Designer

Septic Tank Design for an Office Complex

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Septic Tank Design Calculations | Building Construction

In the previous article, we discussed in detail the calculations that are to be carried out for the design of a Septic Tank for 3bhk, 2bhk and 1bhk homes.

In this article, we will move forward with our discussion on the Septic Tank calculations for an Office Complex.

First question that is likely to occur to your mind would be, “How are Septic Tank Design calculations for an Office Complex different from that of a Residence?”

Let us first answer this question before we move forward with the calculations.

Residences are structures which are occupied with families living, eating and sleeping there. Let’s take an example of a person who regularly goes to an office for his job.

Let’s have a look at his Daily schedule:

  • He wakes up in the morning.
  • Takes a bath, uses a toilet.
  • Has his breakfast after which he washes his hands. Apart from him using the services in the house, his family members also use the same.
  • He leaves for his office. After he reaches the office, he wouldn’t take bath which consumes the maximum amount of water which turns into sewage water after use.
  • His usage of toilet and bathroom would be minimum. Hence, it is important to understand the logic behind the Septic tank calculations.

Calculations for an Office Complex with 8000 employees

As per thumb rule;

Quantity of sewage to be considered for an Office Complex is to be calculated on the basis of the capacity of the Office.

Now, we are calculating the Volume for the Septic Tank required for an Office Complex with 8000 employees.

Hence, quantity of sewage to be considered per person should not be less than 20 gallons.

Office Complex = 8000 persons

Total quantity of sewage = 8000*20 = 1,60,000 gallons

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Septic Tank Design Calculations | Building Construction and Design

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How to design a Septic Tank?

A Septic Tank is a small scale sewage treatment system used in areas which have no connection to the main sewage pipes that are provided by the Local governments or private Corporations.

In this article, we will detail out all the calculations that are to be performed to get the required volume of a Septic Tank with the help of examples.

Schematic Diagram of a Septic Tank
Schematic Diagram of a Septic Tank

We would begin with a small scale example so that your concept of Septic tank design is clear.

Here are the thumb rules to be kept in mind which will help you in calculating the volume of a Septic Tank.

For a three bedroom house:

The quantity of sewage considered for a three bedroom house should not be less than 900 gallons.

For a two bedroom House:

The quantity of sewage to be considered for the design of Septic Tank should not be less than 700 gallons.

For one bedroom unit:

The quantity of sewage to be considered for the design of a Septic Tank should not be less than 550 gallons.

Let’s begin with an example of a three bedroom residence.

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Thumb rules for designing a Column layout | Civil Engineering

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Guidelines to be followed for making a column layout

In this article, we will go through the essential thumb rules to be followed for giving a column layout. Of-course columns have to be designed in accordance to the total forces acting on the structure, but apart from that, it is essential for every Civil engineer and Architect to remember a few thumb rules so that they are prevented from making mistakes.

You can hire me for your structural design need. Contact me.

Three thumb rules to be followed are as follows:

  1. Size of the Columns
  2. Distance between Columns
  3. Alignment of columns

Minimum Size of RCC columns

The size of the columns depends on the total load on the columns. There are axial loads and lateral loads. Large beam spans induce bending moment not only in the beams, but also in columns which are pulled by the stresses in the beams. It is important to use advanced structural design software like ETabs or Staad pro. I highly recommend every structural designer learn these software. The thumb rules are for general designing in very small projects.

For this general thumb rule, we will assume a structure of G+1 floors high, using standard 6″ walls.

Minimum size of an RCC column should not be less than 9” x 12” (225mm x 300mm) with 4 bars of 12 MM Fe415 Steel.

These days the minimum I use in my projects is 9″ x 12″ (225 mm x 300mm) with 6 bars of 12 MM Fe500 steel. You can never go wrong with strong columns. I also recommend use of M20 grade concrete for the structure (ratio 1 part Cement : 1.5 parts Sand : 3 parts Aggregate with 0.5 parts water by volume). I recommend use of 8 MM stirrups at a distance of 150 MM center to center throughout the length of column.

This setup of 9″ x 12″ RCC columns is safe for G+1 Floors. There are a lot of other considerations, but this is just a thumb rule.

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Causes of Foundation Damage | Moisture

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Foundation Damage caused due to Moisture absorption

In my earlier articles, we discussed some of the important causes of foundation damage.

Getting a clarity on the subject helps you prevent your structure from further damage or any damage that might happen in future. We have also discussed “how analysis of foundation damage is to be carried out”.

In this article, we will discuss in detail the foundation damage occurring due to Moisture. This element is also responsible for foundation damage and if ignored or left unnoticed can cause severe damage resulting in structural failure.

Types of foundation damage can be classified as follows:

Erosion

  1. Natural rock
  2. Brick

Rot

Insects

Moisture damage

  1. Frost wedging
  2. Salt bloom

Settlement in the ground

  1. Groundwater lowering
  2. Limited bearing capacity of the ground (land)
  3. Excavations performed below the foundations and poor quality of backfill
  4. Increased load on the ground leading to failure
  5. Damage to the neighbouring houses
  6. Increased load
  7. Damage (by removing) to the neighbouring houses
  8. Horizontal movement occurring in the ground

Frost heave/adfreezing

Alum shale

Let us move on with the discussion on damage caused by moisture to the foundations.

Moisture damage

In older buildings, the walls were covered with clay and lime as mortar. These building materials are moisture absorbent. The walls do not undergo severe damage as long as the lime and clay walls are not treated with any other building material.

For example:

In an old building where the plastering has been done using lime and clay suffers from some chipping and damage. This calls for locals repairs which are to be done to maintain the aesthetics of the structure.

Since, cement mortar is a modern material and is available in abundance, the repairs are done with Cement mortar.

Before initiating such tasks, it is to be remembered that the coefficient of expansion of different materials is different. When cement mortar is used as a repair material over lime mortar, due to different moisture absorption properties and coefficient of expansion, the combination does not work very well.

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New Scenario of Building Construction | Technological Advancement

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Architecture and Civil Engineering | Technological Advances

Technology has really changed the world. Architecture and Civil Engineering have developed immensely with developing Technology. It’s amazing how the scenario of the world has changed in just a matter of 50 years.

Amazing Video. Must watch. Gives you the feeling of being proud of being an Architect or a Civil Engineer…!

Do you feel proud for being a Civil Engineer or an Architect??

 Just have a look at how construction technology has done wonders in the field of construction. Engineers and Architects have taken the technological advances pretty well.

I have always seen a conflict between Civil Engineers and Architects. Both of them have their own egos and think one is superior than the other.

I am presenting some of the patent dialogues from a Civil Engineer and an Architect…

Civil Engineer: I am the one who makes a structure stand on the ground successfully.

Architect: All you do is put some steel into the design made by ME. So, I am the creator and the entire credit goes to me.

Civil Engineer: Architects are crazy. They just draw lines and make weird shapes and forms and think that it could be brought into reality. Do  they know how much trouble it is to give a structural design for such a building?

Architect: Civil Engineers always keep cribbing about the rights and wrongs. They should learn to respect creativity. They should be able to respect the designer’s ability to design something unusual and exciting. It is so difficult for them to break away from their routine box designs.

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RCC Building Design and Construction | Structural Design

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Step by step procedure to RCC building design | Design of RCC Structures

A building is composed of various structural components such as Foundations, Plinth beams, Columns, Beams, Slab, Staircase, Doors and Windows.

RCC Building Design
RCC Building Design

Design of Foundation | RCC Building Design

Foundation design is the structural component from where the RCC design is initiated. The foundation design guide discussed earlier includes in detail the design procedure for isolated column footing. Column footing is the most commonly used type of foundation. It serves a variety of different buildings.

  • Design of Foundation – the most commonly used foundation is Column footing.
  • Calculation of loads in Foundation Design Calculation of loads is very important for the purpose of structural design. This article outlines the thumb rules for the calculation of various loads in foundation design.
  • Types of Foundations This is a generic article on different types of foundations. It covers some commonly used shallow foundations and also explains pressure distribution under a foundation.

Design of Beams | RCC Building Design

Beams are mainly classified into two types:

  1. Doubly reinforced beam (most commonly used in RCC Construction)
  2. Singly reinforced beam
    A series of articles have been written for the design of Singly reinforced sections. The articles include basic definitions and formulas, understanding stresses and modular ratios, assumptions for singly reinforced sections, Design method 1, Design method 2, Moment of resistance and a number of solved numerical examples.

Design of Columns | RCC Building Design

Design of RCC columns

The article discusses the classification criteria for a column,  and design of different types of reinforcements for columns which include longitudinal, transverse and helical reinforcements.

Thumb rules for designing a Column Layout

The articles important thumb rules to be followed for column layout design. Three important thumb rules have been discussed.

  1. Size of the Columns
  2. Distance between Columns
  3. Alignment of columns

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Calculation of loads for Column and Foundation Design | Structural Design

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How to calculate the total loads on a column and corresponding footing?

This article has been written on the request from my readers. Engineering students generally get confused when it comes to calculating loads for column and footings design. The manual process is simple.

Types of loads on column

  1. Self weight of the column x Number of floors
  2. Self weight of beams per running meter
  3. Load of walls per running meter
  4. Total Load of slab (Dead load + Live load + Self weight)

The columns are also subjected to bending moments which have to be considered in the final design. The best way to design a good structure is to use advanced structural design software like ETABS or STAAD Pro. These tools are leagues ahead of manual methodology for structural design, and highly recommended.

In professional practice, there are some basic assumptions we use for structural loading calculations.

You can hire me for your structural design need. Contact me.

For Columns

Self weight of Concrete is around 2400 kg per cubic meter, which is equivalent to 240 kN. Self weight of Steel is around 8000 kg per cubic meter. Even if we assume a large column size of 230 mm x 600 mm with 1% steel and 3 meters standard height, the self weight of column is around 1000 kg per floor, which is equivalent to 10 kN. So, in my calculations, I assume self weight of column to be between 10 to 15 kN per floor.

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Continuous Beams | Design of RCC Structures

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Design of Continuous Beam | RCC Structures

Definition

The beam that rests on more than two supports. The beam that rests over multiple columns. Continuous beams increase the structural rigidity of a structure. They offer alternate load path incase of a failure of a section in the beam.

Continuous beams are commonly used in buildings in seismic risk zone.

Continuous beam
Continuous beam

 

Three moment equation or Clapeyron’s equation 

Continuous Beam | Three moment equation
Continuous Beam | Three moment equation

Four Methods for Analysis of a beam are as follows:

  1. Three moment equation
  2. Moment distribution method
  3. Kani’s method
  4. Slope deflection method

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Lighting Design for Interiors | Primary Lighting Techniques

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Types of Lighting Techniques | Primary and Secondary Lighting Techniques

Lighting is an art of illuminating the space in a way to create illusion. Lighting Techniques have been broadly classified into two categories:

  1. Primary Lighting
  2. Secondary Lighting

Primary Lighting and Secondary Lighting are used depending on the requirement of the kind of illumination required at a certain place. At some places, provision of only Primary Lighting would serve the purpose whereas where a meek ambiance is required, secondary lighting would serve the purpose.

Lighting in a Restaurant
Lighting in a Restaurant

Sometimes, for efficient and ambient lighting is the requirement and the cost of the lighting design is not an issue then Primary and Secondary lighting are both used in layers to create a dramatic effect.

Apart from the techniques of primary lighting and secondary lighting, the material used in the interiors also plays a vital role in creating a perfect ambiance.

Check this out: New materials, Aesthetics and Lighting Techniques

In this article, we will discuss in detail about the “Primary Lighting Design”…

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Lighting Design for the Interiors and Exteriors of a Structure

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Guide to Lighting Design for Interiors and Exteriors

Lighting is one of the major and important aspects of interior design exterior design as well. Aesthetics and Functionality need to go hand in hand when it comes to interior lighting techniques. Lighting design from space to space. For example, Lighting design for a museum cannot be similar to the lighting design for a residence. It changes with the purpose, its functionality, its design, area and Volume of the perceived space. These are some of the basic lighting design factors that one should consider while analyzing and designing. In this article, we will discuss in brief some of the important factors of Lighting design to be considered before deciding on the selection of a particular type of lighting technique.

 

Lighting effect | Dining Area
Lighting effect | Dining Area

Factors that influence Design

  1. Function of the space
  2. Dimensions and details
  3. Furnishings and layouts
  4. Style
  5. Aesthetic
  6. Décor
  7. Lighting budget

Function of the space

Function of the space is one of the most important factor to be considered and studied before designing the lighting for a particular space. The lighting technique used for a particular space helps in illuminating the required spaces for a specific task or to create a specific ambience.

Lighting for specific Task

Ambient Lighting or general lighting for general illumination

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