Can any engineers explain this structural design?

[Hammerhead]

pic

rendition of the completed project:
pic

 

[IEC]

Load bearing?

 

[jlee]

Looks to me like the same lines follow all across those two floors.

 

[LordMorpheus]

it looks like the corner near the camera has the same "lean in" of the column. It's not the structural engineer's design. You're looking for the architect. Looks like there is a reduction in floor size at that level, because the architect said so.

 

[BoomerD]

I'm no structural engineer...but I have put up lots of structural steel buildings...that just doesn't LOOK right.

I can't imagine that the column gets the proper structural strength at that kind of angle.

I'd think that simply off-setting the columns would be a safer and stronger way to change floor size.

 

[eLiu]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
I'm no structural engineer...but I have put up lots of structural steel buildings...that just doesn't LOOK right.

I can't imagine that the column gets the proper structural strength at that kind of angle.

I'd think that simply off-setting the columns would be a safer and stronger way to change floor size.

Agree^^

Last time I checked, concrete isn't the best at sustaining shearing loads. So why you would voluntarily create extra shear forces is beyond me.

 

[imported_Imp]

If it was an architectural decision, that's pretty retarded considering how subtle it is. The P-delta effects on that section will be huge, ontop of a pretty big bending moment to what was once an axially-loaded column.

It almost looks like someone screwed up on the layout of the lower or upper floor, and just tried to correct for it.

I'm looking at other columns on the facade, and more than one of thm appear to be off centre. Is this a Chinese building?

 

[skyking]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
I'm no structural engineer...but I have put up lots of structural steel buildings...that just doesn't LOOK right.

I can't imagine that the column gets the proper structural strength at that kind of angle.

I'd think that simply off-setting the columns would be a safer and stronger way to change floor size.

the shear loads will be insignificant for that portion of a single floor. Note the column size, it is unchanged the whole way up. A column that can support 10x won't have any detrimental effects from this design.

 

[Gibson486]

I am an EE, so I all I care about is the room for my conduits and panels. If teh building falls....not my problem...if the building catches fire, though.....

 

[Modular]

It looks to be a design thing. I'm also no engineer, but those columns don't necessarily have to be the ones supporting the load. There might be load bearing support built throughout the middle and inner edges of the structure...

 

[Hammerhead]

Originally posted by: Hammerhead
pic

Here's a picture of what the building is supposed to look like.
pic

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: Modular
It looks to be a design thing. I'm also no engineer, but those columns don't necessarily have to be the ones supporting the load. There might be load bearing support built throughout the middle and inner edges of the structure...

If they weren't, there'd be a cantilevered load on the second column from the corner. Looking at the spacing between columns, I'd be very worried about the floor slabs failing in bending if those corners weren't load bearing.

However, the load on those corners are pretty small (relatively). They only really have to support the distributed load of the floor from half-way between the corner and the second line of columns. I'd probably be more worried about wind load on those columns than anything else. They look the same size as the interior ones, so vertical support is fine.

 

[sciwizam]

Every column on those 2 levels is kinda off center if you look closely, maybe its a feature in the design. Especially the 2nd from the marked portion and the one all the across.

 

[Modelworks]

Or it could be just crappy construction.
I watched a documentary on the hotel in the middle east where they noticed a problem where the building was leaning inward buy about 1 inch per floor on a 100+ floor building. They had to pour the foundation wall out thicker and build out walls as they went up to make the wall perfectly vertical.

Compare it to the other side and you can see on the left the bottom of the column is offset from the floor . On the right the crooked one is level with the floor edge. It looks like someone made that column on the right the same as the one below it, then noticed it was supposed to be offset and they tried to make it fit.

 

[daniel1113]

Just a fairly standard bent column.

 

[Fayd]

Originally posted by: Gibson486
I am an EE, so I all I care about is the room for my conduits and panels. If teh building falls....not my problem...if the building catches fire, though.....

blame the plumbers for not putting in proper fire retardants

 

[gorcorps]

It's not going to be a main load bearing column at the corner of the floor. I don't think it would be a problem.

 

[hiromizu]

Hmm...It looks like a bend in the line.

 

[bonkers325]

if it was designed to be slanted at that angle, it will be fine. that column was probably designed to take gravity loads plus a percentage of eccentric load - moreso if it is on an angle. most likely there is a massive shear wall in the middle of the building that will take all the lateral loads.

you can do lots of cool stuff with concrete, all you have to do is detail it correctly and make sure it works

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

That is an intentional design. Every column on that floor is the same way. The architect may have requested it be done as such, but the structural engineer would have reviewed and designed it as required. Not a big deal. I've seen much more pronounced angles on concrete structures before.

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: eLiu

Originally posted by: BoomerD
I'm no structural engineer...but I have put up lots of structural steel buildings...that just doesn't LOOK right.

I can't imagine that the column gets the proper structural strength at that kind of angle.

I'd think that simply off-setting the columns would be a safer and stronger way to change floor size.

Agree^^

Last time I checked, concrete isn't the best at sustaining shearing loads. So why you would voluntarily create extra shear forces is beyond me.

It's wachovia. It's representative of their business practices.