Journal

Ensuring Material Performance Meets Design

Warwick Banks, Associate Director, Holmes Consulting Group, Auckland, New Zealand

Underpinning any structural design is the assumption that the material chosen has the structural performance called up in the actual design. As designers, we are commonly asked to span greater distances, carry greater loads in an effort to produce economic designs. An example of this is the specifically designed multi-storey apartment buildings where the axial load capacities of the wall-framing studs are being pushed to their limits. It is in these circumstances where the assumption about the material becomes more and more critical. Client expectations can also be quite demanding and the threat of legal action bought on a structure performing outside the customer’s expectation is very real.

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