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Morgantown, West Virginia
West Virginia University
Justin Michael Krishart
Structural Option
Fall Semester Advisor: Dr. Thomas Boothby
Spring Semester Advisor: Dr. Aly Said
THESIS PROPOSAL
Structural Depth
The proposed solution for the redesign is a two-way reinforced concrete slab with drop panels. These drop panels will be designed around the columns to help with the possibility of punching shear, which is caused by the columns themselves. This proposed system will consist of steel reinforcement going in both directions of a typical bay. Two components that will remain the same from the existing structure are the 4th and 5th floor roofs. This is due to the existing canopy roofs extending out over the roof deck. The redesign of concrete will cause the steel braced frames to be changed into a combination of concrete shear walls and moment frames. The current configuration of lateral system will remain the same as it provides adequate strength against lateral loads.
There are multiple factors that are both advantages and disadvantages of this proposed system redesign. An advantage is that the overall structural depth should decrease from using composite steel, which will increase the the ceiling height on each floor. The cost of a composite steel system tends to be greater than that of a concrete system. A disadvantage is that the structural weight will increase by utilizing concrete, and therefore will lead to different lateral effects. Also the construction time will change, as concrete tends to take longer to formwork and concrete curing process.
Construction Management Breadth
The alternative system will have an effect on both the project cost and schedule. Therefore, a cost comparison analysis will conducted for both the existing steel composite system and proposed two-way reinforced concrete slab system. Due to the potential change in construction time, a detailed critcal path schedule will be looked at to determine how much construction time different there is between the two systems. During the system comparion, the data will help determine the feasibility of the proposed structural redesign.
Facade Breadth
The structural system redesign is causing a redesign of the lateral system of the building to change. The use of concrete shear walls will replace the existing frames, where some are on the exterior the building. This will cause an inference problem with certain windows the encompass the facade, due to adding holes in a shear wall can lead to an effect of the walls strength. So there will be an need to eliminate some windows where possible that will impact the mechanical effects of the building. A heat gain/heat loss property analysis will be analyzed to show the impact on the mechanical systems of the building.
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