Some useful tips to develop and pour concrete stairs

The renowned concrete contractor, David Odell, has presented an exclusive construction video tutorial that provides some useful construction tips on how to develop and pour concrete stairs (10 steps of stairs).

These are the basic steps for developing concrete stairways. This video will guide you to build up your own concrete stairs. Steps shown in this video comprise of laying out the size, arranging the sub-base, developing the forms, pouring, finishing and curing the concrete from starting to completion.

A "riser" refers to the vertical surface of the step and a "tread" refers to the horizontal surface of the step. To define the whole size of the concrete stairs, initially, you should work out the total rise and run of the steps you are going to form.

To learn the complete process, watch the following video tutorial.

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.constructioncost.co

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Characteristics of Mass Concrete

Mass concrete is made with solid structures (> 80 cm). These structures frequently contain a greater volume. It signifies that large volumes of concrete should be set up in a short time. It needs highly well-organized planning and competent methods.

Mass concrete is applied for:

 Foundations for large loads
 Foundations for buoyancy control
 Solid walls (e.g. radiation protection)
 Infill concrete

The following major issues are formed with these enormous structures:

 Extreme internal and external temperature discrepancies throughout setting and hardening
 Excessive maximum temperatures
 High internal and external temperature deviations and as a result forced shrinkage
 Secondary consolidation (settling) of the concrete and as a result cracking occurs over the top reinforcement layers and also settlement under the reinforcement bars

Riska: All of these issues can lead to cracks and cement matrix defects assumed to be “skin or surface cracks” which may happen if the external/internal temperature variation is more than 15 °C or the outer layers can contract because of their initial drying out. Usually, the depth of skin cracks is few centimeters and can close again later.

Proper Measurement:

 Utilize cements with low heat development
 Low water content (curtailment in w/c ratio)
 Biggest possible maximum particle size (e.g. 0–50 rather than 0–32)
 If required, chill the aggregates to have a low initial fresh concrete temperature
 Set the concrete in layers (layer thickness < 80 cm)
 Restrain the bottom layers to make sure that the entire section is recompacted as soon as the top layer is set
 Start curing by applying thermal insulation methods
 Make sure the proper design and circulation of joints and concreting sections, so that heat can be dissipated and the temperature developments and deviations can be adjusted

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.constructioncost.co
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Brief demonstration of drywall estimating template in excel

This construction video tutorial provides the demonstration of user-friendly and spreadsheet based drywall estimating software.

It becomes difficult for the contractors to estimate and finish takeoff from drywall works. But this video shows how to make the process simple. In a drywall estimating process, the following steps should be included :-

Workout the Square Footage

Estimate Drywall Boards

Estimate Drywall Tape

Estimate Joint Compound

Estimate Drywall Screws

Estimate Corner Beads

Estimate Drywall Miscellaneous

Estimate Other Components

To learn the complete process, watch the following video tutorial.

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.constructioncost.co

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How to make design of concrete corbel with spreadsheet

If you want to be familiar with the detailed process necessary for creating the design of a RCC Corbel in excel based spreadsheet following ACI 95, then you should go through the following construction video tutorial.

In architectural term a corbel stands for a structural piece (a type of bracket) made of stone, wood or metal that is overhanged from a wall to bear an oppressive weight. In brief, a corbel refers to a solid piece of material in the wall.

Corbels are mostly utilized in precast concrete construction to provide support to main beams and girders.

ACI 318-95/318R-95 is defined as building code requirements for Structural Concrete & Commentary.

ACI 318-95 offers good information to the engineers and designer. The most significant modification included in the new code is that references to "reinforced concrete" are turned into "structural concrete."

To learn the complete process, watch the following video tutorial.

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.constructioncost.co

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How to design a beam in excel with coefficient method

This construction video tutorial sifts through the process for evaluating engineering drawing easily.

This construction video tutorial provides detailed guidelines on how to use excel based spreadsheet to design a beam. Here coefficient method is applied for designing purpose.

The calculation is made on the basis of the following drawings :-

a. Typical floor plan
b. Ground floor plan
c. Column Layout
d. Beam Column Layout

The coefficient method refers to a rapid hand-system that can be used for computing the moments in two-way slabs supported with edge beams. This method was initially contained in the 1963 edition of the ACI code as a method for creating design of two-way slabs which are supported on all four sides through walls, steel beams, or deep beams. The most recent version of the ACI code 318 does not contain the coefficient method but you can apply it for two slab systems with edge beams.

This method employs tables of moment coefficients for different types of slab edge conditions. The coefficients are dependent on elastic analysis but also comprises of considerations for inelastic moment redistribution.

To learn the complete process, watch the following video tutorial

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.constructioncost.co

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KaderColumn – A useful construction program for column analysis

KaderColumn is a powerful construction program that is created for reinforced concrete tied short columns.

It can be used to create the designs of columns based on up to eleven cases of loading comprising of axial load and bending moment implemented about the maximum principle axis.

The program allows to build up the column strength interaction diagram (Bending moment-Axial load curve) out of the input data of the cross-section and verify whether all input cases of loading are situated inside the design curve. If the input data of the cross-section is insufficient, the program enhances them to commence from the Min. Roh to the cross-sectional dimensions unless all input cases of loading remain inside the design curve. The program provides proposition for setting ties properly and draws them.

Features:

• It is very user-friendly and short.
• It computes and draws the column strength interaction diagram toward a reinforced concrete tied short column having a rectangular (containing rebars at two sides only or at all four sides), square or circular section and depending on axial load and bending moment around the max. principle axis of its cross-section.

• Up to eleven cases of loads (axial load and bending moment) are permissible. The program examines all these cases which should remain inside the column interaction diagram.
• It designs the section and draws by organizing ties in an efficient manner.
• The user will be capable of rectifying the section dimensions, the min. and max. ratio of reinforcement and some other parameters for obtaining the rational section from his point of view.

• The user will be able to save and open the input data file that is already saved by the program.
• The program employs the ultimate strength method for design and abides by the exact ACI 318-02 Code requirements.

To download this construction program, visit the developer’s website www.cadkad.com

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Published By

Rajib Dey

www.constructioncost.co

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Some useful tips to read civil engineering drawings efficiently

This construction video tutorial sifts through the process for evaluating engineering drawing easily.

In this video, some crucial topics like grid lines in civil engineering, problems found in the drawing, are explained briefly.

A civil drawing contains a series of various types of site drawings. It is a type of technical drawing that provides information on utility, grading and drainage, site improvements, and landscaping plans as well as other site details. The objective of these drawings is to provide a clear conception of all things in a construction site to a civil engineer. In these drawings the site layout plan and floor plans are set up.

Civil drafters arrange the drawings, topographical and relief maps which are applied in leading construction or civil engineering projects like highways, bridges, pipelines, flood control projects, and water and sewage systems.

In the drawing, there are Grid Lines specified with dimensions n. The grid lines facilitate references to be created on the basis of the position/location of different constituents in the project. The Main Contractor will then employ a license surveyor to organize the grid lines on site.

In the video, a sample drawing is considered. There are 8 columns in this drawing with the dimension 29.5” x 19.5”. Here the header lines will demonstrate the center line of the column.

To learn the complete process, watch the following video tutorial

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.constructioncost.co

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A position is vacant for principal roads/highways engineer

The Company: A leading engineering Services business a strong presence and excellent track record of rendering major transport corridors in dominant international cities, is inviting applications for the position of principal roads/rail engineer to direct and assist the business in rendering large and modern infrastructure work.

Job role: As a Senior / Principal designer, you have to work in tandem with the Infrastructure & Transport team as well as take responsibility for supervising engineering design, project delivery, detailed design and technical troubleshooting on a wide array of big Transport infrastructure assignments (road, tunnelling & rail).

Duties and responsibilities:

• Civil design of large scale and modern road, highways, rail and transport Infrastructure projects around Melbourne and Australia.
• "Senior Management" opportunity.
• Use of 12d / Inroads / BIM all for creating outstanding civil design for Highways, rail and drainage projects.
• Participate in design review meetings with primary stakeholders and make sure that project milestones are fulfilled as per quality, budgetary and safety standards.
• Contributing in a work friendly environment.
• Communicating with Stakeholders perfectly in a joint venture / alliance environment.

This position is ideal for senior Civil Engineer / Designer having more than 10 years of working experience in the infrastructure / consulting industry.

If you think that you are eligible for the post, send your curriculum vita to Alan Pratt at alan@designandbuild.com.au and give a call on 0421 116 107 to get more details about the job.

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Published By

Rajib Dey

www.constructioncost.co

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How to determine grades of concrete following IS 456:2000 standard

This construction video tutorial explains the grades of concrete with adherence to IS 456:2000 as well as process for detecting the characteristics strength of concrete.

IS 456-2000 refers to an Indian standard code of practice for general structural use of plain and reinforced concrete.

Grade of concrete determines the compressive strength of concrete. To calculate grade of concrete, standard compression test is carried out on concrete cube of 150 mm. Grade of concrete is demonstrated with M10, M20, M30 etc. where M stands for Mix i.e. mix of constituents used for concrete. Numeric figure in M stands for characteristics compressive strength (fck) that is stated MPa (N/mm2).

Characteristics compressive strength means the strength of material under which not over 5% result is presumed to fall.

As for example if 20 samples of concrete cubes are casted and carried out compression tests for them in the laboratory to determine their compressive strength. Results for test are 27.3, 25.4, 26.9, 25.1, 23.8, 27.6……20 results. If these are organized in increasing order, here 23.8 is less than 25 and remaining are greater than 25 in MPa. So, it signifies that one result falls under 25 MPa and it is detected that only 5% of results fall under 25. Therefore, grade of concrete remains M25.

As per IS code, there are three comprehensive categories for concrete as follow :-

Type of concrete	Grade
High Strength Concrete	Over M 60
Standard Strength Concrete	M25 to M55
Normal Strength Concrete	M10 to M20

For online demonstration, watch the following video.

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.constructioncost.co

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Guidelines for reinforced cement concrete design

This construction video provides detailed guidelines for designing reinforced cement concrete with adherence to the Indian National Building Code (IS 456 – 2000).

This code is designed for general structural application of plain and reinforced concrete. This code employs the limit state design approach along with working stress design approach. It provides wide-ranging information on the different characteristics of concrete.

It comprises of the following five sections and eight annexures:

• Section 1: General
• Section 2: Materials, Workmanship, Inspection and Testing
• Section 3: General Design Considerations
Section 4: Special Design Requirements for Structural Members and Systems
• Section 5: Structural Design (Limit State Method)

By going through this video, you will learn how to design various types of structural components like beam, column, slab, footing etc. as well as objective of structural designing.

The video briefly explains the following topics :-

1. Purpose of structural designing and designing method
2. Variation among plain concrete and reinforced concrete
3. Fundamental characteristics of concrete as follow
a. Grade of concrete
b. Characteristics strength of concrete
c. Modulus of elasticity of concrete

d. Creep and shrinkage
e. Longevity
f. Tensile strength
4. Fundamental properties and categories of reinforced steel
a. Grade and categories of steel
b. Yield strength of mild steel and HYSD Bars

Watch the following video for online demonstration.

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.constructioncost.co

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Ring 3.0 – A powerful software for bridge analysis and masonry design

LimitState Ltd has developed RING, a powerful construction program for bridge analysis and masonry design.

The most updated version is RING 3.0. The newest version can be used for analyzing masonry arch bridges. The software is mostly suitable for structural engineers.

The software provides the following advantages :-

• Analyze single or multi-span bridges without having fixed upper limit on the permissible number of spans
• Automatically determine the critical failure mode although:
o only a single span is associated
o sliding is involved
modelling multi-ring arch bridges
• Determine and resolve numerous multiple load cases
• Automatically find out 'passive' pressures - analyze deep and multi-span arch issues with ease
• Model the presence of arch backing material
• User-friendly wizard system facilitate simple and rapid model definition
• Modern, uncomplicated interface supported with an collaborating modeling environment

Extensive library comprises of standard road and rail vehicles
• Property editor facilitates fast querying and adjustment of model properties
• 3D graphical output for superior perception
• Automatic report creation

• User-accountable arch and backfill profiles
• User-accountable separate block weights, masonry strength, mortar loss etc.

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Published By

Rajib Dey

www.constructioncost.co

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What are the maximum bearing capacity of various types of soil

In this construction video tutorial, one will be familiar with how to determine maximum bearing capacity of various types of soil.

Safe Bearing Capacity of Soils is defined as the maximum strength of loading that the soil will bear securely devoid of the risk associated with shear failure.

The bearing capacity of soil refers to the maximum average contact pressure among the foundation and the soil which should not lead to shear failure in the soil.

In the jobsite you will be provided with drawings along with soil investigation report. From soil investigation report, you can get various information about the soil upon which the building will be constructed like number of fillings in the soil, the bearing capacity of soil, bearing pressure of soil to undergo.

There may be some errors in the report or higher value for bearing capacity.

In this video, you will learn how to find out maximum bearing capacity of soil and tally this figure with the soil test report to check for any discrepancy.

In the video, there are two heads like soil type and safe bearing capacity of soil. In soil type, there are different types of soil like combination of soft, wet and muddy clay, fine/loose or dry sand, soft clay, black cotton soil, moist or sand clay mix, loose gravels, compacted gravels, soft rock, sand or lime stone, hard rock/granite/trap etc. For each type of soil, the maximum safe bearing capacity is provided.

Go through the following video tutorial, to get more details.

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.constructioncost.co

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CSiBridge 2017 – The newest software for 3D bridge analysis

Computers and Structures, Inc. is the developer of CSiBridge. It is a very useful software for integrated 3d bridge analysis.

Modeling, analysis and design of bridge structures are incorporated into CSiBridge to transform the bridge design process to the next level.

The engineers can apply CSiBridge to easily determine complicated bridge geometries, boundary conditions and load cases. The bridge models are described parametrically with the jargons which are common to bridge engineers like layout lines, spans, bearings, abutments, bents, hinges and post-tensioning. The software has the capability to generate spine, shell or solid object models which are automatically updated with the modification in the bridge definition parameters.

With CSiBridge design, it becomes easier to design and retrofitting of steel and concrete bridges rapidly without any difficulty. By using the parametric modeler, the users get the ability to develop simple or complicated bridge models as well as create rectifications competently and at the same time total control on the design progression. Lanes and vehicles are described rapidly and comprise of width effects.

With the use of simple and practical Gantt charts, it is possible to simulate modeling of construction sequences and scheduling.

There is a simple wizard method in CSiBridge that offers the useful process to generate a bridge model.

CSiBridge is supported with the SAPFire® analysis engine along with staged construction, creep and shrinkage analysis, cable tensioning to target forces, camber and shape finding, geometric nonlinearity (P-delta and large displacements), material nonlinearity (superstructure, bearings, substructure and soil supports), buckling and static and dynamic analysis. All of these can be used with a single comprehensive model. Besides, AASHTO LRFD design is contained with automated load combinations, superstructure design and the newest seismic design.

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.constructioncost.co

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How to estimate the quantity or number of dump trucks necessary for cut & filling of soil

This construction video tutorial provides detailed guidelines for computing the quantity or number of dump trucks essential for cut filling of soil.

Cutting and filling stands for the method of shifting soil from one place to another for leveling the ground properly.

A ‘cut’ is formed if the soil is cut from beyond the required ground height and a ‘fill’ is formed if the soil is employed to stuff a hole to preferred ground level. Cutting and filling is most recognized method that is applied to develop a uniform ground surface.

There is a risk associated with cutting and filling the land specifically when the desired land for filling is utilized for your house foundations. Each time earth is shifted the natural compaction is affected, and soil under this condition is frequently defined as ‘fluffed’ or ‘aerated’.

The soil should be compacted to resist settling so that it becomes safe for being used in foundation. If it's improperly compacted, settling soil can lead to cracked foundations.

Cutting and filling is usually done with earth moving equipment like skid-steer loaders or bulldozers. Based on the size and shape of your site, it is recommended to apply a drum roll style compactor or a plate compactor.

To get the complete calculation process, watch the following video.

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.constructioncost.co

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Civil Engineering: Conventional and Objective Type – An exclusive e-book

Khurmi R.S. and Gupta J.K. have written an exclusive e-book known as Civil Engineering (conventional and objective type). The book is available in paperback version.

The book sheds light on different branches of civil engineering.

The book is ideal for the civil engineering students and for those who want to make good result in state or union civil services examinations taking civil engineering as an optional subject.

J K Gupta and R S Khurmi have put their teaching knowledge to publish this standard and objective type responsive book.

The book includes some crucial topics like mechanics, applied mechanics, hydraulics and fluids mechanics, strength of materials, hydraulic machines, soil mechanics and foundations, building material irrigation, concrete technology, building construction, public health engineering and engineering geology. The topics in the book are based on the course material for under-graduated courses as well as that for objective type multiple choice questions.

The book comprises of brief conventional theory of each subject. Every concept and theoretical topics are supported with nearly 200 objective type questions.

Besides, there are different types of practice tests and solved/unsolved questions which are very useful for civil engineering students. It can facilitate the readers to solve out any confusions and prepare themselves for SSC or other junior engineering examination.

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Published By

Rajib Dey

www.constructioncost.co

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