shaun m. kreidel  
structural option
school without walls
washington, d.c.
This is a student-generated Capstone Project e-Portfolio (CPEP) produced in conjunction with the AE Senior Thesis e-Studio.

Thesis Proposal

Depth Study:

Currently, the School Without Walls project calls for a floor system calls that requires beams which range from W10 to W30 sections.  With the addition of a 5 ¼” decking system, the total floor depth amounts to 30 ¼”.  A larger clearance between the ceiling and the floor system above would create an easier coordination of the electrical and mechanical systems in the building. 

After completing the three technical reports and further investigating the building, a concrete floor system appears to be a viable alternative to the composite steel floor system which is currently in place. The proposed thesis will investigate altering the current floor to a concrete system using post-tensioned beams and a reinforced slab.  This proposed floor system will limit the total floor depth and reduce deflections.  Concrete columns will be designed as part of this system and replace the current steel columns. 

Shear walls will replace the current steel braced frames and will be utilized in order to resist lateral loads.  Because of the significant increase in total building weight, the foundations must be investigated.

Construction Management Breadth:

Because the building is being altered from a primarily steel structure to a concrete building, the cost and schedule will be greatly affected.  A cost and schedule comparison to the existing structure will be made to determine the effectiveness and feasibility of the change made from steel to concrete.  The cost estimating computer program ICE and RS Means will be used to aid in determining the cost of the altered structure.  Microsoft project will be used to create and display the altered schedule.

Architectural Breadth:

After speaking with the construction manager on the School Without Walls project, he mentioned that when updating the mechanical system in the existing portion of the school, problems occurred because the ceiling was attached to the wood joists above.  This architectural breadth will involve dropping the ceiling to allow for more MEP clearance.  The effect of this to the classrooms will be analyzed and modeled in REVIT.  If this architectural change proves not to affect the overall appearance to the room, the constructability of the MEP system could be greatly simplified.

 

A copy of the full proposal can be viewed here.

A copy of the updated proposal, posted on 1/15/2010, can be viewed here.

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This Page was last updated on January 15, 2010 , By Student Name and is hosted by the AE Department ©2005