Structures + Buildings

ARLINGTON, Mass. – In the past year, Infrasense has completed multiple nondestructive surveys of Massachusetts culverts to determine the as-built conditions used in the calculation of structural load capacities. In 1988 the Federal Highway Administration expanded a nationwide bridge inspection program to further require that each structure be rated to determine safe load capacity.

TORONTO, ONTARIO — Halcrow Yolles recently welcomed two new senior additions to the leadership team of its building structures practice — senior principal, David Bannister, and senior associate, Ken Sissakis.

WEST LAFAYETTE, IND. — Civil engineers studying the effects of Haiti's devastating earthquake have concluded that a relatively simple system could be used by officials to quickly decide how to modify existing buildings and construct new ones that would better withstand future quakes.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), in cooperation with the Wei-Wen Yu Center for Cold-Formed Steel Structures at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (formerly the University of Missouri-Rolla), will co-sponsor of the 20th International Specialty Conference on Cold-Formed Steel Structures 2010.

CHICAGO — Halcrow Yolles has hired A.J. (Al) Baysek as principal, building structures, at the company’s Chicago office. With over 37 years of experience in the building design and construction industry, Baysek will be instrumental in the firm’s growth in the Chicago area and will make a valuable contribution to business development across the United States.

IJBRC — The International Joints & Bearings Research Council (IJBRC) has announced that it is soliciting papers for the 7th World Congress on Joints, Bearings and Seismic Systems for Concrete Structures.

DALLAS — Civil Structures, Inc., a Dallas-based bridge and highway design firm was acquired by STV. The new group, now called STV/Civil Structures will continue to operate in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and become part of STV’s Transportation & Infrastructure Division.

The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) has completed tests of a large-scale, three-story precast concrete parking structure and has begun using the results to create standards that can be incorporated into building-code requirements. The tests, completed in August at the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES)/Englekirk Structural Engineering Center in San Diego, Calif., are part of the final year’s work on a 5-year, $2-million-plus research program to improve industry standards for the design and construction of diaphragms used with precast, prestressed concrete components.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking comments on its proposed guidelines to control the discharge of pollutants from construction sites. The proposal would require all construction sites to implement erosion and sediment control best management practices to reduce pollutants in stormwater discharges. In addition, for certain large sites located in areas of the country with high rainfall intensity and soils with a high clay content, stormwater discharges from a construction site would be required to meet a numeric limit on the allowable level of turbidity.