Saturday, October 31, 2015

Tips on Checking Steel Structure Shopdrawing

Will be checking steel fabrication shopdrawing. Not having such experience before, I opted to ask my supervisor how it shall be done. At the back of my mind, using logic and common sense, every shopdrawings for structural must all be dependent on architectural drawings. Luckily, I was right again.
The drawings indicated T.O.S (Top of Steel) elevation. It striked me that such values in the drawing requires architectural confirmation of elevation. But how is it confirmed? I guess the thickness of roofing and also type of purlins used shall be determined. However, the construction moves where contractor proposes lots of alternatives to saves money. And this, ideally, must be captured also in the shopdrawing. But it will be too late to ask for the final drawings. Thus, a proper disclaimer I guess shall cover the designer of possible changes in the construction. Construction manager on site must inform the designer immediately of those changes.
The least that structural engineer must do in the shopdrawing is to check the sizes indicated in the shopdrawing against the approved schedule and plan. And the connection of the framing must be followed.
Fortunately, I have dual monitors used in the office. I would open the shopdrawing PDF in the other monitor while the CAD drawing of our For Construction Drawings in the other. Reviewing side by side the two drawings is easier.
For a very complicated drawing, I would print first the drawings and using highlighter, would highlight structural sizes according to their sizes using different colors. In that manner, you will have an overall view of changes of structural sizes in the drawing.

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