Career Episode Narrative - 1

CAREER EPISODE NARRATIVE – 1

A. INTRODUCTION
Chronology: February 2007 to October 2007
Geographical Location: Lahore, Pakistan
Organisation (Education Provider): University of Engineering & Technology,
Lahore, Pakistan
Position: Student (Bachelor of Science in Civil
Engineering)

This career episode is based on an engineering project conducted during my

structural engineering studies. This was a major structural project during my final
year studies for the award of Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at
University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore, Pakistan. The project, “Analysis
and Design of City Towers” involved structural analysis and design of an existing
15 storey commercial building proposing new design features. The project was
conducted by a group of four students. I had the privilege to be the group leader
and as such I was responsible for the successful execution of the project.

CE 1.1
B. BACKGROUND
The objective of the project was to apply the civil engineering applications learnt
during the course of my bachelor degree. I learnt to apply skills required for a civil
engineering project. In this project, I studied and applied the knowledge of
subjects like engineering mechanics, engineering mathematics, civil engineering
drawing, design of reinforced concrete structures, elementary & advanced
structural analysis, geotechnical engineering, soil mechanics & foundation
engineering. I also used American Concrete Institute standards in this project.

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Nature of the Project

As mentioned, the project was structural analysis and design of an existing
commercial building, based on the architectural drawings kindly provided by
Kingcrete Builders Associates who had constructed the building. The drawings
were made available on the request of Dr. Ashraf, head of Department of Civil
Engineering, UET Lahore.

CE 1.3

The scope of the project was to analyse the reinforced concrete framed structure
and design the analysed structural members and finally compile the results in the
form of a design proposal report. Since the project team consisted of four
members, four grid sections of the structure were selected after detailed
preliminary study of the project. Each member was allocated an individual section
for both analysis and design.

CE 1.4

As a team leader, I was responsible for communication with the team members
and supervising the progress of work. I also solved problem rising form time to
time and assisted all team members if and when a problem arose requiring my
attention. I also made sure that team members had the skills to carryout the
assigned task and I helped them in acquiring the skills if required so.

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C. PERSONAL WORKPLACE ACTIVITY

In the initial phase of the project, I carried out extensive literature review. I
studied the concept of commercial buildings in detail and explored architectural
design factors which are to be kept in mind while deigning a commercial building.
The orientation of building with respect to wind and sunlight and noise levels was
studied. I also explored the total area and volume requirements of the building
which depend on the nature and future usage of the building.

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Analysis Phase of the Project
I was responsible for analysis of one particular section of the framed structure
which lay towards the front of the building. From the architectural drawings
provided, I estimated the sizes of the structural members. This was done to find
out the relative stiffness on which the analysis depended. I used SAP 2000
software to analyse the building. SAP (Structural Analysis Programme) is widely
used for structural analysis and is synonymous with state of the art analytical
methods. I used various loading combinations to obtain maximum shear force
and bending moments. The objective was to find out the maximum effect of
loadings on joints of the frame. These effects were shown with the help of shear
force diagrams and bending moment diagrams. I used the load combination;
U = 1.4 (Static Load) + 1.7 (Dynamic Load)

CE 1.7

The static loads included self weight of the structural members and load of the
features permanently attached to the frame. As mentioned earlier, I had
estimated the size of the structural members from the architectural drawings
which gave me the volume of the structural members. I calculated the static load
of the structure by the simple formula;
Mass of the Concrete = Volume of Concrete x density of Concrete

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I calculated the dynamic loads keeping in view the nature of the structure.
Standard dynamic load values are used in commercial and non-commercial
buildings depending on the nature of the building usage. Since the structure
under discussion is a commercial building, I considered various dynamic loads
such as people, material stored in shops and warehouses, construction
equipment etc. Since it was a multi-storey structure, I considered lateral loadings
such as wind and earthquake loads as well.
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Design Phase of the Project

The design phase of the project was a collaborative work of all team members.
For the design phase, I used the Ultimate Strength Design method. I followed the
building code ACI – 318 – 95, as prescribed by American Concrete Institute
which are widely used in Pakistan. The design of structural members was based
on bending moments which I calculated in the analysis phase of the project. I
designed the reinforcement of different structural members.

CE 1.10

Most of the beams were continuous beams. I applied the critical shear, maximum
deflection and minimum reinforcement checks. I found out that in a few cases,
the steel reinforcement I calculated was less than the minimum reinforcement
value. For those beams, I provided the minimum reinforcement. Rest of the
checks were satisfied.

CE 1.11

In the slab design phase, most of the slabs I designed were two-way slabs; only
two slabs were one-way. The slab reinforcement depends on aspect ratio and
nature of loading. Most of the slabs were supported by beams and columns on
three or four sides, thus necessitating two-way reinforcement. The one-way slabs

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were supported by beams on two opposite sides, thus they were designed as
one-way slabs. These two slabs actually covered the drive ways entering and
exiting from the car park.

CE 1.12

The columns in the structure were found to be under concentric loading,

eccentric loading and under biaxial loading. I designed only the concentrically
loaded columns. These columns were smaller in cross section and were located
on the peripherals of the building. I analyzed them for uni-axial loading. There
were two columns under biaxial loading located in only one section of the
building. I found out that these columns have been under biaxial loading primarily
due to architectural reasons. I decided to apply the same design feature to the
other four sections of the building. Due to addition of these features, six more
columns came under biaxial loading and were designed accordingly.

CE 1.13

The building had shallow foundations and columns were closely located. The soil
also showed settlement tendency. Under these conditions, I decided to design a
raft foundation. Raft foundation is most suitable for closely located columns and
to avoid differential settlement. I have described this feature in following
paragraphs as design of foundation was faced with a major problem.

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Problems Faced & Design Modifications Provided

In the original drawings of the existing building, there were certain architectural
design features which enhanced the aesthetic outlook of the building. This
necessitated sizable biaxial loading on two columns in one of the buildings
sections. Since it was symmetric building, it was easy to incorporate the same
features into the other three sections of the building. Being the team leader, I
decided to add these features to those three sections as well. I discussed the
proposal with my team mates who were initially hesitant to include the features. I
argued that a structural engineer should be able to transform an architect’s
conceptual model into reality. For a better understanding of the issue, we held
three meetings with a professor of architecture and discussed the feasibility of
these additional features. As a result, of these discussions, we agreed to add
some architectural features into the building. The team members, in
collaboration, designed six more columns under biaxial loading. This load was
necessitated by addition of the architectural features to these sections of the
buildings. This enhanced the beauty and estate value of the building.

CE 1.15

The building had column footings in the original design. I found out that another
building located on the same street less than a kilometre away had faced
differential settlement of foundations. This phenomenon caused cracks in the
building which was being repaired in 2003. I assumed that the same soil
condition may affect our design. Thus I decided to design a raft foundation for the
building. Raft foundation is most suitable for soils which have a tendency for
settlement. It does not allow differential settlement of foundation thus avoiding
structural cracks due to settlement.

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Duties as a Team Leader

Success of this project depended on the collaboration and assistance form all
members of the project team. I arranged weekly and bi-weekly meetings with the
team members. In the meetings, we discussed the progress of the project. I
made sure that all members understood their responsibilities. I also helped the
members to understand and operate SAP 2000 software for the analysis phase
of the project. I held regular meetings with the project advisor to discuss the
problems faced during the conduct of the project and implemented the
instructions given by him. It was also my responsibility to keep all the
documentation in form of reports. All the calculations during analysis and design
phase were kept for later inclusion in the report. The results of the project were
submitted in form of a report.

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D. SUMMARY
This project included most aspects of the civil engineering practice. I studied the
stages involved during analysis and various design methods that could be used
based on the nature of the project. Most importantly, I practiced my skills on the
software SAP2000. This project provided me with practical grounds to implement
my theoretical knowledge on a civil engineering project in a structured manner in
any future civil engineering assignments.
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I also put my communication skills into use. Being a team leader, I developed my
leadership skills. I gained an experience of working in team environment. I
achieved completion of delegated tasks in scope and time which developed my
sense of responsibility. I am proud to state that my team submitted the project on
time which fulfilled the requirement for the award of Bachelor of Science in Civil
Engineering.

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