Description
CASTINGS 202: Custom Castings - Design and Specification Principles for Architectural and Structural Practitioners
The use of steel castings in the design and construction of building and bridge structures is a fast-growing trend in the United States as casting manufacturing offers unparalleled geometric freedom in structural steel. As such, cast steel components are often used to address challenges in design and construction that would otherwise be very difficult to tackle using conventional steel fabrication. This presentation will describe the casting manufacturing process and instruct as to how that process informs good casting design. It will illustrate examples in which castings improve structural performance and efficiency of connections and overall structural systems. Tips will be provided to assist in the incorporating castings into structural analysis models and appropriate specification of castings in contract documents.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
- Identify and recognize opportunities for steel casting use in critical structural steel connections to improve structural performance and to improve the constructability of the structural frame or system.
- Explain how castings are manufactured and the associated constraints that drive casting design and explain how the structural properties of castings can be used to improve the performance (strength, stiffness, fatigue, safety) of structural steel connections.
- Incorporate cast steel components into frame analysis models of structural systems to realize the overall structural performance benefits and the related tonnage savings afforded through the use of cast steel components.
- Create a specification for project-specific castings that successfully communicates design criteria to casting suppliers such that the casting products delivered to the project can safely and efficiently carry structural loads.
