Keith Evan Green, RA, PhD

Standard Code for Fire Egress

Required exits shall provide continuous and uninterrupted means of egress form one story to another and to an outside exit. The distance from a point in a floor to a vertical exit, a horizontal exit or an outside exit measured along the line of travel will not exceed 150 feet. The maximum travel distance to an exit from the end of a corridor shall not be more than 20 feet. All stairs and corridors required as exits shall be not less than forty-four inches in width.

Common building bay sizes

20x20, 20x40, 30x30 (or close to these, such as 18 x 36, 24 square, ) For example, a 30x30 bay is comprised of columns which are 20 square in plan with a concrete slab, 13 thick. The slab can be as little as 8 thick if it is post-tensioned in two directions (2-way post-tensioned). The slab thickness as well as the dimensions of the cross-section (plan) of the column can also be reduced with the addition of a drop panel (square portion of concrete at interface of slab and column, as shown here), but it is more difficult to get the mechanical equipment to fit. Recognize that, with a free plan and with curtain wall technologies, your walls do not need to fall on column lines but can "dance" between them. As well, if you calculate that you do not need a full bay along the face of your building (or, you will otherwise waste space), then you can have a smaller bay size in one dimension for that bay. For example, at the Sunoco Institute across from Lee Hall, the bay along the front face is not as deep as the bay behind it -- it just doesnt need all that space. In this case, the building might be over-engineered for the smaller bay or the steel beams on the less-deep bay might be of smaller dimensions.

Rules-of-thumb for structural members in concrete construction

1. Beams: a. Overall depth of beams = span /5 b. With of beams = depth/2 2. Columns: a. Minimum dimension is 8 on a side b. Cross sectional area in square inches = load (in psi)/1000 3a. Floor structures / Slabs without joist ribs (i.e. flat slabs; common in multi-family housing): a. Slabs spanning up to 12 in the direction of the deflection. b. Thickness of the slab = span/20

- OR a. Slabs spanning up to 24x 24 (i.e. 576 sq. ft.) b. Thickness of the slab = span/30 3b. Floor structures / Slabs with one-way joist ribs: a. slabs spanning from 12 to 30 in the direction of the deflection. b. good for oblong bays c. overall depth of slab plus joist ribs = span/20 + 2 d. common spacing of 20 and 30 between ribs e. joists commonly have a width of 5 to 9 3c. Floor structures / Two-way spans: a. Waffle slabs are used for 24 to 50 in the large dimension (maximum of 2500 sq. ft.) b. Overall thickness of slab and joist rib = span/30 + 2 c. Rectangular modules have common linear dimensions of 2,3, 4, & 5 > helpful website: www.concreteonline.com

Rules of Thumb for Steel Construction

Depth (in inches) of Roof Beams and Joists = 0.5 x Length Depth (in inches) of Floor Beams and Floor Joists = 0.6 x Length Hinge or splice location for cantilever or continuous roof systems is 15% to 25% of span length

Rules of Thumb for Joists

Floor joist thickness vs. span info from joist manufacturers: http://www.trulinetruss.com/html/floor_span_tables_-_ijoist.htm http://www.trimjoist.com/spans.html http://www.ufpi.com/PRODUCT/oj/prod/faq.htm

Rules of Thumb for Block Wall

A non-shared block wall is 3 5/8 brick + 1 air + 1 - 2 rigid insulation + 7 5/8 CMU block + 1 airspace and drywall channel + drywall = 15 16 total wall thickness from outside to inside. More info on block wall construction: http://www.maconline.org/tech/design/thinksystems/thinksystems.html http://faculty.delhi.edu/hultendc/A220-Week2-Lecture-Web.html http://faculty.delhi.edu/hultendc/ARCH220-Main.htm