Assessment Of Steel Portal Framed Building Construction

To complete this assessment you will need to find a wide span, steel portal framed building, either under construction or completed, and present an information report covering the items detailed below. 

This report will require planning and time to gather the relevant information and present it to an industry standard, a standard you would present to a client that would have your building organisation viewed in a professional light.

Obviously if you follow a building from start to finish this assessment will take some time to complete, so it is expected you may supplement your selection of building site with images accessed from the internet. If you do adopt this option, the images you collect must be consistent with the building used in the body of your report. For example, don’t include the detail of a simple strip footing when the building is a large wide span industrial building. Similarly, don’t include a pad footing when none are required on the project. 

You are reminded of the WorkCover Authority requirement to have completed an approved National OHS Construction Induction Training course including the unit of competency CPCCOHS1001A – Work safely in the construction industry, generally referred to as the “white card” before entering a building or construction site. This does not apply to completed buildings. 

The structure of your report is detailed below. Your report should include graphics, (photos or sketches), wherever possible and include appropriate comment to explain the construction detail and view. 

Footing system

• Investigate and describe the soil type/foundation typical of the area 

• Detail 2 footing systems that could be used in these conditions and you believe would be most appropriate for the building and foundation. Describe the footing systems using text and simple sketches. 

• Provide photographs or sketches of the detail at the column bases. Describe the arrangement between column, footing and floor.

Structural system

• Present photographs and descriptions of the structural framework 

• Using simple sketches, describe how the frame supports the load of the building. How is the wind load being resisted? Detail the types of connections utilised between the structural members eg rafter and column, and explain how they contribute to the stability of the frame

Floor system

• Describe with the aid of photographs or sketches the floor system that has been used. 

• Detail the joints used in the flooring system. Explain the purpose of each type of 

• Explain how the floor is finished. If the finish is not a proprietary product, nominate one which would be appropriate for this building. Describe its installation/application and purpose.

Wall system 

• Provide photographs of the wall framing, connection details, cladding and bracing elements. 

• Outline the sequence of tasks that details the process of erection of the structural wall system and cladding. Note these may be one and the same. 

• Explain, by the use of sketches, how the bracing elements perform their task of resisting wind loads in two perpendicular directions; eg. On the front or back of the building and on the sides of the building.

Services 

• Investigate how the building/building area controls stormwater. Describe the overall concept and report on guttering, downpipes, pipes, tanks, ‘ponding’ areas and detention/retention tanks. 

• Detail the services supplied to the building. Show using photographs the connections for, power, water, gas, fire communications etc. 

• Detail the active and passive fire detection and prevention systems in use. Describe their installation and their functions.

Roof system 

• Identify the structural roof system. Show photographs and describe the components. 

• Indicate the structural member on a roof plan sketch. Clearly identify the roof bracing elements. 

• Indicate the type of roof cladding used. Research and provide information on the type of cladding including span tables, connection and support details.Sketch the gutter detail for the building and include any relevant/necessary flashings to prevent the entry of water into the building.

Note

Your report should address all the above points and be appropriately formatted. Keep your responses concise and each section should be about 2 to 3 pages long. The following rules apply to all assessment submissions including this assessment. 

Rules for Assessment Presentation

Your assessment should be presented in the following order:

1. Results Slip
2. Title Page
3. Contents Page
4. Assessment
5. Bibliography 

Your assessment should have the following formatting:

• Font - Times New Roman 12 point
• 5 Spacing
• Standard margins
• In the footer Pagination, ie, page x of y 

The Title Page must contain:

• Your name
• Your OTEN number
• Competency name and number
• Assessment number

All work where appropriate shall be submitted on A4 paper or submitted online as a word or pdf document.

Each assessment should be submitted separately.

Wherever possible, use should be made of diagrams and sketches.  Drawings larger than A4 can be included and folded into the report. 

Things NOT to do

• Do not use plastic sleeves/envelopes for anything other than photographs or diagrams.
• Do not plagiarise – produce your own work in your own words and you will benefit from the exercise.
• If you include web downloads to supplement your work, you must acknowledge the source adjacent the download. The use of downloads should be minimal and only used as a last resort.

Structural Connections

Foundation System- The type of foundation footing used in the structure is pier foundation footing system. A pier foundation is composed of numerous cylindrical columns that have large diameters and are used in the support of the superstructure as well as in the transfer of the super imposed loads to the stable and firm strata below. Pier foundation stands some feet above the ground level and is also known as post foundation. Masonry or concrete pier and drilled caissons are the main type of pier foundation footing commonly used. In the above pictures, the former foundation footing system has been adopted. Masonry or concrete piers are usable depending on the stratum level and in most cases used go as high as 5m in which masonry piers are used. The depth of the bed and the nature of the soil determine the shape and size of the pier (Fred Hall, 2017).

Structural Systems

The structural connections create a balance in the building structure against such forces as compressive and tensional forces. The structural connections as well aid in the facilitation of the transfer of the load from the super structure to the stable stratum below. Column to footing connections facilitate the transfer of the load from the ground floor level through the columns into the foundation where the load is distributed over the foundation. Beam to column footing facilitates the transfer of large super imposed loads from the upper floors through the columns to the stable stratum. Floor systems

The floor system used in the lower levels of the building is reinforced concrete floors. Concrete floor systems exist in various forms and are used in the provision of thermal comfort as well as other advantages. The floor systems can be either on-ground, suspended or a combination of both. Conventional concrete is found to be containing high amount of embodied energy. From the provided pictures of middle rise building, the upper levels have on-ground concrete floor system. Slab-on-ground concrete floors have two variants: waffle pod slabs and conventional slabs having deep excavated beams (Gambhir, 2014).Construction sequence of on-ground concrete slab

• Planning how to place the concrete
• Preparing the ground
• Fixing the edge formwork
• Installing service pipes
• Laying concrete underlay
• Fixing steel reinforcement in the beams
• Fixing steel reinforcement in the slabs
• Placing and compacting the concrete
• Finishing the slab surface
• Curing the concrete slab

There will be two layers of reinforcement in the floors: reinforcement in the beams and reinforcement in the slabs. The beams are used in the transfer of the dead load of concrete slab to the columns while the slabs will be used in transferring and supporting both live and dead loads. The live loads will be those of the occupants of the building while dead load will be of such equipment as furniture and the load of the concrete slab itself (Fred Hall, 2017).

Floor Systems

The bar tags are used for identification of the various steel bars. They provide information on the properties of the steel. Among the available information on the tags, include the number of pieces of the bars in the shipment of the rebar, the various bent bar dimensions, the total weight and bar markings.

Wall SystemsThe sequence of tasks that detail the process of erection of the structural wall system and cladding

• Establishment of the suitability of the foundations and safety for erection to begin
• Lifting and placement of the various components into position, through the use of often cranes or may be jacking at some other times. This is done in a bid to ensure the components are secured in position in which bolted connections will be made. These components will not be tightened fully.
• Alignment of the structure which is done through doing a check to ensure that the column bases are properly aligned and in the right levels and that the columns are plumb. Changes of the packing in the beam-to-column connections may be required to enable adjustments to the column plumb
• Bolting of the connection which would involve achieving stability and security as well as the rigidity of the frame

How bracing elements perform their task of resisting wind loads in two perpendicular directions Due to them being economic to construct and simplicity in analysis, braced frames have become a common form in the construction industry. Bracing is used in the provision of resistance to lateral loads and stability and may come in the form of a diagonal steel member or even from a concrete ore. Beams and columns are designed to be under the influence of vertical loads only in braced construction and the assumption made is that the bracing system is able to successfully carry the lateral loads. Roof System

A gabled roof system would be the most appropriate for the bunner warehouse due to its size. A large percentage of the roof is covered using composite profile metal sheets that have colored external skin. The composite sheets have about 50mm of insulation that is sandwiched between two thin sheets of aluminium or metal. 

 Services

Storm water is controlled using open drainage channels and gutters. The gutters are placed at the roof deck where they collect rainwater that falls on the roof of the building, which is then further channeled by downpipes into the various drainage channels that are positioned with consideration given to the slope of the site (Hawkins, 2016).Quality

The building has class 3-concrete finish in which in as much as visual appeal is important, less of it is attached to architectural importance. The interior of the building is finish on 3-coats of vinyl paint while the exterior has natural stone cladding (Gambhir, 2014).

The use of clean formwork ensures elimination of impurities such as dust and chemicals, which would interfere with the final properties of the concrete achieved. The use of unclean formwork may result into dry concrete not attaining the required compressive strength.

The relevant Australian Standards to concrete finishes are:

• AS 3610
• AS 36005; and
• nATSPec6

Concrete finishes are categorized into Finishes 1, 2, 3 and 4 which are dependent on the type of finish and texture of the formwork. 

References

Fred Hall, R. G. (2017). Building Services Handbook. London: aylor & Francis.

Gambhir. (2014). Building and Construction Materials. New York: McGraw Hill Education (India) Pvt Ltd.

Hawkins, E. (2016). Basic Building and Construction Skills. London: Cengage AU.