Monday 3/5/2012 Class–Prof. Mitchell’s Section

I understand that the basketball team made the finals.  Therefore, as promised, we WILL hold class today to start on the last project, but will hold the presentation on Wednesday.

The current assignment is still due today.

Jim Mitchell

A3–Grader’s Comments

Grader #1

• When making your structural system selections many groups failed to mention any quantitative information.  This type of information such as span length and overall building height will help you to compare the capabilities of each system.
• For the member sizing section many groups just showed output tables from SAP.  It is important that you consolidate this information so that it is more meaningful to the reader.  It is only necessary to show the output from the members with the highest moment/shear/deflection because these are the ones you are designing for.
• The quality of the structural drawings improved for this assignment.  Just be sure that the drawings have all of the proper labeling and that it is easy to read.
• Instead of trying to model the entire structure in SAP sometimes it is just easier to simplify the structure to just a beam or two and apply the proper loads.  You should find similar results with less work.  Just be sure to state your assumptions.
  

Grader #2

• This assignment, in comparison to the past assignments, has shown a lot of improvement in determining relevant, important information and how to illustrate this information clearly and concisely.
• In regards to constructive criticism, the most prevalent mistake I found in these submissions was in the “Member Sizing” section. Many teams were able to begin to display the proof that they had completed the analysis, however, the next step after completing the analysis is to sort through all of the information to give the most useful information to the following designers after you. The engineering process is iterative and part of the responsibility is to be able to sift through all of the outputs to give the most relevant information to whoever needs it. A few groups did this very well and summarized the information in a couple of tables. To improve upon this, it would help to summarize all of this information (key members, max shear, max moment, max deflection, etc) in a single table.

A2 - Grader's Comments

Grader #1

As you all progress through this course, you will begin to learn how to effectively collaborate within your team and with the teams that follow you. Analogous to the real world, the team you are working in for each submission is your design team  and the teams that follow you are the other engineering firms that you work with to complete the project. With this in mind, the plans and documentation you are producing for each assignment is the means of communication you are using to progress the project forward with each following group. Standard elements such as graphic scales and north arrows become important not for a good grade but so that there is less confusion and more clarity about the current state of the project and what information is available.

When completing your assignments, know that this is practice for what you will be doing in the industry, under the presumption that you are all going to become architectural engineers in the future. Know that future groups will most likely be working in Revit 2011 since it is the available software at their firm (the CAD Lab). So working in Revit 2012 will hinder/inconvience the progress of a project as the file cannot be downgraded. Know that by providing .dwgs or sheets in Revit will allow future teams to easily begin laying out their single lines for HVAC, for example, rather than having to redraft everything.

In regards to the assignment, only two teams provided a blown up/enlarged view of areas and provided notes. Please read the directions carefully, I can't give partial credit for something that isn't there. Also, begin to understand that any decision you make needs to be backed by sound engineering reasoning. Simply stating that a floor area was reduced in size because it seemed larger than necessary does not suffice. Why does it seem larger than necessary? Does the maximum occupancy of the building pale in comparison to the size of the lobby giving an unnecessary 400SF/person in the lobby? Knowing how to justify your reasoning will be a useful skill come senior design next year.

Good luck in future submissions, you're all well on your way.

Grader #2

The quality of these assignments was highly variable.  For the most part, students did a very good job creating plan sheets and drawings of the buildings.  Remember that the drawings should be clear, easy to understand and contain the necessary information such as overall dimensions and labeling.  Some students made excellent use of Revit, although this was not a requirement.

Some groups missed out on major parts of the assignment.  Many groups did not show close up views of critical areas.  This would include a zoomed in view of the area along with some explanation.  Another part that students forgot was a fire protection plan.  At minimum, this shows all exits, fire-proof stairwells and an egress path.

Revit Basic Tutorial Link

I’ve added a link in the menu on the AE-Resources website to my tutorial that shows how to create a simple building.  Here are the relevant links.

• AE Resources overall
• Revit Tutorial

Student Comments

The graders provide the instructors with a summary of your comments and suggestions.  Below are reactions to a number of those comments.

Improvements to the Excel Spreadsheet

A number of you suggested specific, useful suggestions for improving the Excel spreadsheet.  We applaud those suggestions and hope that you’ll use them when you prepare a program for Senior Design.  Our goal in this course is to give you a reasonable starting point from which you can improve. 

In fact on the AE Resources website you’ll find an MS Access Database that might well be a significant improvement on Excel.

 

Other Systems

At least one group suggested including other systems (e.g. plumbing and fire protection).  That’s an excellent idea.  We didn’t want to make the requirements overwhelming, but for Senior Design you would indeed want to do that.

 

Basis of Design

Firms like KlingStubbins use a “Basis of Design” document at the beginning of a project.  That would indeed be a good format to completely define a project.  Given the time limitation we didn’t want to ask too much.  When you’re engaged in Senior Design it would be a good model.

 

Library Use

One group noted they’d found very helpful books in the Library.  Yes.  What an amazing concept

EQuest Tutorial

A group suggested posting an eQuest tutorial.  There is very good help available for eQuest in their help files and also separate tutorials.  Feel free during projects to ask for further information.  We’ll post it via the blog.

HVAC Calcs

A group wanted us to post the necessary HVAC equations.  We assume that since you’ve taken the HVAC course that you’ve got notes or have kept the book.  There is also a copy of Stein McGuiness and Reynolds in the lab, which has the equations.

A1–Grader’s Comments

Grader #1

Overall, the quality of these assignments was very good. Just a few suggestions that I have are as follows:

• Remember to provide a downloadable link of your Excel spreadsheet. This will be extremely helpful for future groups to use.
• Be sure to make your intentions clear for each building system. For example, in the VACHVHVAC section let the other engineers/architects know approximately how much room you will need in the plenum for ductwork. Otherwise, you may be very disappointed when the structural engineer doesn’t allow enough space.
• For the integration section of the assignment, but sure to clearly state your priorities for the building. All stakeholders will be interested in looking at this part.

 

Grader #2

The assignments I received were satisfactory, however, many of the groups neglected to fulfill all of the requirements asked of them. Be sure to review all of the requirements prior to submitting your assignment to ensure that you have covered everything that needed to be addressed. Taking it to a real world example, some owners will not even accept a bid if all of the instructions were followed properly. Cross all of your t’s and dot your i’s or you could miss out on a multi-million dollar job one day simply for not following instructions.

Also, as you begin to design your systems, keep in mind that this is an iterative process that will be followed through by successive groups. Note which codes and guidelines you are getting your specifications and data from.

As always too, It is important to work with your team and answer any communications promptly.

Using Equest During Programming

Question

I was wondering how we are supposed to use Equest to simulate our building to help figure out energy requirements if we do not know what the design of the building is yet? If you could please let me know what I am supposed to do in order to complete this aspect of the assignment that would be greatly appreciated.

Response

One of the beauties of a program like Equest is that you do not need to know the exact configuration of the building to get target figures at the beginning of the design process.  You can make “plausible assumptions” such as a rectangular building of xxx stories.  The building type, location, operating hours, gross square footage will be the same at the beginning as at the end and thus the numbers you get will be “reasonable” as targets.  It’s surely better than a guess.

Climate Data

Question

What is the chart that we use to look up the WB and DB temperatures for the summer and winter in our city? I think it's part of ASHRAE but I can't remember what table it's in.

Response

You’re looking for the “Design Temperatures”.  I couldn’t find the ASHRAE handbook online, but relevant information is available in this table link

Welcome to the AE-391 Blog

We’ve set up this blog to allow us to post things of interest to all students in the class, and allow them (and others) to comment on them. This does not replace what is shut away behind VistaBB’s walls, but is here in public because we suspect that individuals not in the course may be interested, and because it's easier to follow.