in the characteristics like pile material, length, and cross-sectional area. 

Integrity test performed for cast-in-place concrete and precast concrete with the use of low strain method and ultrasonic method leads to acceleration and velocity. The primary shockwave is basically used to perform this test. This shockwave travels down the length of the pile and reflected from the toe by the change in density between the concrete and the substrate. As a reading or output, any discontinuities and defects encountered will be reflected and added to the return signal considered as an output of the test. A vertically used hammer is used for impacting the pile head. 

Several impacts are applied on the top of the pile so that the echoes generated for each impact by the use of motion or acceleration transducers can be recorded. being recorded for each individual impact. This apparatus will provide signal conditioning as well as the integrated acceleration to obtain the velocity.

Many structural consultants suggest to carry out these tests as a safety measure. It is always recommended by the top structural engineering firms that such tests should be performed by experienced professionals specialized in piling and here, prajukti which is one of the top structural engineering firms comes
into the picture. For more information, visit https://prajukti.com/