Author: Mezie Ethelbert

Reading Time: 2 minutes Hurricanes are one of the most devastating storms that occur in nature. When they occur, they cause tornadoes, rip currents, and storm surge floods that can cause inland flooding. Hurricanes can also lead to the collapse of buildings most often by cutting through roof overhangs. Roofs of buildings are usually provided with overhangs. The longer the overhangs, the more vulnerable are the roofs and the buildings to wind damage due to increased uplift loads. However, these overhangs are very important because they protect the building from moisture and also protect the wood used in the buildings from decay. In humid…

Reading Time: 5 minutes In the design of pad footing, it is desirable that there should be not eccentricity. However, when eccentricity which is brought in by moment occurs due to unbalanced loads on the pad footing, the footing should be designed as an eccentric pad footing. In practice, almost all kinds of pad footings experience certain degrees of eccentricity. Eccentricity of pad footings leads the moments and the moments have the following effects on the pad footing: Effects of Moment on Footings Dislocate the axis of the load coming on the footing. Increase the earth pressure on the footing on one side and…

Reading Time: 2 minutes In a previous post: Conditions to Use Combined Pad Footing in Buildings, I showed when combined pad footings should be considered to be used in buildings. In this post, I would show simple procedures to be followed in order to carry out the geotechnical and structural design of combined pad footings. Prior to the design of combined pad footings, the following assumptions should be made: Assumptions Sk2 ≥ Sk1 F2 ≥ F1 (distance from column to edge of footing) B = 2F2 Procedures/Steps 1. The footing should be proportioned in such a way that there should be zero eccentricity i.e.…

Reading Time: 2 minutes Density Parameters Bulk Density of Soil or Moist Density is the total mass, M of the soil per unit of its total volume, V. Thus, ρ = M/V Dry Density is the mass of solids (Md) per unit of total volume (prior to drying) of the soil mass. Thus, ρd = Md/V The density of Solids is the mass of soil solids (Md) per unit of volume of solids (Vs). Thus, ρs = Md/Vs Saturated Density (ρsat) is the bulk density of the soil when it is saturated. It is the ratio of the total soil mass (M) of a…

Reading Time: 6 minutes Title of Experiment Particle Size Analysis or Sieve Analysis Introduction A given soil sample has many particles of different sizes. For the purpose of construction, a particular size of the soil sample will be preferable to other sizes to enhance the durability and stability of the structure whose construction the soil sample will constitute. Therefore, it is necessary to classify the soil sample into different sizes so as to get the size needed for construction purposes. Particles in the soil can vary from 100 mm to less than 0.001 mm. The British Standard specifies the following size ranges-add the post…

Reading Time: 5 minutes The problems of the world are solved through research, hence, knowledge of research processes, conduction of actual research, and the presentation of a reasonable report form a significant part of the conditions for the award of any higher studies degree (undergraduate and post-graduate studies). The complexity and size of the research often increase as the level of studies increases. Undergraduate research studies are usually far simpler than Master’s research studies. Likewise, Ph.D. research studies are usually the most elaborate and it is channeled toward solving a significant problem. Presented below are research topics suitable for undergraduate studies in Civil Engineering.…

Reading Time: 2 minutes Pad footing which comes into the class of shallow footings is one of the simplest of all foundations. Pad footings are used on firm foundations to transfer column loads to the soil. They usually come as one pad footing for one column as shown below. Under certain circumstances, two column loads are necessary to be carried by one pad footing which in this case is known as combined pad footing. The circumstances include: 1. Where the adjacent columns are too close that required pad footings overlap each other (see Figure below). 2. When a column is close to the boundary…

Reading Time: 2 minutes Find in this content the densities of common timber materials found in Nigeria at 18% moisture content. S/No Standard Name of Timber Botanical Name Density (kg/m3) 1 Abura Mitrogyna Ciliata 576 2 Albida Acacia albida 656 3 Afara Terminalia superba 464 4 Afrormosia Afrormosia elata 784 5 Agba Gossweilerodendron balsamiferum 544 6 Alstonia Alstonia (boonei                                         (congensis 432 7 Apa Afzelia (Africana                (bipindensis               (pachyloba 864 8 Ayan Distemonanthus benthamianus 704 9 Ayo Holoptela grandis 752 10 Berlinia Berlinia (confusa (grandiflora 720 11 Canarium Canarium Schweinfurthii 544 12 (Celtis) Ohia Celtis (Zenkeri                 (Mildbraedii 832 13 (Daniellia) Oliveri Daniellia…