Fundamentals
Earth Pressure Loads on Basement Walls
Earth pressure depends on whether the wall can move, not on what it looks like. At-rest versus active, water as its own case, surcharge, and uplift.
Elena Marchetti··10 min
Load paths
Crane and Hoist Loads on Building Structures
A crane never loads a building the way its tonnage suggests. Wheel reactions, hoisting impact, lateral surge, and where each lands in a column takedown.
Sam Rivera··10 min
Load paths
Slab Openings and Tributary Area
An opening redirects load, it does not delete it. Trimming beam reactions, punching shear near columns, repeating voids, and the conservation check.
Elena Marchetti··11 min
Workflow & tools
Beam Self-Weight Allowance in Load Takedowns, Closed Out
Guess, size, replace, confirm: how beam self-weight enters a takedown, the junction double-count that biases frames, and why the skeleton is 15-30 percent.
Elena Marchetti··10 min
Fundamentals
Facade and Cladding Loads on Edge Beams, Made Explicit
Curtain wall or precast, the facade is an eccentric line load with a strict deflection contract. How cladding weight, torsion, and wind load the edge members.
Elena Marchetti··10 min
Fundamentals
Pattern Live Loading Explained: Where Loads Hurt Most
Full loading is not the worst case on continuous structures. Alternate spans, checkerboards, and see-saw cases: what pattern loading is and when it governs.
Elena Marchetti··10 min
Fundamentals
Continuous Beam Reaction Factors: Why Interiors Run Heavy
Continuity moves an eighth of the load inward: 1.25 wL at a two-span centre, 1.1 over three. The factors, their limits, and what they change in a takedown.
Elena Marchetti··10 min
Workflow & tools
Load Takedown for a Vertical Extension, Run Twice
Adding storeys is a takedown run twice: existing loads versus found reserves, new storeys versus old footings. The workflow that decides what a building buys.
Elena Marchetti··10 min
Fundamentals
Parking Garage Live Loads: Light Average, Heavy Details
Garages design for less than offices, honestly. Where the 1.9-2.5 kPa rate comes from, and why wheels, barriers, plow piles, and fire trucks govern anyway.
Elena Marchetti··10 min
Fundamentals
Warehouse Racking and Storage Live Loads, Done Honestly
Storage loads are real: 6-12 kPa classes, 20-150 kN rack posts, 55 kN forklift axles. How to design warehouse floors for concentrations, not averages.
Elena Marchetti··10 min
Fundamentals
Rooftop Mechanical Unit Loads: Weigh It Wet, Land It Right
RTUs, AHUs, and chillers load roofs as point loads at operating weight, with drift and wind riding along. Why the 1.5 kPa allowance describes no real member.
Elena Marchetti··10 min
Fundamentals
Solar Panel Roof Loads: Ballast, Uplift, and the Real Map
Panels add 0.1-0.25 kPa; ballast can add ten times that at a corner. How solar arrays load a roof through weight, wind, snow drift, and point loads at the feet.
Elena Marchetti··10 min