FIJI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, SCIENCE &

PROJECT – SEMESTER 1, 2023

BACHELOR IN CIVIL ENGINEERING (Honours)

CEB 706 – DESIGN OF REINFORCED & PRE-

Due Date: 15/05/2023

2. Begin each answer on a fresh page.

3. Write clearly the number(s) of the question(s) attempted on the top of each sheet.

4. All questions are compulsory.

5. If you think any information is missing, you may make a valid assumption and
proceed with analysis. But ensure to state your assumptions clearly.

6. Late submission would be mean 5 marks deduction per day.

7. The group project is out of 100.

Semester 1, 2023

Due date: Week 14, 15th May 2023.

A five-story building is to be designed and constructed in Suva City. A preliminary assessment by the
engineer has nominated that a concrete framed building would be most suitable. The engineer has
nominated the geometry of the structure as per figures 1-4 below. It is proposed that each floor be
comprised of a suspended beam and slab system consisting of reinforced concrete (RC) beams (1200mm
wide x 600mm deep along grid 2 and 1200mm wide x 450mm deep along grids 1 & 3) spanning between
550mm x 550mm RC columns. The beams will be supporting a one-way spanning RC slab. It is proposed
that a 180 mm thick RC slab is required to span between the beams (refer figure 1).

The beams and columns will be rigidly connected using steel reinforcement and should be designed as a
moment resisting frame to resist the horizontal forces which will be imposed on the structure due to wind
actions (Wu) in the east-west direction (parallel with grid lines 1-3). The wind loads will be applied to the
external faces of 250mm thick precast concrete shear walls in the easterly direction as shown in figures 1
and 2. The precast concrete 250mm thick shear walls will be design to take the horizontal loads from wind
actions in the north-south directions. As a result, the beams, slabs and columns are not required to be
designed for horizontal loads in the north-south directions (parallel to grid lines A-D). The 250mm thick
shear wall will be connected to the concrete beams and slabs using steel dowel bars at each level (refer
detail A). There is a 100mm gap between the walls and the face of the edge columns, therefore the
columns will only experience horizontal loads from the beams connected to them and the walls will not
transfer loads to the columns directly along their height. The walls will not support the beams or slabs
vertically and it can be assumed that all the vertical loads will be transferred from the beams to the
columns. However, the walls are capable of supporting their own self-weight since they are tied into
footings at the base and can be assumed to have no out of plane flexural stiffness to resist horizontal
loading in the out of plane east-west direction. I.e., the wall can only transfer horizontal wind loads in the
east-west direction to the beams at each level and do not contribute to providing any resistance the
horizontal loads in the east-west direction. The columns are fully fixed into footings at their base and
footing to column connection can be assumed as rigid for design purposes.

Each level is to be designed for retail loads (shopping areas, classification D in AS1170.1 table 3.1) using
respective dead and live loads extracted from AS1170.1. The superimposed dead load including finishes
is to be taken as 1.0 kPa and the live load should be extracted from the AS1170.1 table 3.1. A wind
loading analysis conducted by the engineer has determined that a constant positive wind pressure (Wu)
of 1.5 kPa is to be applied to the western wall of the building in the easterly direction. The wind pressure
is to be applied uniformly to the entire area of the western wall as a pressure loading. This results in a
series of horizontal point loads applied to beams at each level.
Figure 1 – Structural floor plan
Figure 2 – Side elevation
Figure 3 – Front elevation

Figure 4 – Beam to wall details

The self-weight of the RC floor system should be considered in addition to dead and live loads derived
from AS1170.1 at each floor. The gravity loads should include self-weight of the beams, slabs and columns.

As the cadet engineer on the project, you are required to perform the following tasks:

1. Determine the vertical design actions (self-weight, dead load, live load) to be applied to beams
along grid lines 1 and 2. Use the tributary area method to determine the load on each beam in
kN/m. [15 marks]

2. Determine the external wind actions to be applied to the 5 story frames comprising beams and
columns along grids 1 and 2. The design actions should include horizontal wind loads only.
[15 marks]

3. Determine the vertical design actions for a typical slab panel along grid line C (self-weight, dead
load, live load). The width of the panel should be determined using the tributary area method and
the load expressed as a kN/m line load along the full panel width. [15 marks]

4. Based on AS1170.0, the designer has determined that two load combinations for ultimate limit
state should be used to determine the critical design actions on the structure for later use in
design: Ed1 = [1.2G, Wu, 0.4Q] and Ed2 = [1.2G, 1.5Q]

Using the unfactored design actions determined in steps 1 to 3, determine the factored design
actions applied to the frames on grids 1, 2 and the typical slab panel along grid C. [15 marks]

5. Using Spacegass, determine the factored bending moments, shear forces and axial loads for the
two frames along grids 1 and 2 using both load combinations [Ed1 & Ed2]. [20 marks]

6. Compile the reactions, maximum and minimum bending moments, shear forces and axial loads
obtained for frames along grid 2 from Spacegass. In table form show the maximum and mininum
moment/shear force locations at the worst story/locations. [10 marks]

7. The final project report must be a concise, organized, and easy-to-read document. The exact
layout and table of contents of the final design project report is up to the individual. The report
should have enough information to assess the accuracy and the approach used for the analysis
and appropriate outputs from Spacegass illustrating the results. [5 marks].

8. Submission of SpaceGass model. [5 marks]

The End