Favorite Material

[Titleistguy]

A bit of fun here ... You got the big four (timber, steel, concrete, masonry) ... 

What's your ranking?  In terms of liking to design , not necessarily your most experienced.

Mine are:

1. Steel

2. Timber

3. Masonry

4. Concrete

I genuinely dislike concrete, probably bc of all the trauma I've endured ... caused by the ACI 318.   But really it boils down to when dealing with composite materials it seems like everything becomes empirical and arbitrary.  I understand it's not completely but there are things intuitive about steel and timber that I feel is lacking with masonry and concrete. 

Hope everyone's studies are going well.    

 

[Titleistguy]

As a follow up ... 

Within the subject of steel... Brownfield / retrofit of old existing heavy industrial facilities is my favorite.

Industrial because I love big shapes and 1000k loads.  And old facilities because it's like being a detective... Getting out an old AISC 360, and the historical shapes data base and trying to figure out how we're going to shoe horn some new process in or out.  That's gratifying.  Plus I feel like I've been my most clever / creative when constrained with existing clearances, erection or constructability issues, maintaining existing process and so on.  If I can't get coal dust or engine oil in my face then it's not a real day in the field.   I love trying to reverse existing framing and load paths, reinforcing riveted built up columns.  And almost always working without as-builts...bc c'mon who here actually had had a client keep drawings from a plant built in the 1920s, 30s or 40s....hell, I can barely get as-builts for plants built within the last 30 years.  

I've done Greenfield, designed plants (fully or in part) and running truss models and designing shear lugs ad nasuam gets old quick.  No challenge to me... Oh hey that W12x whatever purlin doesn't work ... Ok make it a W12x whatever size bigger, maybe we'll sharpen pencil on Cb or examine beam stability from bottom flange loads vs top flange loads (which is in fact very interesting to go down that road but rarely within the schedule).  The Greenfield challenges to me are less engineering and more coordination with other disciplines and construction lead times ... Needing a mill order 10-12 weeks ahead and we don't have the final process layouts from the owner, trying to send out bid sets for the foundation and the owner hasn't finalized the building envelope... That gets a bit dicey.

And those are the big sexy jobs granted that make the front pages of websites and so forth but I'll take a dirty old steel plant needing remediation 10/10 times.  

 

[Duke]

I like steel and timber the most.

Steel because of it stress/strain curve, it's very strong with great ductility and can go fully plastic. Great properties for a structural material.

Timber for it's ability to take large short term loads, and its practical uses as a light weight and easy to cut material.

 

[ruggercsc]

Our company is big on Cross Laminated Timber and I am currently working on mid-rise structures composed of either CLT or CFS.  I really like the CLT structures and the 2021 I-Codes will allow a lot more options.     

 

[Titleistguy]

CLTs are cool... I'm always a bit jealous of people that get to do Timber on a regular basis 

 

[tj_PE]

Our company is big on Cross Laminated Timber and I am currently working on mid-rise structures composed of either CLT or CFS.  I really like the CLT structures and the 2021 I-Codes will allow a lot more options.     

low seismic? I did an R+D study on panelizing CLT floor/roof systems for garden style apartments and they're so heavy  of course, they wanted concrete topping on the floors and ALLOFTHEWINDOWS

 

[ruggercsc]

low seismic? I did an R+D study on panelizing CLT floor/roof systems for garden style apartments and they're so heavy  of course, they wanted concrete topping on the floors and ALLOFTHEWINDOWS

We currently have two projects under construction in high seismic zones (Tacoma, WA and Columbia, SC).  We also add gypcrete to all the floors.

 

[tj_PE]

We currently have two projects under construction in high seismic zones (Tacoma, WA and Columbia, SC).  We also add gypcrete to all the floors.

lemme know if you want any ninja photos of the tacoma project! I live there  

 

[ruggercsc]

lemme know if you want any ninja photos of the tacoma project! I live there  

Thanks but I don't think the MP's at JBLM appreciate ninja photographers. 

 

[leggo PE]

I like timber the best, next is steel, then concrete, then masonry.

Masonry's last just because I do it the least. I do appreciate brick construction a lot, but am no fan of URM's!

Timber is first because I like that code the best, and like what you can do with it! It's also a relatively affordable construction material and you can accomplish much with it.

Steel is next because it's a great building material for a lot of what I do (excavation shoring). For smaller projects, though, I don't like designing in steel because it can be cost-prohibitive for some clients. But you get a lot of bang for your buck in terms of strength when compared to wood!

Concrete is third because ACI 14 is not my favorite code, haha.

 

[Supe]

As a welding engineer, my job is to figure out how to put together #1, without getting #4 hot enough to spall or crack!