Structural Engineering Commons^™

The Use And Explanation Of The Phase Angle In Forced Vibration Testing, Nicholas R. Slavin, Ryan D. Thornton

Architectural Engineering

Forced vibration testing is a tool used to characterize a structure’s dynamic properties. When subjecting a structure to a forced harmonic load, the results help define the structure’s fundamental frequencies and dominant mode shapes. However, when conducting testing, it is difficult to determine the contributions of each mode to the response at a given location in the structure. The recorded response from a forced vibration test is a combination of unknown modal constituents. Excitation may not result in the pure, single mode response that the experimenter desires, but may instead result in a combination of modal responses that obscure the …

A Comparative Study On Seismic Analysis Methods And The Response Of Systems With Classical And Nonclassical Damping, Noah G. Bleichner

Master's Theses

This thesis investigated the application of seismic analysis methods and the response of idealized shear frames subjected to seismic loading. To complete this research, a Design Basis Earthquake (DBE) for a project site in San Luis Obispo, CA, and five past earthquake records were considered. The DBE was produced per the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures (ASCE 7-10) and used for application of the Equivalent Lateral Force Procedure (ELFP) and Response Spectrum Analysis (RSA). When applying RSA, the modal peak responses were combined using the Absolute Sum (ABS), Square-Root-of-the-Sum-of-Squares (SRSS), and Complete …

Design Of Structural Stand For High-Precision Optics Microscopy, Sara T. Novell

Master's Theses

Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) is home to the National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world’s largest and most energetic laser. Each of the 192 beamlines contains dozens of large optics, which require offline damage inspection using large, raster-scanning microscopes. The primary microscope used to measure and characterize the optical damage sites has a precision level of 1 µm. Mounted in a class 100 clean room with a raised tile floor, the microscope is supported by a steel stand that structurally connects the microscope to the concrete ground. Due to ambient vibrations experienced in the system, the microscope is only able …

Folded! High-Rise, Alejandra Bravo, Riley Joseph Denis

Architectural Engineering

The authors of this report are undergraduate Architectural Engineering students at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. This report documents their experience in an interdisciplinary studio of high‐rise building design and the process by which they produced a schematic design of a high‐rise residential building in San Francisco. It will address the organization of the studio, the development of concept as well as form and structure, the studies and structural analyses, as well as the review process and the competitions the final proposals were entered in, and include some final takeaways from each Architectural Engineering group member.

Analysis Of Burning Wood In The Transient State And The Application To Structural Design, Roberta Veliz, Kimberly Guzman

Architectural Engineering

Determining the extent of the contribution of exposed timber on compartment fire dynamics in open floor plans is a complex process. Designers traditionally used compartmentalization design methods which create spaces where flashover is likely, given the fuel load and ventilation conditions. However, due to the large geometric dimensions and spread of fuel, fires in open floor plans are more likely to remain as localized or traveling fires. As such, an understanding of not only ignition potential but also flame spread is critical to characterizing the contribution of exposed timber. An integral step in characterizing the potential contribution is through an …

Wine History Project Pavilion, Douglas Mcarthur

Architectural Engineering

The Wine History Pavilion Project is a continuing endeavor of Cal Poly students working on an exhibitive, traveling structure for the San Luis Obispo community. The project started during the 2019 Fall Quarter in the interdisciplinary Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) Studio and has progressed to the detailed design stage for its eventual fabrication and installation. This report discusses the detailed design stage that 4th year Architectural Engineering student, Douglas McArthur, worked on.

The Aloe: High Rise Schematic Design And Analysis, Tony Duc Nguyen, Lilliann Lan Lai

Architectural Engineering

The authors of this document are architectural engineering (ARCE) undergraduate students from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly). They joined the 2020 Skyscraper Collaboratory as part of the ARCE course 415: Interdisciplinary Capstone Project. This course emphasizes the analysis and evaluation of interdisciplinary challenges associated with integrating the design and construction processes to deliver a project with respect to the design, quality, and performance expectations for a client or presented criteria. The course was taught in collaboration with industry partners and associates from the global architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). Instruction …

Piazza Di Ulivo: Arce Patio Redesign, Sophia Kim-Oanh Ha, David Colman

Architectural Engineering

Piazza de Ulivo was Phase 1 of a multi-quarter initiative to redesign and bring life to a patio space adjacent to Engineering West (Building 21) in Spring of 2020. Located within the central courtyard of Engineering West (Hasslein Garden), the patio space previously contained a senior project pergola that collapsed and has been removed. The remaining elements from this previous structure were an inverted moment frame consisting of five concrete columns and beams joining them. Additionally, a wooden bench with concrete pedestals remained under the shade of the existing olive tree. Desire within the Architectural Engineering (ARCE) department for the …

In-Plane Cyclic Shear Performance Of Pipe Stem Reinforced Cob Wall, Dezire Q'Anna Perez-Barbante

Master's Theses

This thesis investigates full-scale pipe stem reinforced cob walls under in-plane cyclic shear loads. Cob is the combination of clay subsoils, sand, straw and water that is built in lifts to produce monolithic walls. There is insufficient amount of information on cob as a building material in today’s age. The prior research that exists has examined varying straw content and type, water content, and mixture ratios to determine their effect on strength. There is currently one report that analyzes full-scale cob walls under in-plane loading. This thesis looks to iterate the full-scale tests and specifically studies the effect of reinforcement …

In-Plane Cyclic Behavior Of A Steel Mesh Reinforced Cob Wall, Julia Fremuth Sargent

Master's Theses

This thesis presents the results from in-plane cyclic testing of a reinforced cob wall. Cob is an earthen building material composed of sand, clay, straw and water. Cob is typically constructed with no steel reinforcement; however, the California Building Code requires reinforcement in all buildings for resisting seismic forces. The purpose of this thesis is to provide additional technical data to integrate cob into the building code.

Test results are reported for a 7’ x 8’ x 14” wall with two layers of welded wire steel reinforcement constructed on a reinforced concrete foundation. In-plane cyclic loading was performed on the …

Pedestrian Bridge In Tanzania, Maja Sagaser, Karina Rosales

Architectural Engineering

This senior project originated to address the need of the community of Same, Tanzania. There is a deep and wide ravine which floods, making the path many adults and children take to the Majevu Primary School increasingly difficult and dangerous. This report encapsulates all of the steps taken to complete an approved final design for a footbridge to be constructed over this ravine. It includes the project overview, the architectural and structural design process, as well as the important considerations. There are also structural drawings that include plans, elevations, and details.

Steel Test Set-Up For Non-Ductile Concrete Shear Walls, Colin S. Ridgley

Architectural Engineering

The purpose of this project was to provide a robust test set-up for the thesis work being conducted by graduate students, Jerry Luong & Rory de Sevilla. Their research aims to evaluate the feasibility of using fiber-reinforced polymer wraps and splay anchors to retrofit non-ductile concrete shear walls through a series of tests on reinforced concrete walls.

Four key constraints governed the design of the test set-up. First, the wall can be cyclically, laterally loaded to develop data for comparison with theoretical analysis methods. Second, the wall can be axially loaded to simulate interaction effects and prevent a sliding failure …

The Timber Buckling Restrained Brace Frame, Jessica Resta

Architectural Engineering

With the increasing awareness on the topic of earthquake resistance, efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly solutions in the structural field are on the rise. The purpose of this report is to investigate the Timber Buckling Restrained Brace (TBRB), a new lateral-resisting element made of steel and lumber, applicable in residential and small commercial units. In addition to the TBRBs’ materials being readily available, the braces are easy to manufacture, reducing overall costs of production and transportation. The brace, made partly of wood, has also a low environmental impact when compared to other lateral force resisting elements like concrete shearwalls or …

Heavy Timber Buckling-Restrained-Braces, Kaylee Pit, Junning Liu

Architectural Engineering

No abstract provided.

Automation Of Post-Earthquake Civil Infrastructure Reconnaissance, Jack Bergquist

Architectural Engineering

Traditionally post-earthquake structural engineering reconnaissance consists of a team of experts who are deployed to the field to record and capture earthquake damage data, which is later uploaded into online repositories. Despite many advances to these data archives in recent years, the entries in online repositories often have limited metadata which make it difficult and time consuming to extract specific damage evidence that can be used for meaningful analysis. This report outlines the author’s contributions to overcoming these challenges via the development of a neural network that automatically filters and classifies post-earthquake civil infrastructure damage data after a seismic event. …

Structural Analysis Of The High Bay Steel Reaction Frames, Jerry Hue Truong Luong, Garrett Michael Brown

Architectural Engineering

No abstract provided.

Beauchemin Residence, Hannah E. Rogers

Architectural Engineering

The following report details the structural engineering completed on the Beauchemin Residence, as well as the associated drawings, details, and special considerations. The Beauchemin Residence is an existing single story wood frame building on raised wood floor, located in the city of San Clemente. The scope of work includes calculations for a new roof, new walls (gravity & lateral), retrofit of the existing foundation, new foundation, and providing calculations. The process and progression of the structural design is documented, and correlated to the final product in the Appendix A & B.

Implementing Subspace Identification On Shake Table Model, Zoe T. Cooperband

Architectural Engineering

Stochastic Subspace Identification is a field of applied mathematics that takes collected experimental time-history data and gives out information about the system that produced the data. SSI is typically used in control analysis but here we apply the methods to the modal analysis of structures. This senior project didn’t involve theory - instead much of the work was in research behind how Subspace Identification works, implementing the algorithm in MATLAB, and applying the program to shake table data to validate the program. In other words, building the framework to make SSI a usable tool and practical learning experience for other …

Shrinkage Cracking In Concrete Tilt-Up Construction, Stewart Hooks, Jack Robinson

Architectural Engineering

The purpose of this project is to investigate a particular, undesirable cracking pattern in concrete tilt-up panels that, until now, did not have a known definite cause. The cause of this cracking pattern is hypothesized to be due to shrinkage restraint of the concrete panels. The cracking under investigation occurs at the bottom corners of the Tilt-Up panels, suggesting that the base of the panel is restrained from shrinkage. This project models various components of Tilt-Up Construction that have potential for restraining the panels from shrinking. This project consists of the following main components.

The first aspect of this project …

Modular House Revival, Kevin Chiang, Spencer Dilley, Sarah Dowthwaite, Trevor Houghton, Ryan Lefebvre, Michele Leung, Cameron Lober, Chris Martinez, Katie Mayer

Architectural Engineering

The Modular House, located in Poly Canyon, has seen extensive damage since the last caretaker left nearly ten years ago. To prevent further damage and improve the safety and appeal of the structure, we are proposing a renovation of the existing building that removes the existing cladding and partitions. By the end of Spring Quarter 2017, the Modular House will have a guardrail system replacing the wood paneling on the walls and a new steel composite deck to replace the current flooring system. The structural steel framing system will remain as is.

In-Plane Shear Wall Performance As Affected By Compressed Earth Block Shape, Steven Ellis Ambers

Master's Theses

This thesis investigates the in-plane shear performance of full-scale walls made from compressed earth blocks. Compressed earth blocks are a type of masonry where the blocks are composed of compressed soil and typically dry-stacked without mortar. Prior research has demonstrated that the in-plane shear strength of these blocks falls far short of capacities predicted by conventional masonry building codes, requiring new testing to develop effective and safe designs for seismic conditions. This thesis specifically studies the effects of block type and the use of grouted shear keys at the block head joints.

Three full-scale walls were constructed and tested under …

The Effect Of Biocomposite Material In A Composite Structure Under Compression Loading, Benjamin Andrew Sweeney

Master's Theses

While composite structures exhibit exceptional strength and weight saving possibilities for engineering applications, sometimes their overall cost and/or material performance can limit their usage when compared to conventional structural materials. Meanwhile ‘biocomposites’, composite structures consisting of natural fibers (i.e. bamboo fibers), display higher cost efficiency and unique structural benefits such as ‘sustainability’. This analysis will determine if the integration of these two different types of composites are beneficial to the overall structure. Specifically, the structure will consist of a one internal bamboo veneer biocomposite ply; and two external carbon fiber weave composite plies surrounding the bamboo biocomposite. To acquire results …

The Design And Construction Of A Rear Bumper With Incorporated Spare Tire Rack, Alan C. Isaacson

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This senior project outlines the design and construction of a rear bumper with incorporated spare tire and equipment rack for a 1946 Willys CJ2A Jeep. The spare tire rack is capable of swinging out away from the vehicle to allow for the use of the vehicle’s tailgate. The bumper was designed for strength, functionality and aesthetic qualities alike. Additionally, the bumper design considered all vehicle codes and regulations.

Structural Calculations For Nepal Vocational Learning Center, Nicholas Petrarca

Architectural Engineering

This project goal is to build a Leadership Vocational School for youth, women, differently abled, and local leaders of rural and Kathmandu Nepal. The client for this project is an organization called Sakcham Rural Nepal and they partnered with a humanitarian organization called Journeyman International to find Architecture and Architectural Engineering students to design a safe, attractive and functional building to fit their needs.

Broad Street Apartments, Carla Alejandra Simental, Viviana C. Sanchez

Architectural Engineering

No abstract provided.

Retrofitting Adobe Buildings, Ashley V. Gaur, Jessica E. Ellis

Architectural Engineering

No abstract provided.

Experimental Building Demonstration Model With Viscous Fluid Dampers, Blake Thomas Reeve, Brianna Jean Kufa, Aden Malek Stepanians, Sophie Carmion Ratkovich

Architectural Engineering

The Architectural Engineering major places a heavy emphasis on structural dynamics and the role of wind and seismic loading in building analysis and design. Buildings of high importance that are critical to community function, such as hospitals, often utilize supplemental damping devices like supplemental viscous fluid dampers or base isolators to reduce the overall demands on the structural system. The design and analysis of these dampers are typically not taught at the undergraduate level, and is frequently performed by mechanical engineers, in lieu of structural engineers.

To better understand and research building behavior with supplemental damping devices, our multi-disciplinary team …

Design Of A Folding V-Scraper With Roller For Orchard Applications, Chase Ulrich

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This senior project discusses the design of a folding 15 ft. wide leveler for orchard use. This design utilized a category 2 three-point hitch to connect the implement to a tractor. The folding mechanism uses the tractors hydraulic system to actuate the folding movement using hydraulic cylinders. The blades, when wings in operational position, are rigid with one another after some assembly. When the implement is folded the width is reduced to nine feet.

Evaluation Of Strength Reduction Factor For Concentrically Braced Frames Based On Nonlinear Single Degree-Of-Freedom Systems, Ryan Michael Slein

Master's Theses

Strength Reduction Factor (R-Factor), often referred to as Response Modification Factor, is commonly used in the design of lateral force resisting systems under seismic loading. R-Factors allow for a reduction in design base shear demands, leading to more economical designs. The reduction of strength is remedied with ductile behavior in members of proper detailing. Modern seismic codes and provisions recommend R-Factors for many types of lateral force resisting systems. However these factors are independent of the system fundamental frequency and many other important system properties, resulting in factors that may result in an unfavorable seismic response. To evaluate the validity …

Mode I Fracture Toughness Of Eight-Harness-Satin Carbon Cloth Weaves For Co-Cured And Post-Bonded Laminates, Josh E. Smith

Master's Theses

Mode I interlaminar fracture of 3k 8-Harness-Satin Carbon cloth, with identical fill and weft yarns, pre-impregnated with Newport 307 resin was investigated through the DCB test (ASTM D5528). Crack propagations along both the fill and weft yarns were considered for both post-bonded (co-bonded) and co-cured laminates. A patent-pending delamination insertion method was compared to the standard Teflon film option to assess its applicability to mode I fracture testing. The Modified Beam Theory, Compliance Calibration method, and Modified Compliance Calibration method were used for comparative purposes for these investigations and to evaluate the validity of the proposed Equivalent Stiffness (EQS) method. …