35 minute read
Great Achievements
Othmar H. Ammann
By Frank Griggs, Jr., Dist. M. ASCE, D. Eng., P.E., P.L.S.
Ammann was born on March 26, 1879, in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, the home of the famous 18th century Grubenman wooden bridge. His family was of moderate means with his father in manufacturing and his mother in hat making. At an early age he showed an aptitude for mathematics and began studying for a civil engineering degree at the Polytechnikum in Zürich, Switzerland. He graduated in 1902. The college, now named the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, was founded in 1854 and was one of the leading schools of science and engineering at that time. He studied under Wilhelm Ritter who visited the United States in 1893 to observe engineering works and described them in his lectures. After graduating, Ammann worked on railroad layout and in 190304 he worked in Frankfurt, Germany on reinforced concrete structures. In 1904, Othmar came to the United States for what he thought would be a few years to work on the major projects he had heard about while in college. He fortunately found a position with the Union Bridge Company under Charles Macdonald and his engineer Joseph Mayer. The company was building some of the major bridges in the country, such as Macdonald’s proposal for a 2,400-foot span cantilever railroad bridge across the Hudson River. With mentors like Mayer and Macdonald, Ammann quickly learned the U.S. methods of building bridges fast and inexpensively. He then moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for a short time to work with the Pennsylvania Steel Company under Frederick Kunz. Then Othmar worked with Gustav Lindenthal as Consulting Engineer to the Department of Bridges in New York City. The Pennsylvania Steel Company was in the process of building the Queensboro (Blackwell’s Island) Bridge at the time. Amman briefly returned to Switzerland to marry Lilly Selma Wehrli and then returned to Harrisburg. He spent a short time at McClintic/Marshall followed by a stint with Ralph Modjeski in Chicago working on bridges for the Oregon Trunk Railroad, including a 340-foot span arch bridge over the Columbia River. He assisted C. C. Schneider in writing a report on the collapse of the Quebec Cantilever Bridge. As a result of the Quebec failure, Kunz and Ammann wrote a report confirming the safety of the Queensboro Bridge and its design. Between 1909 and 1912, Ammann worked with the newly formed firm, Kunz & Schneider Consulting Engineers, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of their major projects was an arch bridge across the Reversing Falls at St. John, New Brunswick. In 1912, he was hired by Gustav Lindenthal as his chief assistant on the design of the Hell Gate Arch Bridge. Lindenthal was selected as Chief Engineer for the New York Connecting Railroad, which included the Hell Gate Bridge, as well as Chief Engineer for a bridge across the Hudson River. The Hell Gate Bridge was the longest span arch bridge in the world at the time, and Ammann was in charge of its design and construction, with David B. Steinman as his assistant. The threat of war in Switzerland resulted in Ammann returning to his homeland as an Army Lieutenant in the summer of 1914. Lindenthal advanced Steinman to Ammann’s position. The threatened war did not occur, and Ammann returned to his position and Steinman was demoted. The shift resulted in a bitter rivalry between the two men until Ammann’s death. Lindenthal proposed a bridge across the Hudson River as early as 1885. Due to financing and other concerns, it never got past a groundbreaking in 1895. In 1920 he, with Ammann’s design help, proposed a huge bridge at 57th Street for railroads, motor vehicles and rapid transit costing in excess of $100,000,000. Financing was slow, and Lindenthal and Ammann, with Steinman’s help, designed the Sciotoville Continuous Truss bridge across the Ohio River. It was the longest span truss bridge in the country at the time (1922). Lindenthal sent Ammann to Portland, Oregon where he had received a contract to design three bridges across the Willamette River. The Ross Island Bridge was a cantilever, the Burnside Bridge was a truss Othmar H. Ammann. bridge with bascule span and the Sellwood Bridge a continuous truss. Each bridge was unique. Designed in 1922 to 1923, they were built between 1925 and 1926. In 1923, when Ammann returned to the New York office of Lindenthal, work was proceeding on the Hudson River Bridge. There were growing concerns that the bridge was too large and the approaches would take too much land and cost too much. Lindenthal, however, was convinced that a bridge of this size and at this location was absolutely necessary. Ammann went to Lindenthal suggesting that a smaller bridge aimed primarily at automobiles and located farther up the river would receive the necessary support from the city and states. Lindenthal accused Ammann of “timidity and shortsightedness”, and that he was “looking ahead for 1,000 years.” On March 23, 1923 Ammann left Lindenthal and set up his own office in New York City. He worked primarily on his own design for the Hudson River Bridge with no client to pay the bills. It would be at 179th Street between Fort Lee (New Jersey) and Fort Washington (New York), have a span of 3,500 feet and carry eight lanes of automobile and truck traffic. It would be built for under $40,000,000. He first proposed his design at a meeting of the Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers on February 19, 1824 and sent his plan to Governor Silzer of New Jersey. Silzer sent Ammann’s drawings and proposal to the press, including The Engineering Record that published them with a small drawing and brief description in the January 3, 1924 issue. The article mentioned the drawings were by Ammann, and the bridge was estimated to cost $30,000,000 and would connect with the Washington Arch Bridge over the Harlem River to provide “direct access to the Bronx Borough and to highways leading to New England without entering New York’s intensive traffic area.” With
the support of New Jersey and New York, Ammann’s design was accepted and placed under the Port Authority of New York with Ammann designated as Chief Bridge Engineer for the Authority. The bridge was built between 1927 and 1931, and opened October 24, 1931. At the same time he was designing the George Washington Bridge, Ammann was also designing the Bayonne Arch Bridge over the Kill Van Kull leading to Staten Island. It was then the longest span arch bridge in the world (1,652 feet). He also supervised construction of two bridges across the Arthur Kill, the Goethals and Outerbridge, both of which were designed by J. A. L. Waddell. In 1923, Othmar was appointed Chief Engineer of the Triborough Bridge Authority under the legendary Robert Moses. Moses planned a major project consisting of a 1,380-foot span suspension bridge over the East River, 1,600 feet of truss bridge, a 770-foot long lift bridge and 3½ miles of viaduct. The project was built between 1934 and 1936. This was followed by the BronxWhitestone Bridge. It was a 2,300-foot span suspension bridge and opened in 1939 in time for the New York Worlds Fair. While designing these bridges, Ammann maintained his position with the New York Port Authority. At the same time, he was one of the consultants to Joseph B. Strauss on the design and construction of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Strauss also consulted with Ammann on his George Washington and Bayonne Bridges. The Golden Gate Bridge, with its 4,200-foot span, surpassed the George Washington Bridge by 700 feet to become the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time. It opened in 1937. He also consulted with one of his early mentors, Ralph Modjeski, on his Benjamin Franklin (originally the Delaware River) Suspension Bridge across the Delaware River that opened up July 1, 1926. Its 1,750 foot span was the longest in the United States at the time. In 1939, Ammann resigned from the Port Authority and set up a partnership with C. C. Combs, a well-known landscape architect. Highway work made up most of their efforts in the first years. Their first bridge work was a pedestrian lift bridge to Ward’s Island in the East River. Ammann called this his “Little Green Bridge”. It had a lift span of 312 feet. Due to financing, it did not open until 1951. This was followed by a survey of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1941. He reported the bridge was in excellent condition. He was appointed chairman of a three man commission, with Theodore VanKarman and Glenn Woodruff, to report on the failure of the Tacoma Narrows Suspension bridge, designed by Leon Moisseff, which fell November 7, 1940 shortly after it opened. They found the long slender deck, designed using the deflection theory, was susceptible to aerodynamic forces that led to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.
George Washington Bridge 1931 to Present, Single deck shown.
observed oscillation. With this information, Ammann stiffened his Bronx-Whitestone Bridge in 1946. In 1947, the partnership of Ammann and Combs came to an end, and Ammann formed a new company, Ammann & Whitney Consulting Engineers. Whitney was a well known expert on reinforced concrete. Much of their work came from Ammann’s New York contacts. In 1956, Moses hired the firm to design the Throgs Neck suspension bridge across the East River. The span was 1,800 feet, and it opened January 11, 1961. In 1957, Othmar was called back to his first bridge, the George Washington, to add the lower deck that he had provided for back in the late 1920s. It was added between 1958 and 1961, without stopping traffic on the original bridge. He was asked to serve on a panel of engineers in 1947, with his long time competitor David Steinman, on the Mackinac Bridge connecting the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. In 1951, the
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commission rejected a tunnel but determined a bridge was feasible. The earlier design by Modjeski and Masters was rejected, and a new design was sought. Initially Ammann was selected by the Board, but his fee was considered excessive and the contract was given to Steinman. The culmination of his bridge career came when he was selected to design the Verrazano Narrows Bridge between Brooklyn and Staten Island. David B. Steinman also planned a bridge he called the Liberty Bridge at the site as early as 1926. Ammann started his design in 1948. Due to financing, he did not start work until the mid 1950s. The span of the bridge would be 4,260 feet, surpassing the Golden Gate Bridge by 60 feet. Its upper deck opened November 24, 1961 and its lower deck June 28, 1968. When the Verrazano Narrows Bridge opened, Ammann was 80 years old. At its dedication, the Mayor of the City stated the bridge was “a structure of breathtaking beauty and super engineering.”
Throughout his career, Ammann had as a guiding philosophy, “Economics and utility are not the engineers only concerns. He must temper his practicality with aesthetic sensitivity. His structures should please the eye. In fact, an engineer designing a bridge is justified in making a more expensive design for beauty’s sake alone. After all, many people will have to look at the bridge for the rest of their lives. Few of us appreciate eyesores, even if we should save a little money in building them.” The story of Ammann and his New York Bridges is told in Six Bridges, The Legacy of Othmar
H. Ammann by Darl Rastorfer. Ammann died September 23, 1965 at the age of 86 with the New York Times calling him “one of the great bridge builders of this century.” He had won many accolades over the years, but his most significant was the National Medal of Science granted him by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964. He was the first civil engineer to be honored in this way; he was awarded the honor under the classification of Behavioral and Social Sciences. His citation stated, “For a half century of distinguished leadership in the design of great bridges which combine beauty and utility with bold engineering concept and method...” Edward Cohen, a long time associate with Ammann & Whitney, wrote, “The outstanding characteristic of Ammann’s design is simplicity; he was the enemy of the ornate, the complicated, the extravagant, the ponderous.” His image lives on in a bronze bust that was unveiled in the George Washington Bridge Bus Station in 1962, coinciding with the dedication of its lower level. It is passed by thousands every day, but few know the story of the man behind Six Bridges of New York City.▪
Dr. Griggs specializes in the restoration of historic bridges, having restored many 19th Century cast and wrought iron bridges. He was formerly Director of Historic Bridge Programs for Clough, Harbour & Associates LLP in Albany, NY, and is now an independent Consulting Engineer. Dr. Griggs can be reached at fgriggs@nycap.rr.com.
Steel Sector Looking Good
Software Industry Provides Design Barometer and Steel Construction Industry Backs Up Projections
By Larry Kahaner
Steady improvement seems to be the sentiment most often expressed by company offi cials involved in the business of steel construction. With the United States economy improving slowly but surely and the global economies booming in certain regions, those in the steel sector are optimistic about what lies ahead for 2013. “From my conversations with people in the industry, things are turning in the right direction. Th ere are areas that are doing better than others, but the worst of the economic downturn appears to be behind us,” says Michelle McCarthy, Strategic Sales Manager for software developer Design Data (www.sds2.com) of Lincoln, Nebraska. Others concur. “We continue to see improvement in the number of projects in construction. Although I don’t see the ‘boom’ of fi ve years ago, we are defi nitely seeing a steady increase in projects and are even seeing older projects being resurrected,” notes Amber Freund, Director of Marketing at RISA Technologies (www.risa.com), in Foothill Ranch, California. Adds Michael Brooks, President of Enercalc, Inc. (www.enercalc.com) of Corona del Mar, California, “Since last June we’ve noticed a surge in activity, meaning there is lots of design work ‘on the boards’. Users are staying current with their software maintenance, and new sales of full systems have increased. After 30 years of observing economic cycles, we believe you will see construction starts looking strong in mid-2013.” Companies are continuing to upgrade products, keeping them current with new standards and customers’ demands. For example, Design Data has been in business for more than 30 years and its DS/2 software solutions provide automatic detailing, connection design, engineering information, and other data for the steel industry’s fabrication, detailing and engineering sectors. “Th e release of SDS/2 v7.3 not only introduced an enhanced version of our core product to the market, it also served as the launch of a new suite of solutions designed to serve the needs of all members of the construction team,” says McCarthy. “Of particular interest “From my conversations with people in the industry, things are turning in the right direction. Th ere are areas that are doing better than others, but the worst of the economic downturn appears to be behind us.”
to structural engineers are SDS/2 Connect, SDS/2 Engineering, SDS/2 Approval and SDS/2 Viewer. SDS/2 Connect is an add-in for Autodesk Revit Structure that gives engineers access to the powerful connection design of SDS/2 within their own Revit model. Engineers can design and apply steel connections in Revit that are backed by long-hand design calculations and provide a higher level of detail for the model,” she says. “SDS/2 Engineering, SDS/2 Approval and SDS/2 Viewer all work in the native SDS/2 model environment, but are segmented according to the user’s role. SDS/2 Engineering is a structural analysis software that allows users to design and size structural members, calculate loads on the structure like wind loads or transfer forces, and still includes the ability to design connections. Because SDS/2 Engineering works in the SDS/2 native environment, this same model can be opened by the detailer, reducing the time spent duplicating model input. “With SDS/2 Approval, approving engineers can view the model, design calculations and drawings, giving easy access to vital information while eliminating the need to fl ip through hundreds of pages of paper documents. Th e free SDS/2 Viewer can be used by anyone who wants to view the project’s progress. SDS/2 Viewer provides engineers with an easy method to get an overall view of the steel on the project, even if they are not taking part in the model approval process,” McCarthy says.
continued on next page
RISA has added features to its software, too. Says Freund: “Retaining wall design was added to RISAFoundation last year, and we are excited about this new feature. The interface is easy to use and allows engineers to quickly input their soil and wall properties. This feature is fully integrated with RISA-3D so your wall or column reactions can be transferred to RISAFoundation to design your retaining walls, mat slabs, pile caps or other foundation elements. It allows you to go back and forth during your design process and these model changes are automatically updated between the two programs.” She adds that the company is proud of reaching its 25th anniversary last year, saying: “RISAFoundation has had the ability to design all other foundation types so retaining walls completes this program. Whether an engineer is designing one retaining wall or an entire building foundation system, RISAFoundation can handle all of the different foundation elements. We have had a number of new versions released this year that include many new features such as 64-bit versions of all of our programs which enables users to run even larger models than before.” (See ad on page 67.)
Another company celebrating an anniversary, its 30th year in business, is Enercalc where Brooks notes, “We’re also celebrating our sixth major release of our structural engineering software system. We tailor the software to the common yet complex component calculations for low to mid-rise buildings…the most common structures anywhere. We’re a group of experienced structural engineers and have a large and long term, yet constantly growing, user base.” He says that the company has released its steel modules now conforming to AISC 360-710. Enercalc also added to its series of loading development modules with more wind, seismic and snow calculators. The new Project Load Group Builder provides a way to list and tabulate individual contributions of gravity loads for a project. “Providing a tool to assist the engineer in the calculation of loads frees the engineer to apply his or her time on higher and better uses such as economizing the structure, proportioning LFRS frames to bring lateral drift under control, or coming up with creative solutions to meet the needs of the owner and/or the architect. It also offers the engineer an independent check on their input used to develop loads in other programs,” Brooks says. “Our users provided feedback indicating that these were areas that cost them a great deal of time, or that require the development and maintenance of spreadsheets and other tools. All of this becomes a distraction and an inefficiency to our users… keeping them from adding the greatest value to products by functioning at their highest and best use.” (See ad on page 3.)
Our products undergo constant enhancement and improvement to stay current with the ever-changing requirements of the structural engineering profession,” says Rob Tovani, Director of Verification, Validation, and Training at Computers & Structures, Inc. (www.csiberkeley.com) headquartered in Berkeley, California. The company has four specific products: ETABS, SAP2000 CSiBridge, and SAFE. “ETABS is a building program, just like Bridge is a bridge program, and SAFE is a concrete floor and foundation program. SAP2000 is a general analysis program,” he says. “Now we’re going to be releasing a product that enhances the way we do detailing, so that engineers will be able to first analyze, then design, and have a whole set of drawings produced for steel and concrete buildings. It’s an enhancement to our existing programs. We actually have a version of this which has been released in our SAFE program, but we’re enhancing all of our programs to have this feature.” As for the overall market, Tovani notes: “We have four products for different sectors, so it seems there’s always some energetic activity somewhere in the world… I’ve talked to some engineering firms who are slowing down, and that does trickle over into software purchases. People weren’t making purchases of software a while back, but now have to get current again. So, our software sales remain brisk.” (See ad on page 68.)
S-Frame Software (www.s-frame.com) in Guilford, Connecticut announced the release of S-FRAME Structural Office R11 this year, according to CEO Marinos Stylianou. “This marks one of the most extensive releases ever delivered by S-FRAME Software. It contains significant updates and new functionality to the complete product line of S-FRAME Analysis, S-STEEL Design, S-PAD Design, S-CONCRETE Design, S-LINE Design & S-CALC plus two brand new products S-VIEW and S-FOUNDATION.” He adds: “R11 includes important new functionality and many enhancements designed to improve our client’s user experience and to address their need to innovate and improve their productivity: full integration of analysis and steel design, addition of three new advanced analysis types, increased solver performance and accuracy, new nonlinear material models, an across-the-board new licensing system, two revamped BIM links for Revit and Tekla, updates to several design codes and the addition of new ones, ability to customize the programs based on language, and a host of other new features and enhancements. In addition, we introduced two brand new products, S-VIEW for structural model viewing, sharing, and validating and S-FOUNDATION for foundation analysis and design.” Stylianou says the company saw strong growth in 2012 and he expects to see considerable business growth in North America and Asia. “We also believe that Europe will offer some opportunities that we plan to evaluate with localized R11 products.” (See ad on page 4.)
According to Stuart Broome, Vice President of Chicago-based CSC, Inc. (www.cscworld.com), the company specializes in developing code-based structural design solutions. “This means that rather than adding design post processors on a frame analysis program, we build our software from the ground up around the requirements of a design code (such as AISC360 in the case of Fastrak).” Broome adds: “We have just launched our latest version – Tedds 2013 (Tedds is a structural calculations software). Up to twice as fast as its predecessor, Tedds 2013 includes a new, fully integrated 2D frame analysis application as well as many new and enhanced calculations to both U.S. and Canadian design codes. Tedds 2013 is also compatible with Microsoft Word 2013.” Fastrak is a steel building design software alongside CSC’s Integrator. As an Autodesk Structural Industry Partner, the company has launched CSC’s Integrator. “Available as part of Fastrak, this unique and free software enables structural engineers to synchronize models between Autodesk Revit Structure and Fastrak. It is an industry-leading solution making two-way integration with Revit Structure easy, highlighting any amendment made during the synchronization process, thus enabling engineers to react to changes quickly and reduce the risk of errors,” says Broome. continued on page 50
Martin/Martin gains the competitive edge with Tedds
Patrick McManus, Technical Director, explains how Martin/Martin saved time, improved consistency and enhanced quality control by standardizing on structural calculation software, Tedds.
“At Martin/Martin we work on a variety of commercial projects and specialize in arena and stadium work, defensive design and construction services. To meet the requirements of such demanding and differing projects we historically used software packages from multiple vendors. This was difficult to manage as each software package had its own interface and approached engineering problems differently.
No single engineer knew every product in-depth, which created problems with quality control, consistency, and it impacted project scheduling. What we really needed was a single software package that could reliably and accurately do everything we needed.”
“Tedds was our ideal solution because it provided an extensive library of calculations and created transparent output with detailed equations. It also reduced the need to perform calculations by hand, which had been very time consuming. Tedds also offered us the capability to write our own calculations which has been invaluable. It works within the Microsoft Word interface, enabling us to develop custom tools that allow us to efficiently handle complicated problems that have not been well addressed by other software developers. This has given us a competitive advantage and we see great potential to take this further.”
“Since standardizing on Tedds we have decreased our number of vendors, which has saved time for our information technology teams and our engineers speak to fewer technical support teams.
Tedds is really easy to use so it has become a staple tool for all our engineers, who now use the Tedds library daily for our quick component calculations. We have also standardized our output which immediately standardized our output which immediately improved our consistency and quality control. “Tedds has helped us to meet aggressive project demands and deliver a high quality service to our clients.”
Without Tedds, calculations would have taken considerably longer to develop and verify, with less transparent output. Tedds is flexible, it’s regularly updated and the size of the library means we can quickly respond to the changing needs of our clients.”
CSC thanks Martin/Martin for its contribution to this case study.
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Also upgrading their software is IES, Inc. (www.iesweb.com) in Bozeman, Montana. Engineer and Developer Terry Kubat says: “We are regularly upgrading our products, like VisualAnalysis and ShapeBuilder to meet customer needs by adding new features or just by simplifying existing tasks. Structural engineering is a demanding profession that requires the use of sophisticated tools, but that does not mean engineers should be forced to decipher complicated software. If we have done our job, then we will have fast tools that get the right answers. And, if we have done our job well then even when engineers make mistakes the software will catch those problems and clearly communicate it back to the customer – automatically. “ IES prides itself on listening to customers and using what they say to improve their products. “We know that engineers are overworked and have little time to evaluate new tools. Our web site off ers very brief introductory videos to make it easy to fi nd out what a product does and how it works. Once they are ready to try a product, it takes less than fi ve minutes to get it downloaded and running,” says Kubat. A lthough computers and software are vital to engineering, Leroy Emkin, Founder and Co-Director of the CASE Center (CASEC) in Atlanta (www.gtstrudl.gatech.edu), says that SEs must be “in control of the engineering analysis and design process, with a clear understanding of the characteristics and facilities of the computational tools used for that design. Th ose computational tools cannot be simple and highly automated ‘black boxes’ working in the way programmers have chosen them to work, rather than in the way engineers intend them to work.” He adds: “Th is can only be achieved by providing the engineer with control over software processing, and by having complete and extensive user documentation. CASEC is committed to the development of structural engineering software that engages qualifi ed, knowledgeable, and experienced structural engineers in the modeling, analysis, and design process. We provide structural engineers with a variety of powerful command, menu, and GUI tools that allow them to implement analysis and design strategies developed by the engineer for solving simple to complex structural modeling, analysis, and design problems.” According to Emkin, the success of GT STRUDL – its Structural Design & Analysis software programs – is demonstrated by its widespread use in the nuclear power and nuclear defense industries of the United States and other countries.”GTSTRUDL development fully conforms to the rigorous ASME and NRC quality assurance and quality control regulations and guidelines. GTSTRUDL’s verifi cation and validation procedures include more than 4,100 test problems ranging from relatively simple textbook academic problems to highly complex and very large structural models of actual heavy industry structures.”
Companies on the hardware side of the steel sector are busy as well. “Our international business is booming, and the U.S. seem to be picking up, indicating a slow but steady climb out of the funk of 2008,” says Chris Curven, Vice President, Field Bolting Specialist at Applied Bolting Technology (www.appliedbolting.com) in Bellows Falls, Vermont. Applied Bolting Technology designs and manufacturers Direct Tension Indicators (DTIs) used predominantly in structural bolting applications. Th ey are designed Structural Software Designed for Your Success to guarantee that bolts are installed to the specifi ed tension, regardless of the torque required to get there, says * Easy to Learn Curven. “Our DTIs and Squirter DTIs * Analyze Anything conform to ASTM standards, and can * Design for: be used in accordance with the RCSC + Steel and AASHTO specifi cations.” + Wood Curven notes: “Th e Squirter DTIs have + Concrete revolutionized the bolt-up process in struc + Aluminum tural applications. Th ey have the added + Cold-Formed feature of providing a visual indication * Friendly Support when the desired tension is achieved. Th ey make bolt installation and inspection easier and more accurate. In large structural projects, bolting can consume over half of the total labor expense. Improving accuracy and effi ciency translates into huge savwww.iesweb.com ings. We’ve heard numbers as high as 20 percent.” He says that Applied Bolting provides training to engineers and iron Free 30-Day Trial workers. “We travel all over the world to inform designers about the benefi ts of IES, Inc. | 519 E Babcock St. Bozeman MT 59715 using DTIs, and showing fi rst-time users 800-707-0816 | info@iesweb.com how to use them properly,” Curven says. (See ad on page 52.) continued on page 52
Education is also an important part of the agenda at JMC Steel Group (www.jmcsteelgroup.com) in Chicago, says Senior Sales Engineer Brad Fletcher. “We’ve done a number of things along that front. That’s my main purpose for going out and talking to people. We educate people about our company, as well as about the product and the industry itself.” In order to help SEs understand more about hollow steel structures, JMC has developed a video series which can be viewed on their website. “We debuted a number of the videos during our Steel Day event last fall, and the immediate feedback from that crowd was very positive.” He says that the industry has grown in the past 10 to 15 years and with that growth has come many more available sizes. “We met and exceeded our goals last year of what we wanted to do and so we set the bars a little higher this year. We’re promoting a jumbo-size range as well, so that’s definitely something to show off. “ In January, the company also launched an online forum called the Atlas Connection that allows engineers to join a secure community and ask questions of HSS experts inside and outside of the company. “It’s a way to create a dialogue or a conversation about HSS and the issues surrounding HSS, so we’re pretty excited about that. The feedback for that has been really great.” (See ad on page 6.) “Even though we are large, we listen to our customers to ensure we are continuously improving, not only ourselves but our working partnerships as well. We may have the largest range of steel joist and deck products in the nation and produce more of it than anyone else, but it is for naught if both our customers and ourselves aren’t successful while doing it; that is a partnership. This mutual respect is just part of why we’ve been taking care of our customers for more than a half century,” he says. Mauk notes two products that he would like SEs to know about. First is Ecospan, a Proprietary Composite Floor System that has been around for several years and is starting to find its place in today’s economy. “Our lightweight, mechanically fastened Ecospan system with our proprietary Shearflex composite fasteners have really made a lot of progress in areas like hotels, dormitories, multi-family residential, and mezzanines that increase floor space in already existing warehouses.” Second is NuBIM Vulcraft, a plug-ins for Tekla, SDS/2 and Revit. “Vulcraft is continuing to provide value-added tools based on listening to our customers. These BIM tools are assisting the AEC community in specifying our products and providing easier communication methods for fabricators. While this is still an ever-changing area, we believe we must commit time and resources to utilize these tools to communicate more effectively with our customers.”
Dialogue is also an important goal at Vulcraft/Verco Group Mauk adds: “The last few years have been a challenge not only (www.nucor.com), according to T.J. Mauk, Manager of for our customers, but for individual American families, difficult New Product & Market Development in Norfolk, Nebraska. for American companies and difficult for the United States of abt. structure 1-2 april 13:show 2/28/13 10:59 AM Page 1 continued on page 54
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America as a whole… We and our customers were forced to fi nd new ways to make and save money, and through this challenging time we’ve all gotten better. As for the future outlook? Overall business appears to be getting stronger every day. Everyone is cautiously optimistic that this is the year that things really start – in the 2nd half of 2013.” (See ad on page 53.)
On the welding side of the steel sector, offi cials at the ESAB Group, Inc. (www.esab.com) in Hanover, Pennsylvania, would like SEs to learn about Warrior, which they call the next generation of welding technology. Greg Stauff er, Vice President for Sales Support and Standard Equipment, ESAB North America, says: “Warrior is an inverter-based power source for MIG, fl ux-cored, stick, and TIG welding. It’s also for arc gouging. Warrior delivers up to 500 amps and is designed for heavy-duty use in rugged environments.” Stauff er says that fabricators want versatile equipment that can consistently perform in dirty work environments. “Of course, in this economic climate, everyone needs tools that return value on the investment. Warrior delivers value not only with price, but it uses less energy than other machines, making it cost eff ective. It is also one of ESAB’s user-friendliest machines, which makes it easy for novice welders to use. Th e simplicity of Warrior means users aren’t losing time on the learning curve.” He adds: “Our customers also don’t want to lose time when machines are down for repair. Warrior is durable and designed to perform consistently in harsh work environments. It is designed to work with generators, and the machine’s handles are built to be used with mechanical hoisting. From the external body, to the visual display, to the internal design, Warrior is meant to be used in the most demanding environments.”▪
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Associations American Wood Council
Phone: 202-463-2766 Email: info@awc.org Web: www.awc.org Product: 2012 NDS Wood Design Package Description: e 2012 NDS, 2012 NDS Supplement: Design Values for Wood Construction, 2008 Special Design Provisions for Wind and Seismic (SDPWS), and ASD/LRFD Manual set is available for purchase at our website.
APA – The Engineered Wood Association
Phone: 253-565-6600 Email: help@apawood.org Web: www.apawood.org Product: APA Description: APA focuses on helping the industry create structural wood products of exceptional strength, versatility and reliability. Nearly 500 publications, extensive research and technical reports, free CAD details, comprehensive market studies and more.
Connectors Simpson Strong-Tie®
Phone: 925-560-9000 Email: web@strongtie.com Web: www.strongtie.com Product: Connectors for Engineered Wood Description: O er unmatched quality and are backed by our uncompromising commitment to customer service. You can count on Simpson Strong-Tie to work closely with contractors, speci ers and code o cials to deliver innovative, code-listed solutions. Our full line of EWP connector products includes I-Joist hangers and structural composite lumber connectors.
Timberlinx
Phone: 877-900-3111 Email: timberlinx@rogers.com Web: www.timberlinx.com Product: Timberlinx Description: Embedded Steel Connections with De ned Engineered Values.
USP Structural Connectors
Phone: 952-898-8772 Email: Info@uspconnectors.com Web: www.uspconnectors.com Product: USP Structural Connectors Description: e world’s leading manufacturer of code approved, structural connectors and innovative software solutions. Engineered, manufactured and tested to withstand Mother Nature and are backed by engineering and technical support teams.
All Resource Guides and Updates for the 2013 Editorial Calendar are now available on the website, www.STRUCTUREmag.org. Listings are provided as a courtesy. STRUCTURE® magazine is not responsible for errors. WoodWorks Software
Phone: 800-844-1275 Email: sales@woodworks-software.com Web: www.woodworks-software.com Product: WoodWorks® Design O ce Description: SHEARWALLS: designs perforated and segmented shearwalls; generates loads; rigid and exible diaphragm distribution methods. SIZER: designs beams, columns, studs, joists up to 6 spans; automatic load patterning. CONNECTIONS: Wood to: wood, steel or concrete. Canadian version available.
Engineered Lumber RISA Technologies
Phone: 949-951-5815 Email: info@risatech.com Web: www.risa.com Product: RISA-3D Description: RISAFloor and RISA-3D form the premiere software package for wood design. Create 3D models of your entire structure and get full design of wood walls (with and without openings), exible wood diaphragms, dimension lumber, glulams, parallams, LVL’s, joists and more. Custom databases for species, hold-downs-and panel nailing o er total exibility.
TECO
Phone: 608-403-4197 Email: steve.winistorfer@tecotested.com Web: www.tecotested.com Product: Certi cation and Testing Description: ird-party certi cation and testing agency for structural wood panels, engineered wood products, and structural adhesives. Visit our website to learn more about TECO and its services.
TrimJoist Corporation
Phone: 800-844-8281 Email: marty.hawkins@trimjoist.com Web: www.trimjoist.com Product: TrimJoist Description: e marriage of an open web oor truss and a wood ‘I’ Joist, bringing the best features of each together to form an adjustable oor joist. TrimJoist is produced in 2-foot increments ranging from 4 to 30 feet and in depths of 11⅞ , 14, 16 and 18 inches.
Weyerhaeuser
Phone: 888-453-8358 Email: wood@weyerhaeuser.com Web: www.woodbywy.com Product: Trus Joist® TJI® Joists with Flak Jacket™ Protection Description: A simple, cost-e ective way to achieve one-hour oor/ceiling assemblies. Provide one-hour re-rated assembly with only a single gypsum layer and no mineral wool in multi-family buildings. Also help meet 2012 IRC R501.3 re-protection requirements in single-family homes. Wood Structural Panels Insulfoam
Phone: 800-275-7086 Email: info@pbssips.com Email: www.premiersips.com/bc Product: Premier SIPs Description: SIPs have been evaluated for performance in demanding structural situations, including under high winds, earthquakes and snow loads. Exceptionally strong in racking diaphragm shear capacities. Create tight, well-insulated building envelopes for superior energy e ciency.
Simpson Strong-Tie
Phone: 925-560-9000 Email: web@strongtie.com Web: www.strongtie.com Product: Wood Strong-Wall® Shearwall Description: Can be installed around window and door openings, on garage wing walls, interior walls or other locations where increased lateral resistance is required. Wood Strong-Wall panels can reduce the amount of wall space required for shearwalls, allowing for more windows and doors in house designs.
Wheeler
Phone: 800-328-3986 Email: info@wheeler-con.com Web: www.wheeler-con.com Product: Panel Lam Bridges Description: Wheeler designs and supplies treated timber bridge kits for recreation and vehicular applications.
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