November 2011

Celebrating Eight Decades of Award-winning Bridges
A look back at some of steel's many contributions to America's growth and development.

The New AISC Interoperability Strategy
By Chris Moor
Cumulative changes in the computing environment have made a mid-course adjustment appropriate and necessary.

A Comparative Look at the 2010 AISC Specification
By Eric Bolin and Thomas Dehlin
The changes between the 2005 and 2010 editions are small in number, but contribute significantly to usability.

Automating Layout in Steel Fabrication
By Luke Faulkner
Advances in automated layout are accelerating the process and eliminating many potential errors.

Three Ways to Boost Welding Productivity
By Mike Russell
How one fabricator's reevaluation of its consumables and guns reduced maintenance time and increased welder output.

Shining Through
By Wayne Place, Ph.D., and Jianxin Hu, Ph.D.
Integrating structure and HVAC to increase ceiling heights can maximize natural light and help reduce building energy use.

Larger Hollow Structural Sections
By Jie Zuo
New larger sizes of square and rectangular HSS offer engineers and architects more opportunities to use these efficient shapes.

Resolving a Conflict in Seismic Requirements for Non-building Structures
By Robery Bachman, S.E., Richard M. Drake, S.E., and Bonnie Manley, P.E.
An inconsistency exists between Chapter 22 of the 2006/2009 IBC and Chapter 15 of ASCE/SEI 7-05, but a logical resolution is now available.

Funding for Steel Bridges
By Brian Raff
Although current infrastructure trends appear bleak, now is the time we all should be contacting our federal, state and local leaders.

Statistically Speaking
By Robert Zaykoski
Firms of any size can make better use of their data through basic ststistical analysis.

Sharing the World's Great Music
Bringing the analytical mind of an engineer to an exploration of the arts, Reidar Bjorhovde knows how to appreciate music.