Major project research / construction

Main Project Research

For my main project I will be showing a common pad footing similar to the one shown below and how it is connected to the column of a building. I will be using some real materials and some substitutes where necessary eg: foam instead of actual concrete for the base.

A very brief sketh undertaken before constructing my model to put my ideas into a visual format is seen above. Below we see step by step pictures of the model i have created, showing how a steel column is connected to the footing. The trench mesh is still visable and would of been in place before the concrete was poured. We can also see the steel reinforcement bars that help strengthen the footing and help protect it under tension forces as well as the steel rods that have nuts attached so as the steel columns level can be adjusted until its even. Finaly we see a small section of what would be a concrete slab coming off the edge of the I beam.

Foam cut to size before its glued together


Glued together


Timber to be used as a replacement for a ub column. Cut to size

Deformed bar and steel reinforcement bars that are to be used in the model

The foam used to replace actual concrete has been painted to give as much of a realistic feel as possible. Also holes have been drilled for the reinforcement (this is obviously not the process used in making a real footing however it is effective for this model).

The timber has been nailed and glued to mimic a ub colum.

Timber has been painted

Deformed bar is then glued into pre-drilled holes in the top of the footing. These bars also act as hold down pins.

The reinforcement is pushed into place and the steel mesh is placed on top. In a real life situation however the mesh would be there before the concrete pour.

The timber is attached to the footing

Another view of the attached column

A birds eye view where we can see the nuts and washers holding the column in place

A couple of close ups of the bolts. This shows us how the builders are able to move the nuts up and down the threaded rod until the base plate is perfectly level.

The completed model with a small section of what would be a concrete slab attached to the column.

Construction Article #1

Article #1: BHP files with EU for Rio takeover

BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining group, has formally filed with the European Commission for clearance to take over rival Rio Tinto, a Commission list of M&A cases shows.The Commission, the European Union's executive arm and also its antitrust regulator, set a deadline of July 4 for consideration of the deal.By that date the Commission must either approve the deal on competition grounds, open an in-depth investigation, or permit a short extension.Rio Tinto spurned BHP's all-share offer, currently worth more than $US180 billion ($188 billion), shortly after BHP announced it on February 6. The filing was delayed for months during pre-filing talks with the European Commission.
Analysts say the most contentious area is likely to be iron ore, since the combined firm would control around a third of seaborne trade in the raw material for making steel.EU steel firms have vowed to fight the merger, worried a combined group would have undue pricing power over iron ore, contract prices of which have recently increased."We cannot believe that the Commission will authorise the merger of two of three mining companies which are dominating almost 75% of the world market for seaborne iron ore,'' said Gordon Moffat, director general of EUROFER, the European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries, on Friday.Mr Moffat said Vale is the largest company with one third of the market, and the combined BHP-Rio would have nearly 40% of the seaborne iron ore market."This is not in the interest of the European steel industry'', he said.BHP's bid is a prominent example of a trend in the past few years for metals and mining industry groups to buy running operations rather than start one from scratch.There has also been repeated speculation by analysts that resource-hungry China would put money into BHP as a hedge against rising commodity prices.In the meantime, Rio Tinto has continued to forge ahead with new projects, including the exploitation of the world's next giant iron ore deposit in the company's Simandou project in Guinea.Rio has also moved in to the large gold-copper Oyu Tolgoi deposit in Mongolia by teaming up with Canadian exploration firm Ivanhoe.

Analysis:
This article was published in the age on May 31st and explains how companies BHP and EU have filed to takeover Rio Tinto. The takeover must wait to be approved by commission so to justify it in terms of fair competition in the field of manufacturing steel products, as other companies in the industry are extremely worried about the combined power of the companies leading to price fixing. With so much power in the industry the combined companies could corner the market meaning after they ran smaller companies out of business they could basically charge whatever they wanted knowing that anyone wanting to use steel in their construction would have to pay their inflated prices. ."We cannot believe that the Commission will authorise the merger of two of three mining companies which are dominating almost 75% of the world market for seaborne iron ore,'' said Gordon Moffat, director general of EUROFER. This quote shows the viewpoint of the other companies in the market and it is quite a strong point as it shows that the market will no longer have its competetive nature. This could be a huge blow in terms of construction costs as if the merger is able to go through steel prices will more than likely skyrocket leaving consumers to pay the price.

Completed building visit 1 - Bunnings Warehouse

Bunning's Warehouse
10 School Rd (cnr Geelong rd), Corio, 3214

This is a perfect example of how portal frame buildings can be used, and is a great choice by the Bunnings company. The best part of using a portal frame in this situation is firstly the shear size that can be built at relitively lower costs than other forms of construction. Secondly, the fact that intrusive supporting colums are not needed means Bunnings can have a big wide open space for their products, as all of the dead loads in the building are diverted to the footings. The main material used in the exterior of the Warehouses is light aluminium. However pre cast concrete panels are used around the perimeter as a base, about 2-3m high.

An overall shot of the Bunning's Warehouse in Corio.

A close up of the pre cast panels previously mentioned. This helps to stop any major destruction that would ruin the aluminium if it went right to the ground.

A long shot showing how portal frames can provide large spaces with no supporting columns. Also we can see cross-bracing is used in this section for extra support on the roof.

Here we see how the bracing is connected to one of the long span beams.

This shows one of the supporting columns at the wall and how it is connected to a beam that supplies support for the wall helping it to keep its shape.

Finally here we can see how the light is connected to one of the many supporting beams, which is then directed to the main power source. We can also see the insulation and safety mesh on the roof.