We write about what structural projects actually stumble on: choosing a steel grade, weld symbols, buckling length, the sequence of assembly. Short pieces, with drawings from real jobs.
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S355 JR or J2 part 1
Which steel for the structure? It comes down to impact toughness at low temperature and to where the member works.
S355JR or S355J2 part 2
Part two: how to pick the grade when thickness grows and the design temperature drops below zero.
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Buckling length – failed so many times!
Purlin-braced or the length between nodes? A case where the wrong value shifts the result by tens of percent.
Structural Strengthening Under Full Load
Blasting showed that over 70 percent of the column had corroded. The strengthening had to be designed without shutting the line down.
ISO/AWS – the same weld, but different weld symbols
What changes when your drawings go to a workshop working to American standards.
Weld symbols
The arrow points one way, the weld belongs the other. The most common mistake in shop drawings and where it comes from.
3D scanning
Not every survey needs 3 mm accuracy. For quick measurements a handheld 3D camera and a set of printed targets are enough.
Optical 3D scanning
An optical camera instead of a laser scanner. Example: a brace added to an existing platform, measured and fitted into the model.
3D scan without a 3D scanner and… without a drone
A 60-metre roof, a forest of chimneys and no documentation. A survey without a scanner and without a drone.
Boiler Room
A 90 MW heat plant cleared for the building permit: full structural design and BIM coordination of old and new.
Heavy connection
A simple connection in a decidedly unsimple structure: 3,400 tonnes transferred from a concrete tower to a steel base frame.
Metal fatigue – the Comet case
Eighteen months in service were enough to crack a window corner. That is why aircraft windows are rounded today.
Ferrybridge Power Station
On 1 November 1965 three of eight cooling towers collapsed. The cause: Kármán vortices shed by the towers that survived.
Chrome line
A plating line for the automotive industry in Bilbao: laser survey of the hall, new structure carried by existing crane beams.
Bonded membrane
Bonded mounting plates fix PV modules to a waterproofing membrane and cut the weight of the system on the roof.
Production platform
Step two of the project: shop drawings. This time the level of detail went well beyond the everyday.
Photovoltaic
Ballast must not overload the roof, nor let go in a gust. The roof is split into zones and the mass comes from our calculator.
Sequence of assembly
Why a structure that is safe once finished can be unsafe while it is going up.
Column reinforcement
The client removed one of the columns and let us look inside. What it revealed about the actual reinforcement layout.
Fatigue strain
A smaller plate, lower stress. Smoothing the bracket corner spreads the stress instead of piling it up in one point.
MESTIL – client satisfaction survey
We decided to see ourselves through our clients’ eyes. What came out of the satisfaction survey run in spring 2021.
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