Building Components and Types - Term Paper Example

Building Components and Types 1. Typical Building Team and their Roles A typical building team is consisting of owner, engineers/architects, and contractors (Gahlot, 2007, p.9). Together, this building team plan, design, and execute a particular project under the authority of the owner. 1.1 Owner The owner often controls the project resources such as labour, funds, and property and makes the final decision in administrative and financial matters. Since the owner is responsible for controlling the resources of the project, final approval of any changes in scope and schedule is solely owner’s discretion (ibid, p.9). 1.2 Engineers and Architects This group include structural, mechanical, and electrical engineers, architects, quantity surveyors, and others. It may also include people specializing in structural, safety, and others. Engineers are mainly involved in the design and preparation of working drawings in their respective fields while architects deal with functionality and aesthetic appearance of the building. Preparation of bill of quantities, tender documents, cost estimate, cash-flow statements, and others are the responsibility of the quantity surveyors (ibid, p.10). 1.3 Contractors Contractors are those individual or small companies dealing with small contracts and concerned with the actual execution of the work such as surveying, levelling, construction, and others. These contractors similarly have a number of engineers doing design, tendering, scheduling, and so on. A contractor’s main role is to execute different types of works for the project that include providing labour, machinery, materials, and other services that may be needed to complete the project (ibid, p.11). 2. The Design Process and the Main Principal Requirements of a Project 2.1 Design Process In building construction, the first step in the design process is creating a schematic design, which means developing simple diagrammatic documents outlining room’s sizes and relationships. The second step is to produce single line diagrams of all systems in the building such as water mains, electrical risers, and so on. Third is studying preliminary elevation of the building and drawing of special interior spaces in some cases. After the schematic design have been reviewed and approved by the building committee, the design team will then submit as a final stage of the design process, drawings, project narrative, and estimate of construction cost for building committee approval (College of DuPage, 2011, p.1). 2.2 Main Principal Requirements of a Project a. Construction Project Manager b. Building Committee c. Program of Requirements containing detailed objectives, spaces, services, equipment, special finishes, and so on. d. Design professionals to do architectural design and engineering services. e. Complete plan of the building f. Construction documents containing construction drawings and specifications. g. Building permit h. Construction i. Commissioning 3. Types of Site Investigation and their Purpose a. Site Reconnaissance This is the preliminary examination of the construction site and its purpose is to gather important information to facilitate subsequent ground or soil exploration and sub-surface exploration (Civil Craft Structures, 2011, p1). b. Ground and Soil Investigation Ground investigation is a more intrusive form site investigation and its purpose is to discover information regarding a specific site. These include information gathering from existing records such as maps, documents, aerial photograph, and others. It may also involve boreholes, trial pits, penetration and laboratory test, and geophysical methods (AGS, 2004, p.1). 4. Common Types of Shallow and Deep Foundations/ Foundation Failure and Preventive Measures a. Shallow Foundation Types Spread footing The most common type of foundation, this type of shallow foundation is typically used to transmit the load of a column or wall to the subsoil. This is the reason why the base of the column or wall in spread footing is large or spread (Punmia & Jain, 2005, p.708). Combined or Strap footing Strap footing is a variation of the spread footing type and it is used to supports the load of more than one column or wall (Punmia & Jain, 2005, p.80). Raft footing A raft or “mat” footing is a type of shallow foundation that goes in two directions covering an area equal to or grated than the base area of the building (Punmia & Jain, 2005, p.80). Measures to take to prevent failure Since shallow foundation types distribute loads from the superstructures to the soil, they are subject to shear failure of the soil supporting them or bearing capacity failure. Another is excessive settlement of the soil supporting the foundation or the soils elastic and consolidation settlement (Das, 2007, p.206). To get around this soil bearing capacity-related issues, is to conduct a stability analysis of the soil and perform ground improvement techniques such as soil replacement, pre-loading, densification, grouting, and stabilization of the soil (Yang et al, 2006, p.356). b. Deep Foundation Types Pier This is foundation system that has column-like reinforced concrete member and large enough to allow down-hole inspection. It is drilled into the ground and commonly referred to as drilled shafts, bored piles, and drilled caissons (Day, 2002, p.8) Pile Pile foundations are made up of structural steel, concrete, or timber and they are usually used when upper soil layers are too weak to support the load of the superstructure. Piles transmit load to the soil gradually and resist horizontal forces by bending while retaining support for vertical load transmitted by the superstructure (Das, 2008, p.532). Well Well foundations have three categories- open, box, or pneumatic caissons and they are commonly used in bridge foundation. Well foundation has three components – steining that provides dead load during sinking, well cap where an abutment or a pier is constructed, top plug for covering sand filling, bottom plug for transferring the load from steining to the soil, sand fill for filling the void between the walls of the well, and curb, the bottom most part used to facilitate easy sinking (Jagadeesh & Jayaram, 2004, p.2004). Measures to take to prevent failure Deep foundations are usually used when shallow foundations are not acceptable or the upper soil stratum is too soft or weak to support static and earthquake-related foundation loads, expected settlement of the soil is excessive, and possibility of liquefaction of underlying soil deposit is great (Day, 2002, p.19). Failure of deep foundations often comes from inadequate geotechnical survey, poor understanding of soil mechanics, and failure of materials due to rotting, corrosion, and so on. Measures being taken to reduce occurrences of failure include comprehensive site investigation and protecting the material used from soil water (Habib, 1983, p.90). 5. Alternative Shallow Foundation and the circumstances they are appropriate a. Frost Protected Shallow Foundation FPSF foundation is more practical and cost-effective, as it only requires excavation to prescribed frost depths to protect a shallow type foundation. It relies on the insulation to allow foundation depths from 12 to 16 inches (USDHU, 1994, p.1). 6. Alternative Deep Foundation and the circumstances they are appropriate a. Helical Piles This alternative deep foundation is versatile, efficient, and suitable for foundations in sensitive areas such as wetlands, contaminated sites, and historical areas (Goss et al, 2010, p.22). 7. The Purpose and Types of Ventilation, Ventilation Requirements for Domestic Buildings, and Performance-Based Ventilation The purpose of ventilation according to Approved Document F of Buildings Regulation 2000 is to allow outside air for breathing, eliminate odours and airborne pollutants inside a room, control indoor humidity, provide thermal comfort and air for fuel-burning appliances (Approved Document F, 2010, p.18). The different types of ventilation according to Approved Document F of Buildings Regulation 2000 include infiltration or uncontrolled flow of air from in and out of the building through air leakage paths and purpose-provide ventilation where air exchange is controlled by natural or mechanical devices. Purpose-driven ventilation include extract ventilation where pollutants from cooking, bathing, and others are released from the room, dwelling ventilation or introduction of controlled fresh air into the building, and purge ventilation where pollutants from activities such as painting, smoke from burnt food, and others are released outside the building (Approved Document F, 2010, p.13). New domestic buildings are required to comply with the required ventilation rates. The kitchen for instance should have a minimum rate of intermittent extract of 30 l/s and 13 l/s of continuous per meter square of its the floor area. Similarly, bathroom should have 30 l/s and 8 l/s respectively. For the whole dwelling ventilation rates, there should be at least 13 l/s of intermittent extract for a single bedroom, 17 l/s for 2, 21 l/s for 3, and so on (Approved Document F, 2010, p.19). Performance-based ventilation works on the principle that buildings should always have sufficient level of ventilation. For this reason, designers of buildings are allowed to innovate and use whatever ventilation is suitable to a particular building. However, these ventilations should conform to performance criteria concerning moisture and pollutants extract and air flow rates, acceptable indoor air relative humidity, and air permeability (Approved Document F, 2010, p.20). 8. Loads and Forces Acting on a Building Throughout its Life Cycle Dead load, live load, environmental loads, and seismic forces typically affect buildings. For instance, the weight of the construction materials are dead loads or the weight of the structure such as beams, deck, roofing, and so on. Live loads are people, moving materials, and so on while environmental loads can be forces from winds, snow, and others. Seismic loads on the other hand are forces coming from ground motion at the base of the building (Reid, 2000, p.50). 9. Compression and Tension (with examples) Loads can stress the structure of a building and the forces that tend to squeeze a member of the structure are compression while those that are pulling them apart are tension (Snell & Callahan, 2009, p.25). For instance, the column supporting the beam and slab of a building is subject to compression because of the weight of its supported structure and live loads in the building. Similarly, an overloaded beam will snap like a rubber band when there is too much tension applied at right angle (Nash, 1995, p.90). 10. Main Aspects of Behaviour of Plastics, Steel, Concrete, and Wood in Fire Conditions Plastics are synthetic materials found in various products and although it is not widely considered for structural support, plastics are used as vinyl sidings, plastic window frames, plastic panels, and so on in buildings. They are also widely used as plumbing materials, lighting fixtures, and other products containing plastics like carpet and floor coverings. Plastic is combustible, some of them ignite, and burn easily. During a fire, plastic produce significant heavy, dense, dark smoke, and high concentration of toxic gases (International Association of Fire Chiefs, 2011, p.156). Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon and commonly used for structural framework. However, although it is not easily ignitable or burned, it can melt when exposed to extreme high temperatures such as those produced by fire. Such exposure result to expansion and reduction of steel’s ability to support other structural elements of the building (International Association of Fire Chiefs, 2011, p.155). Concrete is a mixture of Portland cement, sand, and gravel. It is inherently fire resistive but too much exposure to fire can cause sections of concrete to break off or spall due to the expansion of steam coming from boiling moisture trapped inside the concrete. When severe spalling occurs, steel reinforcement will be expose to fire and if the temperature is hot enough, structural collapse may occur due to melting and weakening steel reinforcements (International Association of Fire Chiefs, 2011, p.154). Wood is a common building material and it produced form solid lumber. In terms of fire, wood is highly combustible. They also act as fuel and produce considerable amount of hot gases. High temperatures produced by a fire weaken the strength of wood as volatile compounds in the wood are released (International Association of Fire Chiefs, 2011, p.156). 11. Different Types of Failure Modes of Structures, Function of Failure Mode and Effect Analysis Failure modes of structure are divided in to two categories – primary and secondary. Primary failure mode includes (FEMA, 2005, p.4): a. Uplift or failure mode caused by vertical forces such as wind or buoyancy where the building is lifted off its foundation. b. Overturning or the applied moments caused by wind, earthquake, and other forces. In this failure mode, the building is rotated off its foundation. c. Sliding or Shearing or a failure mode that makes the building slide off its foundation due to horizontal forces that is stronger than the strength of the foundation. Secondary failure mode includes (FEMA, 2005, p.4): a. Collapse or when the structural components of a building fail. In this failure mode, the building becomes unstable due to forces like heat from fire. Failure mode and effect analysis is a technique developed to reduce the future probability of failures. It is a systematic technique used to prevent process and product failure before they occur (Joint Commission Resources, 2005, p.2). It also identifies corrective measures required to prevent such failures thus quality and reliability is assured (Samuel, 2004, p.193). 12. Signs of Collapse and Collapse Hazards of Different Types of Construction Sagging floors and roofs are special indicators of collapse. During a firefight, puddles are indicators of sagging floor that will eventually collapse (Brennan, 2007, p.179). Floor or roof lines bowing downward is an indication that columns, load-bearing walls, and other supports are weakened (Collin, 2005, p.63). Distortion of door or window frames is an indication that the floor or wall has moved (Collin, 2005, p.63). Stepped cracks along masonry are an indication that something in the foundation, floors, and other supports is wrong (Collin, 2005, p.63). Collapse hazards of different types of construction include: a. Ordinary constructed building (brick and joist type with exterior bearing walls of masonry with wood floors and roof) – the parapet wall or the portion of the masonry wall that extends about the roof is the major collapse hazard as they are easily weakened by exposure to the elements. They often lean inward or outward and their bricks lose it adhesive qualities overtime due to rain and other elements (Dunn, 2010, p.51). b. Heavy timber construction – masonry walls, timber girders, and columns can collapse when the timber become engulfed in flame (Dunn, 2010, p.51). c. Wood frame construction – the collapse hazard in this construction is the combustible bearing wall as they have smaller structural members that could burn and trigger simultaneous failure of the floors and roof (Dunn, 2010, p.52). 13. Importance of the Building Regulations, Approved Documents and Main Points of Guidance Building Regulations ensure building are constructed following the minimum constructional standards, structurally stable, safe, weather proof, with adequate insulation, well-ventilated, with safe electrical wiring and devices, and energy efficient. The Approved Document B Volume 2 for instance provides guidance about fire safety such as means of warning and escape, fire-resisting linings and structures, external fire spread, and provision of access and facilities for the fire service (Approved Document B, 2007, p.2). Approved Document E, ensure that dwelling houses, flats, and rooms of residential buildings are constructed with reasonable resistance to sound (Approved Document E, 2006, p.8). Similarly, Approved Document L1a is intended for conservation of fuel and power in buildings by limiting heat loss and improving heat gains. The document serve as a guide for building owners on matters concerning fixed building services and their maintenance requirements with ways to conserve fuel and power (Approved Document L1a, 2006, p.5). 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