The steel sector is so excited about structural engineer Ron Klemencic’s composite steel superstructure, expected to speed office tower construction, that at least three steel fabricators are studying it, many months before erection is set to begin on Seattle’s 850-ft-tall “proof of concept.”
The search for answers continues in the Jan. 15 collapse of a 1,500-ft-long cable-stayed bridge in a mountainous region of central Colombia, killing 10 construction workers and injuring several others.
If structural engineers have their way, building codes will take a historic leap forward in the next few years to allow higher-strength 80-ksi reinforcing steel, instead of 60 ksi, in reinforced concrete shear walls.