Capstone Final Report - DAVIDS...
Transcript of Capstone Final Report - DAVIDS...
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Structural Visualization
Prepared for Acute Engineering
Prepared by FDS Engineering:
Samantha Wilms
David Halliday
Frank Johnson
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology
Brigham Young University
13 April 2015
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Executive Summary
FDS Engineering completed the Structural Visualization capstone project sponsored by
Acute Engineering. The engineered blueprint of the house built in Vernal, Utah was given to
FDS Engineering on December 19, 2014. The purpose of the project was to bridge the gap
between engineering and building a house. To accomplish such a task, many sub-deliverables
were completed. A model house was built to the scale of 1 inch = 1 foot and took 450+ man-
hours. The house blueprints were studied to give a detailed bill of materials. A plan on how to
improve the construction of the house, including using a steel frame, was developed. Lastly, the
house was modeled in 3-dimensions using Revit software. The following report will discuss how
the previous deliverables were accomplished.
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Acknowledgements
We, Frank, Samantha, and David, would like to thank all the volunteers, sponsors, and
other stakeholders that assisted us on this project. We thank Dr. Bingham for giving us four
students from his class, giving us a place to work, donating the wood for the model house, and
staying late so many times to get the wood cut for us. We thank Nick Barnwell, our graduate
mentor, for keeping us on task and accomplishing our deliverables properly. We appreciate Dr.
Jensen, our capstone advisor, for being available in advising us and exciting us to make a design
of our own. Lastly, we express sincere gratitude to Paul Thorley, our sponsor, for helping us and
providing us an opportunity to learn what is needed to build our own homes one day. Without the
help of all the above-mentioned mentors and volunteers, our Capstone would not have been
nearly as successful and enjoyable as it was to us.
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ ii
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iii
Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... iv
Table of Tables ............................................................................................................................... v
Table of Figures .............................................................................................................................. v
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1
Mode of Accomplishing Deliverables ............................................................................................ 1
Deliverables .................................................................................................................................... 2
Bill of Materials .......................................................................................................................... 2
Model House ............................................................................................................................... 3
List of Construction Suggestions ................................................................................................ 4
Metal Column and Beam Design ................................................................................................ 7
Revit Model .............................................................................................................................. 10
Outcome and Performance Standards ....................................................................................... 11
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 11
Appendix ....................................................................................................................................... 12
Mathcad Calculations ................................................................................................................ 12
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Table of Tables
Table 1: Bill of Materials ................................................................................................................ 2
Table of Figures
Figure 1: Front (left) and back (right) views of the model house. .................................................. 3
Figure 2: Steel beam schedule. ....................................................................................................... 8
Figure 3: Steel column schedule. .................................................................................................... 8
Figure 4: Revit model of the house. .............................................................................................. 10
Figure 5: Bedroom layout modeled in Revit. ................................................................................ 11
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Introduction
There is a gap between engineering a house and constructing a house. Both engineers and
contractors are good intentioned and intelligent men and women. However, due to the lack of
knowledge in the other parties respective fields, many simple mistakes are made that could save
both the engineers and contractors time and money. As rising structural engineers, the purpose of
this project was to bridge the gap between the two industries. A physical model of a house was
created, along with economical, digital, and visual analyses. Specific deliverables will be
mentioned below. Acute Engineering, the sponsor company, will use each of the products to
bridge the gap between the engineering and construction industries.
Mode of Accomplishing Deliverables
In the process of learning how to best create a model home, David Halliday, our
relationship manager, networked advice from the Construction Management Department at
BYU. In the process, he met Mr. Evan Bingham, a CM professor who teaches a course on home
building with a model home project similar to ours. After extensive discussion on how best to
make the project model home, Prof. Evan Bingham graciously offered materials, tools,
workspace, and some of his students to volunteer for the job. Since the class CM 210 has a
semester-long project like ours, he determined the following compromise for our CM student
volunteers: the Acute Engineering Structural Visualization project would become their class
project. Due to the high-demand, two-month workload, Prof. Bingham also granted leniency in
other assignment due dates for volunteering students.
As a team, we decided to attend Prof. Bingham’s CM class and work during their lab
hours. This class provided practical information on home building and we provided the mutual
benefit of occasionally sharing the engineer’s knowledge/perspective. We recruited four CM
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major students including: Devere Gardner, Brett Hoffman, Scott Libutti, and Tristan Wood. We
worked most Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings until the model home was completed.
Deliverables
Bill of Materials
The first deliverable completed was a bill of materials for the house (see Table 1). The
bill of materials was completed only for the structural design of the house and did not include
plumbing, finishing and appliances. The total cost of the structural elements of the house came to
$24,469 with the three largest expenses being the concrete, floor joists and truss package. The
structural elements of the house are just a fraction of the total cost of building a home. The above
mentioned plumbing, finishing, and appliances, along with the cost of the laborers to install such
necessities makes the final cost of the house much more expensive.
Table 1: Bill of Materials
Material Quantity Cost per quantity Cost for Material Concrete 86 yd3 $80 per yd3 $6,880 2x4x8 150 $2.45 per stud $368 2x6x8 300 $3.87 per stud $1,161 2x6x16 Pressure Treated 17 $13.97 per board $237 2x8x8 20 $5.29 per board $106 2x10x8 10 $6.77 per board $68 2x12x8 16 $7.58 per board $121 LVL Floor Joists (ft) 1537 $4.50 per foot $6,917 Floor Sheathing (4’x8’) 60 $27.50 per sheet $1,650 Wall Sheathing (4’x8’) 82 $9.35 per sheet $767
Roof Sheathing (4’x8’) 85 $9.35 per sheet $795 Truss Package 1 $5,400 $5,400 Total Cost $24,469
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Model House
The second deliverable completed was the model house (see Figure 1). The model house
was completed to a satisfactory level in time for its debut at the Acute Engineering booth at the
BYU Winter STEM Career Fair 2015. Further details and instructions were given and the project
was completed and given to sponsor, Paul Thorley, on February 14, 2015 in time for his business
conference February 17, 2015. In total, twenty volunteers and 450+ man-hours were needed to
finish the project. All wood materials were cut to scale using pine and balsa wood boards. The
concrete was modeled using foam core and hot glue was used as the main adhesive.
Building the model house was a great learning process for all the parties involved. Pages
4-7 contain details and notes observed while building the model house. These instructions could
prevent common building errors and facilitate effective communication between engineering and
construction.
The model house was kept well within budget. All wood for floor joists, studs, and
trusses were donated by the CM Department. Hot glue, foam core, wire, and all other supplies
were purchased by Samantha Wilms and were just under $100.
Figure 1: Front (left) and back (right) views of the model house.
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List of Construction Suggestions
- Concrete is the first structural detail to be built. It is important to read the engineering
plans to see where it calls for 20 in. and 18 in. footings. Make sure the concrete is
reinforced properly when pouring. All rebar should have at least 2 in. of concrete cover.
- When pouring the foundation wall, make sure the rebar is correct, especially around
window frames.
- Make sure lag bolts are in the top part of the concrete wall so that they may connect to
the pressure treated sill plate approximately every 32 in.
- When pouring the concrete slab in the garage, make sure a slope of at least a 1 in. drop
every 10 ft. away from the house is used to account for water running out.
- It is important to make every story plum and square, but more so for the concrete
footings and foundation walls. If the concrete is off, everything else will be off.
- On top of the foundation wall should be a sill sealer followed by a seal plate that is
pressure treated lumber.
- Rim board and floor joists should be built on top of the foundation wall before any
backfill should be placed around the foundation walls. Forgetting to do such could lead to
making foundation walls tilt inward.
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- Floor joists should be resting on bearing walls in the basement.
- Between the basement bearing wall and floor and also from the sill plate to the floor
where floor cantilevers are occurring, full height blocking is needed. This is both to
distribute the load and for fire blocking purposes.
- When applying flooring, the long side should run perpendicular to the floor joists and
staggering one another. They are tongue and groove and simply lock into one another.
- Cantilevers are often used in the industry to increase living space while not accruing
more costs from increasing the amount of concrete or making turns in the concrete.
- Stairs are very tricky! Account for all minimum and maximum tread and depth
dimensions while taking into consideration the finished stair and floor heights as well as
the overall width and height dimensions. Make sure the 6’8’’ vertical height minimum
from the floor above to the tread is met. Take the time to make it strong and safe.
- 2x6 exterior walls are becoming more and more common. Initial cost is more and it
takes some of room space, but it makes a stronger wall and allows thicker insulation
to be installed. Energy savings on the house pays for the initial cost after a couple years.
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- Walls should have studs every 16 in. from the corner of the wall. This allows for the
sheathing on the wall to have wood to nail into. Exterior walls also need horizontal back
blocking. This seals the crack that occurs between the plywood boards.
- As an engineer it is important to understand the 4 ft. dimension of wall sheathing and
call out shear walls that are multiples of 4 ft.
- The exterior wall sheathing should cover the floor, rim board, and tie into the sill plate,
but should rest more than 1 in. above the foundation wall. This seals the rim board to the
floor, but does not allow increased rotting from un-treated wood to concrete contact.
- When blocking out for the windows and doors it is important to know that the
dimensions given are the dimensions the opening should be and have the trimmers, studs
and headers around the called out opening.
- It is important to note the header size and post layout that the engineers have called out
while framing the wall.
- In the bathroom and also in the kitchen it is wise to add increased backing for where
mirrors, towel racks, spice racks, and other objects will be attached to the drywall.
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- For vaulted ceiling areas (in great rooms and master bedrooms), some walls will have to
be built up higher. The taller wall should be done with continuous 2x width of wall
instead of making a short wall of only 1 ft.
- Truss packages are usually bought from the manufacturer with each truss having a letter
and/or number calling out its placement. Overbuild is not called out and the contractor
simply runs a chalk line from the peak to the valley and makeshift trusses are added to fill
in the valley.
- Roof sheathing is applied perpendicular to the roof trusses and staggered. A space of 1/8
in. should be left between sheets for expansion and contraction.
- Blocking between the top of the wall to the roof should be included with a pattern of
two vertical, then one horizontal (for ventilation).
Metal Column and Beam Design
The third deliverable was a steel column and beam schedule. The beam and column
schedule was made following LRFD design practices as outlined in the Steel Construction
Manual – 14th edition and with the help of Build With Steel: A Companion to the AISC Manual.
All calculations were made using Mathcad software and can be referenced in the Appendix. As
seen in Figure 2 and Figure 3, the house would need (16) beams and (8) columns to rest on the
foundation wall.
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Figure 2: Steel beam schedule.
Figure 3: Steel column schedule.
Upon further investigation, the group decided to research the advantages and
disadvantages of building an all steel structural design for the residential house. The list on the
following page presents the advantages and disadvantages of steel, in no particular order.
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Advantages:
- Any span can be built, without columns, by increasing the size of the beams.
- Steel is not organic, thus it is not liable to corrode from mold or termites. This could
especially increase the longevity of a house in a humid climate.
- Steel is not a combustible material, thus increases the house’s fire protection.
- Steel studs are straighter than wood studs. Laborers can save time by no longer having
to crown each stud and drywall will no longer bulge in the middle due to warped studs.
- Steel expands and contracts much less than wood in the hot and cold seasons. Thus
again, the drywall will not have as many bulges or cracks in it due to the wood frame
expansion and contraction.
- Steel is also more environmentally friendly than wood. Instead of cutting down forests,
a small house can be built from the scrap metal of six to ten cars.
- Steel studs are lighter per length than wood studs. One worker is able to stand an entire
30 ft by 9 ft wall all by himself.
- Walls can easily be made 6-9 inches thick to allow for more room for insulation, which
would increase energy savings to heat and cool the building.
- Since all the columns and beams are pre-fabricated, the number of labor hours to build
the house can be reduced by one-third.
- Steel structures can still be finished with traditional drywall and oak trim look.
Disadvantages:
- Steel prices currently are a bit more expensive than wood prices.
- Most residential construction workers only have the knowledge and tools to build wood
homes. Acquiring the tools and education to build with steel would take some time.
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Revit Model
For the final deliverable, the house was modeled in 3-dimensions using Revit software
(see Figure 4). As software continues to develop and becomes more widespread, the 3-
dimensional designs for a house can be passed from an architect, to engineer, and finally to the
contractor. The architect will design the house to have the look the owner wants, the engineer
will add details and dimensions to make the house safe, and the contractor will use the document
to see how to build what the engineer asks on site. Such a process would eliminate many errors
that currently occur because of the inability to completely understand 2-demensional blueprints.
Figure 4: Revit model of the house.
When building a new house it is often very difficult to envision the exact outcome of how
all of the owner’s dream desires will look once built. The Revit model could be used from a
marketing advantage by showing the future owner what their dream desires will look like in real
life. As seen in Figure 5, the Revit designer can add beds, lights, wall colors, and whatever else
is desired.
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Figure 5: Bedroom layout modeled in Revit.
Outcome and Performance Standards
Each deliverable was evaluated and graded by our graduate mentor, Nick Barnwell, and
our sponsor, Paul Thorley of Acute Engineering. Our team provided the work “as is” meaning
that there was no engineering stamp certifying the work.
Conclusion
All deliverables were completed on time and to each stakeholder’s satisfaction. With 20
volunteers and 450+ man hours, the model house was completed and turned over to Paul Thorley
on Saturday, February 14th. To make the project ABET certified, the previous steel frame design
was created and shown to faculty advisor, Dr. Jensen. A digital 3-D model of the house was
completed using Revit software, which allowed for additional interior design details to be
outlined. While doing each deliverable, notes were taken on how to bridge the gap between the
engineering and construction of residential homes. Many differences exist between the two
parties, but with patience and continued education, the gap can continue to narrow.
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Appendix
Mathcad Calculations
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