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Adapt Newsletter - April 2004
 ADAPT News Software Updates Technical Note Project Highlight Educational Seminars Event Calendar What ADAPT Offers Current Versions Subscription Information
ADAPT Expands Management Team ADAPT is delighted to announce the addition of GERARD J. MCGUIRE as Executive Vice-President of Business Development to the ADAPT team. The former Executive Director of the Post- Tensioning Institute (PTI), will be based out of our Redwood City, CA headquarters. "We are very excited to have Gerry join our organization and are confident he will contribute significantly to our continued expansion of becoming the market leader in providing software solutions to the structural concrete industry" said Dr. Bijan Aalami, ADAPT CEO. With more than 20 years experience in the prestressed concrete industry, Mr. McGuire brings a wealth of professional knowledge, experience, and insight that will bring tremendous benefits to our clients, and help us better serve their goals and objectives. Mr. McGuire will work with engineering firms in ADAPT's key markets including the US, Canada, Europe, the Far East, and Middle East, to identify and offer design and construction software solutions to meet all their concrete project needs. Mr. McGuire began his career as a field engineer with Trow Associates, Inc., Toronto, Canada. He then served as a sales engineer with Westeed-Rosco Ltd, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in their highway product department. In 1980, he joined ITTUP Hollowcore, in West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, as a sales engineer for their precast hollowcore product line. The following year, he joined Con-force Structures Ltd, in Vancouver, as a project developer engineer in the precast division, and later joined their post-tensioning division, heading up their sales office in Toronto. During 1987, he became the Canadian Precast Concrete Institute (CPCI) Post-Tensioning Technical Director, and in 1991, became the Executive Director of PTI, based in Phoenix, AZ. Gerard graduated with honors from University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, with a Bachelor's degree in civil engineering and has been a member of the British Columbia and Ontario Professional Engineer Associates. ADAPT Expands Distributor Network ADAPT is pleased to announce Naser Ghosheh, located in Woodpark, NSW, as its authorized representative for Australia and New Zealand. Mr. Ghosheh brings with him extensive experience in bridge design and is especially competent in the use of ADAPT-ABI. Mr. Ghosheh will sell and support the complete line of ADAPT software including the soon to be released versions of ADAPT-Floor Pro and ADAPT-PT incorporating the Australian Code. Recent ADAPT Activities ADAPT staff were involved in several recent activities.
ADAPT-Builder v1.14 On March 10, 2004, an enhanced version of the ADAPT-Builder Platform, version 1.14, was released. Users of ADAPT-Builder's integrated design and analysis programs ADAPT-Floor Pro, ADAPT-MAT, and ADAPT-SOG will benefit from such improvements as:
Skipping and Reduction of Live Load (Patterning of Live Load) Skipping of live load, also referred to as pattern loading, is the process in which a given load is selectively placed at different locations on the structure, in order to determine the maximum adverse effect of the load on the structure. This process applies to the loads, that can be either present or absent at specified locations on the structure, such as live load. Pattern loading has been a common feature of design of structural engineers when using the equivalent frame method of the ACI-318 code. However, when a floor system is modeled in its entirety for analysis using finite elements, the application of pattern loading requires engineering judgment and experience beyond that of the alternative equivalent frame method. Live load values specified in the code are determined statistically, using a notional floor area. For floor areas larger than the notional areas used in the building codes, there is less likelihood of the load covering the entire area with the code specified intensity. For this reason, the building codes generally allow a reduction in the intensity of the specified live load, where the load covers large areas. ADAPT-Floor Pro can automatically determine the reduction in the intensity of the live load specified, and account for it in its analysis. It also reports the reduction value used. An additional option, allows the user to enter user determined reduction values. Recognizing the reduction of live load permitted by the codes, and allowing for it in the analysis leads to a more economical design. ADAPT-Floor Pro allows the user to define as many number of skip load arrangements (patterns) as the design engineer considers necessary. The program analyzes each pattern separately, and obtains an envelope of the maximum and minimum values for use in design.
St. George Island Bridge Replacement, Main Channel Unit ADAPT-ABI used to Design One of the Longest Continuous Span, Spliced-girder System in North America: Location: St. George Island and Apalachicola Bay, Florida Panhandle Owner: Florida Dept of Transportation, District III Contractor: Boh Bros. Construction Engineer of Record: Jacobs Civil Project Cost: $72 million Project Description 
The main channel unit of the St. George Island Bridge is a five
span continuous structural system, constructed using modified
Florida Bulb Tee girders, spliced and post-tensioned in two
stages. The center span straddles the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway
with a vertical clearance of 65 ft., and the 1180 ft. continuous
unit is one of the longest of its type in North America.The unit is comprised of precast, prestressed segments, which were erected on false-work, spliced together, and then post -tensioned as a unit. Later, the false-work was removed, the deck poured in stages, and the unit was post-tensioned a second time. These steps required careful analysis to correctly account for changing support conditions, the addition and removal of temporary false-work, the addition of composite deck elements, multistage post-tensioning, accumulation of tendon losses, and creep and shrinkage of the concrete. 
ADAPT-ABI Essential in Determining Design"ADAPT-ABI proved essential in the preliminary and final designs of the main channel unit, which were developed in accordance with the AASHTO LRFD code. With ADAPT-ABI I was able to conduct thorough reviews of the accumulated stresses and deflections in the structural system at each step of the erection process. In addition, I was able to easily generate live load force envelopes using its versatile moving load generator. ADAPT-ABI's unique generator allowed me to march back and forth virtually any vehicular load distribution across the unit while it recorded the maximum effects for combination with other loads," adds Hugh Ronald. Hugh D. Ronald was the Engineer of Record for the main channel unit while employed by Sverdrup Civil (Sverdrup was acquired by Jacobs Engineering shortly after award of the St. George Island Project). He is currently Senior Structural Associate for Wilbur Smith Associates in their Florida Operation. Wilbur Smith Associates provided comprehensive construction engineering services to Boh Bros. for erection of the main channel unit. Wilbur Smith Associates Wilbur Smith Associates is a professional services consulting firm that specializes in transportation and infrastructure planning, engineering, and economics. Founded in 1952, the firm now has over 50 offices located in 15 time zones and 18 countries. Wilbur Smith Associates has completed more than 25,000 projects including work in all 50 U.S. states and over 100 countries on six continents.
ADAPT staff will be involved in collaboration with several professional organizations in upcoming educational and practical seminars.
Select industry events of potential interest to our readers:
Beyond the suite of software programs for design of structural concrete, ADAPT offers engineers and users unparalleled technical support programs including:
ADAPT-ABI (ver. 4.09, Service pack 3) ADAPT-BUILDER Platform Programs ADAPT-Modeler (ver. 2.09) ADAPT-Floor Pro (ver. 1.14) ADAPT-PT (ver 6.18, Service pack 2) ADAPT-RC (ver. 4.01, Service pack 1) ADAPT-FELT (ver. 4.07) ADAPT-PULT (ver. 3.02)
We publish this quarterly Newsletter as part of our continuing effort to stay in touch with our customers. If you would like us to e-mail you a copy of our Newsletter, contact us and request your free subscription today. |
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