T

MOD004941– Design Technology

2019/20

Brief for Coursework –

Group

Report Rev 0

1

1. Outline

Your group should provide a technical report, calculations and drawings outlining your design

proposals relating to a transfer structure option study. The report should not exceed 15 pages

including appendices, it should meet with the expectations of the “ARU Civil Engineering – Report

Writing” document (see Element 010 on Canvas). The report should be written for other Civil

Engineers to read, this is not a report that will go to a non-technical client. The requirement is to

record and clearly present:

 The design options that you considered for the transfer structures.

 Assumptions that you have made.

 Your calculations and design outcomes.

You will need to include annotated and dimensioned sketches and / or drawings which clearly

communicate your design proposals. As a minimum, the report should include the following titled

sections:

 Introduction

 Option 1 – Transfer beam

 Option 2 – Triangulated transfer truss

 Option 3 – Vierendeel transfer truss

 Option 4 – Your own design proposal

 Discussion section

Each of the four option subsections should outline:

 The geometry and loading being considered.

 The calculations you have carried out, these should include sufficient descriptive text to

ensure that the calculations are easy to understand. Also see the ARU report writing

guidance regarding equations.

 The results that you have obtained including BMD, SFD, AFD & deflected shape.

 Proposals for the structural material and economic section sizes that you plan to utilise.

As outlined in the calculations section below, you need to carry out calculations for each option

using multiple methods, this is to show that you are able to validate your results. Your discussion

section should include:

i. A comparison and critical evaluation of the viability of the four options. You should consider

cost, programme and buildability when comparing the options, you should consider options

for off-site manufacture when discussing programme and buildability.

ii. Critical comparisons of the results obtained by the various methods, e.g. which results do

you consider to be most accurate and why. You should discuss the extent to which your

hand and Excel calculations can be considered as validating your Robot analysis:

Definition: Validate – prove that something is correct.

MOD004941 – Design Technology 2019/

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Brief for Coursework – Group Report Rev 0

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2. Brief from the client

You have been asked to carry out a preliminary transfer structure option study for a four storey steel

framed office building. The steel frame is nominally a pin-jointed frame with a 9.0m x 7.5m column

grid and a 4.0m floor to floor height, see Figure 1.

Figure 1 – General structural arrangement for the baseline building.

The transfer structure will provide column free space in the centre of the building at ground floor,

this ground floor area will be used as a flexible conference / exhibition space. The frame coloured

green in Figure 1 is the only frame that will be modified by the transfer structure, the dashed red

columns are the columns that will be removed from the scheme if the transfer structure is found to

be viable. You have been asked to consider four different options for the transfer structure.

2.1. Transfer Option 1 – Beam at first floor

Figure 2 – Transfer beam at first floor level

MOD004941 – Design Technology 2019/20
Brief for Coursework – Group Report Rev 0

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2.2. Transfer Option 2 – Triangulated truss

Figure 3 – Triangulated transfer truss first to second floor

2.3. Transfer Option 3 – Vierendeel truss

Figure 4 – Vierendeel transfer truss first to second floor

Note: LOut =
Building width−LIn

2
=

9.0m+2∗LP−LIn

2

??? and ?? are given in Table 1.

MOD004941 – Design Technology 2019/20
Brief for Coursework – Group Report Rev 0

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2.4. Transfer Option 4

Propose an alternative design of transfer structure which has advantages over transfer

options 1, 2 & 3. You should look for design options which give definite advantages over the other

suggested options, some aspects that can be considered when assessing the advantages of your

option 4 design include:

 Lower quantity of material is required.

 Reduced impact on the use of the building, e.g. less impact on the space available to the

client at first floor.

 Shorter construction time.

2.5. Loads & deflection

Loads are defined in Table 1 below, advice regarding deflection limits can be found in the Steel

Designer’s Manual.

3. Calculations

As a minimum, for each of the transfer structure options, you should provide the following results

along with calculations to support those results:

 Bending moment diagram.

 Shear force diagram.

 The axial force diagram (when applicable).

 Deflected shape and magnitude of maximum deflection.

 Chosen material and viable economic structural sections for the transfer structures. It is

acceptable to check section capacities by using data provided in the Steel Construction

Institute “Bluebook”.

The form of calculation required for each option is as follows:

 Design Option 1 – Transfer beam:

o Hand calculations.

o Excel analysis using Steel Designers’ Manual equations.

o Analysis using structural analysis software, e.g. Robot Structural Analysis.

 Design Option 2 – Triangulated truss:

o Hand calculations for support reactions.

o Hand calculations to estimate the maximum forces in the top and bottom chords.

o Hand calculations to estimate the maximum force in the diagonals.

o Excel calculations for all member forces.

o Robot analysis.

 Design Option 3:

o Hand calculations for support reactions.

o Robot analysis of the vierendeel transfer truss.

 Design Option 4, calculations to be discussed and agreed with Reuben by week 8.

MOD004941 – Design Technology 2019/20
Brief for Coursework – Group Report Rev 0

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4. Group specific details

Each group must consider a specific load and span arrangement as indicated in the table below:

Table 1 – Dimensions and loads for each group

Gk Qk Gk Qk Option 1 Option 2 & 3

kN/m kN/m kN kN LIn – m LP – m

1 22.1 13.1 1294 768 12.0 9.00

2 22.1 13.1 1294 768 12.5 8.75

3 22.1 13.1 1294 768 13.0 8.50

4 22.1 13.1 1294 768 13.5 8.25

5 22.1 13.1 1294 768 14.0 8.00

6 16.6 9.8 971 576 12.0 9.00

7 16.6 9.8 971 576 12.5 8.75

8 16.6 9.8 971 576 13.0 8.50

9 16.6 9.8 971 576 13.5 8.25

10 16.6 9.8 971 576 14.0 8.00

11 27.7 16.4 1618 960 12.0 9.00

12 27.7 16.4 1618 960 12.5 8.75

13 27.7 16.4 1618 960 13.0 8.50

UDL PNT Clear Span

Group

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Brief for Coursework – Group Report Rev 0

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5. Mark Scheme

Aspect
Percentage of

total marks
available

Clarity and quality of written information:
Summary.
Discussion:

Critical comparison and evaluation of the options.
Critical comparison and evaluation of the calculations.

(20 overall)
6

7
7

Clarity and accuracy of graphical information and calculations:
Drawings of the proposed solution for each option.
BMD, SFD, AFD, deflection diagrams (annotated with values).
Hand calculations.
Explanation and results of Excel calculations.

(25 overall)
4
7
7
7

Effective use of analysis software:
Clear explanation of analysis models, e.g. geometry, loads,
sections, materials.
Validity of model for each option.
(Note: Results are marked above.)

(20 overall)
5

15

Benefits and viability of Option 4:
Benefits over options 1-3.
Viability of option 4.

(15 overall)
7
8

Overall quality of the report.
See ARU civil engineering report writing guidance document.

20