Glen Waverley Medical Consulting Suite

The Glen Waverley Medical Consulting Suite is still under construction. It has two levels. The ground level is made from pre-cast concrete panels while the top story is constructed mostly from steel structral memebers.

The roofs structural members are fixed to the concrete panels using chemset bolts. All bolt/fixing locations have been co-ordinated off site. Shop drawings have been created by the fabricator which have been reviewed by the engineer and architect. Once amendments have been made (if necessary) the fabricator begins the fabrication process.

The feet of the brace are held into position with bolts. When it time to remove the bracing (when the concrete panel is stabilised by other memerbs around it), the bolt will be removed and the hole can be filled with cement.

Bracing is used to support the column until other structural members around it have been installed and the panel is stable.

Cast in the concrete is an eye-bolt which is used as a point for the crane to lift the concrete panel. There will be at least two eye-bolts so that the concrete panel is stable during the lifting process.

The bolt projecting from the wall is used as a fixing point for the brace which is used to hold the panel in position during construction.

Purlins are braced at right angels keeping them from over turning and to reduce the effects of lateral forces. Rods of 20mm diameter are also use to reduce the effect of these forces and carry loads to the load bearing members. Again for safety purposes, mesh is installed above the purlins which stops workers from falling through the roof members onto the ground/floor below.

Pre-cast concrete panels are used on the ground floor. The panels are constructed off site and delivered to site on a truck. Panels are manufactured by laying reinformcement in a mould followed by the concrete (concrete MPa will depend on function).

Panels are lifted off the truck with the use of a crane/mobile crane.

When designed the size and location of mullions, panel legs and spandrels need to be considered both for structural purposes and transportation and lifting stresses.

An opening still remains between the two large concrete panels which start at ground level and finish at roof height. These panels are still fixed using braces as they are not fixed in position by surrounding members.

AXA / Grocon Site

I visited the AXA project which is being constructed by Grocon Constructors.
The top floor where the plant room is located is still under construction. The services on the roof are to be housed in a portal frame type structure. Concrete slabs where being installed as well as the structural elements for the frame.

Concrete is being poured to form a slab. In this photo the void barrier can be seen as well as the reinforment which is sitting on reinforment chairs. The concrete is currently beng placed and will be poured to the level of the surrounding formwork. The process of installing the slab is in this order.

This slab itself is actually a floating slab and has metal casting mounts with rubber inside (the red mounts in photo). Bolts are screwed through the metal casting into the rubber mount which then raises the slab.

Services such as generators, chillers, pumps are positioned on top of the floating floor. Having the floor raised on rubber mounts eliminates sound travelling through the building. Floating floors are used when acousitc solutions to vibration are required.

Here the slab is still being poured. Shovels are used to move the concrete around and a worker uses a piece of timber to smooth out the concrete.

The beam of this structure has cleats and brackets welded to it. These have been done off-site during the fabrication process. Other structural elements will be bolted to these brackets.

This UC column is welded to a base plate which is then fixed to a pad. Around this is 'ableflex' which is a type of material used to create isolation and construction joints. The joint created reduces/eliminates cracking. The bolts which are use to fix the column to the pad have been cast-in and are referred to as hold-down bolts.

A purlin is shown which is fixed to the top of the rafters with the use of cleats. The cleats are welded to the rafters and bolted to the purlins. Safety mesh is placed on top of the purlins.

Between the purlins are braces which help when lateral forces are applied to the roof structure.

Rods are used in the roofing structure to help make it secure when lateral forces are applied.

Where the rafter is joined a bolted splice is used. A web cleat is used to join the member.

The column and beam are joined to each other using bolts. The bolts are inserted through the plate that has been welded to the column and then through the flange of the beam.

The gap between the base plate and pad base is filled with grout. The grout is made on site and is installed usig a hand trowel.

Hold-down bolts are cast in the concrete. They pretrude long enough to take into account for the space between the concrete and base plate, the thickness of the base plate and then thickness of the bolts.

Between the base plate and the pad (plinth in this case) is a space due to the use of packers (small peices of metal used to raise the column of the pad/plinth). Using packers allows the column to to be tightened more on each bolt to level and plumb them up. Without the use of packers it would be very difficult to plumb and level columns.

Structural members are lifted with the use of a crane. Workers use scissor lifts to help position the members so that brackets and holes line up ready to be bolted together.

The steel structure which have been fabricated can be erected by the fabricators steel workers or the building may decide to have his own workers erect the structure.

Building and Construction Links

The following list consists of links for builders, architects, material suppliers and manufacturers in the construction industry:

www.multiplex.com.au
www.grocon.com.au
www.salta.com.au
www.onesteel.com
www.bh.com.au
www.boralbricks.com.au
www.moenglass.com.au
www.stilcon.com.au
www.waa.net.au
www.bonaccigroup.com
www.hansenyuncken.com.au

Bovis Lend Lease, C3 C4 Site Visit

This site is located in the Docklands. It is a commercial site that will have a number of different tenants.

Concrete tilt-up panels have been lifted by a mobile crane into position. Chemset bolts have been installed in the concrete panel and slab. A strut or temporary brace is fixed to the slab and wall until other structural elements have been installed and the wall can safely be unbraced.

Chemset bolts nuts are removed followed by the brace. The remaining bolt in the slab can be hit with a hammer so that it dissapears into the slab and later the hole can filled with concrete.

Formwork is used to shape and mould the concrete to the desired shape. When the concrete has reached th MPa specified by the structural engineer the formwork can be removed.

This formwork has a plywood face to make the concrete finish smooth. A top and bottom kicker with studs in between have also been used. A brace has also been used to help resist pressure from the concrete. The underside of the formwork consists of a bearer which supports a joist and joist which suports the plywoof base.

Reinforcement for the slab has been installed by steel workers. Vertical bars are also in place awaiting the installation of the columns.

The lift shaft or core of this building is erected first. The core is used to stiffen the struture and all floors will be fixed to it.

Different types of formwork can be used to form slabs. In this case bond-deck has been used.The fromwork below will be removed and the bond deck will be visible from underneath.

Plywood formwork is used to shape the slab. The void barier and steel mesh have been placed in position. Steel for the columns have been put in place. Vertical bars have been positioned so when the slab has been poured they will remain exposed ready for the column concrete and reinforced steel to be installed to create the round column.

Construction Process Selected

The above detail from Bonacci Group is the construction process which I have selected for the major assignment. It shows a universal column with base plate attached to a pad which is located on the perimeter wall of the warehouse. It also shows the slab and reinforcement method that would be used. My model and poster are based on this detail.

Structrual Engineers Drawings

The Structural drawing from Bonacci Group shows typical sections.
Slab thicknesses and different reinforcement details are shown.

Fabricators Shop Drawings

This Shop Drawing from Stilcon Holdings P/L shows a universal column with base plate.
Bolt sizes, connection plates, welding techniques and coating details are are all given.