Insights from the engineering frontline

Steel Sections in Construction: 6 Profiles and Their Uses

Six structural profiles and the job each shape is made for, how hot rolling and cold forming differ, and where each section earns its place in a frame.

2 Apr 2024

Steel Connections in Construction: Types and Design Checks

Welded, bolted and riveted connections compared, plus the load transfer, fatigue and QA checks that decide whether a steel joint holds in service.

4 Mar 2024

Types of Steel Used in Construction: Where Each One Fits

Light gauge, structural, mild, rebar, stainless, carbon, alloy and tool steel — the properties of each and the construction work it is specified for.

15 Jan 2024

Composite Beams: Shear Studs, Design Checks and Uses

Why a concrete slab and steel beam bonded by shear studs outperform either alone — the components, the design checks that govern, and where they are used.

8 Jan 2024

Bracing Systems in Steel Structures: Types and Load Paths

How horizontal, vertical, cross and single-diagonal bracing carry lateral load to ground, and why compression, not tension, sizes a diagonal brace.

19 Dec 2023

Shear Force in Steel Beam Connections: How It Works and How to Design for It

How shear force builds along a beam, why it governs simple connections, the connection types that carry it, and how each is checked.

8 Sept 2023

Types of Steel Beam Connections: Bolted, Welded, Moment

Bolted, welded, riveted and moment connections compared — how each one transfers load, what it costs in site time, and how to choose one for the joint.

10 Aug 2023

Methods for Steel Structure Design: 3 Approaches Compared

Simple, continuous and semi-continuous design compared — how each treats joint behaviour, what the global analysis assumes, and what each joint must prove.

7 Sept 2022

IDEA StatiCa Steel Connection: How CBFEM Code Checks Work

How CBFEM meshes every plate, bolt and weld to code-check joints that lookup tables cannot cover, and what the utilization plot tells you to change.

20 Jul 2022

Gusset Plate: Uses, Design Rules and Governing Checks

What a gusset plate does, how its thickness and shape are set, and the two checks — edge buckling and the Whitmore section — that decide whether it holds.

15 Mar 2022

2 min read

Pre-Engineered Buildings

PEB & Structural Systems

Explore mkaPEB

Steel Trusses: Types, How They Carry Load, and How They're Designed

How a truss turns bending into axial force, the truss types used in buildings and bridges, and the analysis and connection checks behind a safe design.

20 Mar 2024

Concrete Foundation Design: Types, Bearing Checks and Detailing

Choosing between isolated, strip, raft and piled foundations, why bearing and settlement are separate checks, and how the footing itself is designed.

10 Mar 2024

Types of Frames in Pre-Engineered Buildings: When Each Wins

Clear span, multi-span, single slope, lean-to and crane frames: typical width ranges, where each one wins, and the cost logic behind choosing a PEB frame.

2 Mar 2024

Slab Deflection Analysis: Limits, Long-Term Effects and How It's Checked

Why slab deflection governs serviceability, the code limits that apply, how creep and cracking multiply short-term values, and how FE analysis checks it.

2 Feb 2024

Types of Loads Acting on a Structure: The 5 Categories

Dead, live, wind, snow and seismic loads — what each does to a frame, how loads are classified, and why combinations, not one worst case, size members.

15 Jan 2024

PEB Structural Components: Primary, Secondary, Bracing

How primary frames, purlins and girts, and erection bracing work together in a pre-engineered building, and where single-span or multi-span frames apply.

27 Dec 2023

Difference Between Rafter and Truss: Span, Cost and Speed

Rafters are cut on site and suit spans under 6 m; trusses are prefabricated and reach 35 m. Compare strength, cost, build time and future alterations.

20 Dec 2023

Steel Building Construction: The 7 Phases, Start to Finish

From design and factory fabrication through foundation, erection, cladding and finishing — what happens in each phase, and what each phase depends on.

1 Dec 2023

Light Gauge Steel Frame (LGSF) Design: How It Works and Where It Wins

What light gauge steel framing is, why it wins for low-rise and modular builds, the model-to-roll-former workflow, and where fire, sound and height limit it.

6 Nov 2023

Warehouse Construction: Design Drivers, PEB Frames and Best Practices

What drives an efficient warehouse: clear span, eaves height, bay spacing and racking loads, and why pre-engineered steel buildings dominate the sector.

1 Sept 2023

Steel Portal Frames: Anatomy, Stability and How They're Designed

Why the portal frame dominates single-storey steel buildings: haunches and tapers, in-plane and out-of-plane stability, elastic vs plastic design, bracing.

8 Jun 2023

What Are Purlins and Why Do They Matter in Pre-Engineered Buildings?

What purlins and girts do in a PEB, how lapped Z-sections turn single spans into continuous lines that save steel, and why wind uplift governs the design.

18 Apr 2023

Types of Frame Structures: Portal, Rigid, Braced and Space

Six frame types compared — portal, rigid, braced, space, grid and semi-rigid — the applications each suits and the lateral loads each is built to resist.

18 Mar 2023

Frame Analysis Methods: From Moment Distribution to Full 3D Models

How building frames are analysed — classical hand methods, matrix stiffness, and 3D finite element models — and when each level of rigour is the right one.

10 Mar 2023

AI in Structural Engineering: What It Does Today and Where It's Going

The two ways AI reaches structural engineering — intelligence built into the software, and assistants driving tools through open APIs — and what each changes.

22 Nov 2022

India's Pre-Engineered Buildings Market: Size, Share and Growth

Why pre-engineered buildings are winning work across India: the demand drivers, indicative market size, and how PEB compares with conventional construction.

26 Oct 2022

Curved Shear Wall Design: Shell Behaviour, FE Analysis and Detailing

Why curved shear walls behave as shells, how in-plane and out-of-plane forces couple, and why FE shell models replace hand methods for design and detailing.

30 Jul 2022

Pre-Engineered vs Conventional Building: 11 Differences

PEB frames run 20-30% lighter than hot-rolled construction. Compare weight, foundation, delivery speed, cost, clear span and expansion, point by point.

4 Oct 2021

Geotechnical

Foundations & Soil

Explore PLAXIS

Road Pavement Design: Traffic, Subgrade and Layer Thickness

How traffic loads, subgrade strength, materials and climate set pavement layers and thickness, plus mechanistic-empirical design and rehabilitation.

22 Feb 2024

PLAXIS 2D for Deep Excavations: Walls, Stages and Groundwater

What makes deep excavations hard, how staged finite element analysis predicts wall deflection and settlement, and why groundwater flow changes the answer.

12 Feb 2024

Slope Stability: Failure Mechanisms, Analysis Methods and Stabilisation

What makes a slope fail, how factor of safety is computed by limit equilibrium and finite elements, and the stabilisation measures that work.

28 Sept 2023

Foundation Stiffness and Damping: How Soil Shapes Structural Response

Why foundation stiffness and damping govern dynamic response, static vs dynamic stiffness, radiation damping, and when springs give way to full FE soil models.

15 Aug 2023

Consolidation Analysis: Predicting Soil Settlement Over Time

Predict how far a soil layer settles and how long it takes — Terzaghi's theory, oedometer testing, pre-consolidation pressure and finite element analysis.

20 Jul 2023

Pile Foundation Construction: 4 Pile Types, 6 Build Steps

Timber, concrete, steel and composite piles compared, the six-step sequence from site preparation to pile cap, and how skin friction and end bearing work.

8 Apr 2023

Footing Foundation Design: The 8-Step Process

Eight steps from soil classification and load assessment to bearing capacity, footing size, depth and reinforcement, with the checks that limit settlement.

28 Mar 2023

Finite Element Analysis in Geotechnical Engineering with PLAXIS

Why soil demands finite element analysis: nonlinear constitutive models, staged construction, coupled groundwater flow, and the outputs engineers read.

8 Jan 2023

Types of Foundations in Construction: Shallow vs Deep

Isolated, strip, combined, strap and raft footings against pile and pier foundations — how each one bears, and the soil conditions that decide the choice.

30 Oct 2022

Design of Foundations: Choosing Shallow or Deep Footings

The six shallow footing types, where deep foundations take over, and how each one transmits column and wall load into the strata beneath the structure.

22 Sept 2021

Detailing

Concrete, Rebar & Product News

Explore COMOSYS

COMOSYS 2024s: What's New in Detailing and BIM Links

Inside the 2024s release — smarter IntelliConnect placement with clash detection, drawing production up to 40% faster, Cloud Fusion and Checkbot links.

1 Mar 2025

1 min read

Pier Caps: Load Path, Materials and Reinforcement Detailing

How a pier cap gathers girder reactions into one pier, which materials suit which exposure, and why its reinforcement is among the most congested on site.

26 Mar 2024

Reinforcement Detailing in Concrete: Cover, Laps, Anchorage

Most reinforcement problems are not bar size — they are cover, lap length and anchorage. The considerations and practices that keep rebar detailing sound.

20 Feb 2024

Prestressed Concrete: How It Works, Pre vs Post-Tensioning

How compression is locked into concrete before service loads arrive, where the two tensioning methods differ, and what each buys in span and deflection.

13 Dec 2023

Rebar Detailing: 8 Benefits for Cost, Safety and Schedule

Eight ways rebar detailing pays back on a concrete project — safety, rework, waste, scheduling and quality — and how BIM carries bars to fabrication.

22 Jun 2023

Structural Steel Detailing Software: 7 Advantages

Seven gains from modelling steel once — automated shop drawings, NC files for fabrication, lower tonnage, fewer clashes and drawings that stay coordinated.

30 Sept 2022

2 min read

The RAM CADDSYS Briefs

One email a month in your discipline: what moved, why it matters, in a two-minute read.

The software behind these insights

IDEA StatiCa

Code-check any steel connection to AISC & Eurocode.

mkaPEB

Design pre-engineered steel buildings in minutes.

COMOSYS

Steel & concrete detailing, automated.

PLAXIS

Finite-element analysis for soil and rock.

Vertex BD

BIM for cold-formed steel framing, design to factory.

STRAP

Structural analysis and design for every material.