CE3610 – Design of Structural System (SEM2) Assignment 2

1. Objectives
Developing a structural design concept is similar in some ways to solving a mathematical problem,
except that there is often more than one best answer. This assignment aims to help students to
understand the key considerations when developing a structural design concept (or taking the idea
from the imagination to creating a feasible solution). Other objectives of this design coursework
include:

• To develop students’ ability to apply the principles of preliminary and detailed design for a
civil engineering project;
• To develop students’ ability in holistic design of civil engineering projects;
• To balance different design priorities and meet the economic, social and environmental
challenges of the changing world.

2. Project information
2.1 Introduction
A dockyard has been turned into a new visitor centre. One of the most attractive exhibitions is a
historic sailing ship (Figure 1). To protect it, a shelter structure is proposed by the client to enclose
the ship. In addition to the protection of this maritime heritage, this new development must provide
multi-storey spaces for exhibitions and corporate events. At this stage (RIBA stage C design), the
client is interested in proposals for the structural form of the shelter with detailed calculations.

(a) Side View

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 (b) Plan View

(c) Front view

Figure 1: Historic sailing ship (units in meters)

2.2. Submissions
You have been appointed as a structural engineer to prepare a concept design and detailed design
report. A SINGLE file (PDF or DOCX) submission on Wiseflow is required, in line with the
University regulations as seen on page 1. Part 1 (e.g. the poster) must be integrated into the submission
document.

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Part 1: Conceptual design – poster [30%] (one page)
When conducting the conceptual design in the poster, you need to propose two design options and
decide the favoured one based on at least 2 of the following design priorities (clarify which priorities
have been addressed on the poster):
1) Embodied CO2
2) Constructability
3) Future maintenance and whole-life-cycle costs
4) Sustainability
5) Safe construction

Part 2: Detailed design report [70%] (max 30 pages excluding appendix)

In the detail design report, you need to present the following results in your report. Present your
results in a report format:
1) Project site-wide information.
2) Drawings/sketches of the structural General Arrangements (GA drawings) for a typical floor
level and a typical section. An example can be found in Figure 2;
3) Detailed calculations of actions (or loads). In this part, all actions including permanent and
variable loads must be properly discussed.
4) Detailed calculations of major structural elements. You must present the detailed structural
designs for major components of the structure, i.e. a typical slab, a primary/secondary beam,
a column and a foundation. If a design spreadsheet or software is used, you still need to justify
the results through hand calculations.

(a) Floor plan

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 (b) Elevation (GL A, B and C)

Figure 2: Example plan and elevation drawings (not relevant to the contents shown in Figure 1)

2.3 Details of the project

2.3.1 Site information

• Geological maps of the area indicate that the site is likely to be underlain by Boulder Clay
(thickness = 10 m) overlying sand stratum. Clays in the area are normally firm to stiff
consistency. The water table is at 1 m below the ground surface. The bulk unit weight of the
soil above the water table is 19 kN/m3. The saturated unit weight of clay and sand are 22
kN/m3 and 20 kN/m3, respectively. The internal friction angles of clay and sand are ϕ1 = 25°,
ϕ2 = 30°. For clay, the bulk unit cohesion c = 80 kPa, while the undrained cohesion is cu = 110
kPa.
• The external concrete should be considered to be in exposure class XS1 to consider the seaside
condition.
2.3.2 General requirements
The new development must provide a ship enclosure which will provide as much visibility of the ship
as possible. The client anticipates that the structure will be multi-storey building which will provide
several floors to useable space for exhibitions and corporate events. A convenient pathway must be
provided to access the deck. Fire resistance of two hours is required.
2.4 Basis for design

2.4.1 Standards
• The UK Building Regulations 2010
• BS EN 1990
• BS EN 1991-1-1
• BS EN 1992-1-1
• BS EN 1993-1-1
• BS EN 1997-1

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2.4.2 Materials
Reinforcement strength can be taken as B500C (fyk = 500 MPa). The grade of concrete depends on
the last digit of your student ID as seen on the last page. It should be noted that the environmental
impact (e.g. the embodied carbon) of concrete also depends on its grade. An example of the embodied
carbon of different grades of concrete is shown below:
o C30/37 – 300 kgCO2/m3
o C50/60 – 370 kgCO2/m3
o C90/105 – 450 kgCO2/m3

If steelwork is used, you can choose either grade S275 or S355.

2.4.3 Actions
Permanent action: Self-weight of the structure
Imposed action: 5.0kN/m2 can be taken on the floor level and 0.6kN/m2 on the roof.
There is no need to consider imposed action if the roof slope is steeper
than 60 degrees.
Wind action: Can be neglected.
Snow action: Can be neglected.
1.4.4. Computer Programs and references
The following programs can be used in the design.
• Concrete Centre Spread Sheets Design of RC Elements
• AutoCAD Computer Aided Drafting
• Revit BIM software
• Microsoft EXCEL Computation Spread Sheet

Further readings:
• W.H. Mosley, R. Hulse, J.H Bungey (2012) Reinforced concrete design to Eurocode 2,
Permissions
• Spon’s civil engineering and highway works price book (2018) – available as an E-book at
the University library website:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/brunelu/detail.action?docID=5061360
• C Goodchild (2009) Economic Concrete Frame Elements to Eurocode 2, The Concrete
Centre.
• A.J. Bond, T. Harrison, R.S. Narayanan, O. Brooker, R.M. Moss, R. Webster, A.J. Harris
(2006) How to design concrete structures using Eurocode 2, The Concrete Centre.

2. Submissions

• See page 2.

3. General expectations

The assessment of your work will also be based on various items including:
• Effective conveyance and communication of the information. The way you present your
design should flow and must be very clear to everybody, not just yourself. You need to use
sketches, drawings and diagrams throughout the submitted work.
• Accuracy of the calculations is also very important for the same reason as above.
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 • Please fill the headings and the page number. All calculations can be handwritten or typed in
calculation sheets.

4. Grade of concrete

Last digit of your student ID Grade of Concrete

1, 2 C30/37
3, 4 C35/45
5, 6 C40/50
7, 8 C45/55
9, 0 C50/60

5. Academic writing and referencing

It is important to reference your work properly. Why?

• To acknowledge the work of others. This avoids plagiarism!
• To easily allow those reading your work to find the documents you have referred to.
• To demonstrate breadth of knowledge – this will strengthen your work and help you achieve
a better mark!

Please also refer to page 2 “Further information”.

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 CE3610 (Term 2) Design Project
Name:______ Overall result:______

1. Concept design – poster (one page)

The poster should include the following information: [ /30]
• Design* showing the major structural components, i.e. the superstructure (the shelter
structure) and the substructure (foundations) with materials, member and section dimensions.
• Methods of construction.
• Quantities and costs.

2. Individual report (max 30 pages excluding appendix)

2.1 Project brief [ /10]
2.3 Detailed calculations – frame analysis [ /15]
2.4 Detailed calculations – element design (beam, slab and column) [ /15]
2.5 Detailed calculations – footing design [ /20]
2.6 Design drawings* [ /10]
(2 drawings: drawing 1 shows the general floor layout with major structural element section
dimensions; drawing 2 shows the footing plan and detailing.)

* You are welcome to presenting your design, whether it is free-hand sketch, or created using
AutoCAD or Autodesk Revit.

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