Welcome to Benjamin Borden's AE Senior Thesis e-Portfolio
Technical Assignments
| Original Proposal | Revised Proposal |
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| Original Proposal Submitted December 14, 2012 | Proposal After Revision Submitted January 11, 2013 |
Structural Depth
The proposed thesis is to move the Mountain Hotel to San Francisco, California and redesign it using a two-way flat-plate reinforced concrete system. Changing the construction medium to concrete will require a complete overhaul of the Hotel's gravity and lateral force resisting systems. Rectangular reinforced concrete columns will carry the load of the existing cold-formed load bearing walls, while reinforced concrete shear walls will replace the flat strap bracing. Locations of columns and shear walls must coordinate with the existing building layout. The conversion to concrete will significantly increase the mass and orientation of the structure leading to a redesign of the foundation system.
The new structure for the Mountain Hotel will be designed for Immediate Occupancy (S-1) as defined by ASCE 41 drift and damage criteria taken from FEMA 356. Key components of the structure will also be designed only for Life Safety (S-3) in order to create a basis for comparison.
Breadth 1: Acoustics - Sound Isolation
The first breadth topic will be to look at a single hotel room and study the impact of the change in structural material to concrete, to see if the sound isolation has become an issue. If sound isolation is a problem then the walls and floors will be designed to reduce it to proper levels.
Breadth 2: Mechanical - Facade Study
The second breadth topic will evaluate the added thermal load by transmission through the glazing as a result of moving the Mountain Hotel to San Francisco. If the difference is significant, new glazing will be chosen to reduce the thermal load to that of the buildings original location. The new glazing will be designed to ASCE 41 standards for Immediate Occupancy (N-B) in order to supplement the depth design taken from FEMA 356.
Graduate Course Integration
When looking at the lateral system in ETABS advanced modeling techniques will be used to gain more accurate results. The models will use rigid and semi-rigid diaphragms. Shear walls will be modeled using area elements, and columns will be modeled using line elements. The lateral force analysis will consider inherent torsion, accidental torsion, and P-Delta effects.
AE 538 – Earthquake Resistant Design will be relied on heavily for this study, as the design of concrete structures for seismic applications was first taught in this class. Design for immediate occupancy was also introduced here.