Detailing for structural and cold-formed steel buildings can be a complex task. Many manufacturers develop products and offer design services to achieve the many creative solutions structural engineers derive every day. Following are previews of several product case study articles that are available exclusively on www.gostructural.com.


Engineered attachments
Heckman Anchors connect brick veneer and precast panels
By Paul Curtis
When completed in late 2009, the $70 million, 200,000-square-foot Aurora Illinois Police Headquarters & Branch Court Facility will house 400 public safety employees and serve hundreds of visitors each day to serve Illinois’ second largest city. Aiming for LEED gold, find out how thermal resistance of the building façade—along with sound structural connectivity—played a key role in achieving success.

Sunshade canopy attaches with ease
Lindapter Girder Clamps connect canopy at Target Field
By Frank Buck
The Minnesota Twins’ future ballpark, Target Field, is scheduled for completion in 2010. This architecturally stunning new park promises to be one of the most unique and spectacular parks in all of Major League Baseball. It’s most impressive architectural feature is the sunshade canopy, which boasts to be one of the largest in baseball. The canopy soffit is attached to the primary structural steel with the use of the Lindapter Girder Clamp Type LR.

Strengthening existing steel joist framing systems
Vulcraft’s field-bolted spliced open web joist solution
By Peter Marxhausen, M.S., P.E., and Dave Henley, P.E.
Although not widely known, there are options for strengthening an existing open web steel joist framing system if new demands on the structure require upgrades. When repairs to accommodate increased roof loading were needed for the Grand Prix Motorsports building, the original joist manufacturer, Vulcraft, suggested that field-bolted spliced open web steel joists might be an appropriate solution.

High-tech community hospital comes to Virginia
SidePlate Systems enables architectural and structural design
By Michael G. Paczak, P.E.
Rising to meet the challenges of implementing rigorous federal government anti-terrorism security design criteria for the mitigation of progressive collapse, the new Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in Northern Virginia is a living testimony that architectural excellence and design freedom have been achieved to the fullest extent, and within budget. The technical and cost efficiencies of the SidePlate system ultimately became the winning combination to fulfill the project’s architectural design excellence, achieve the structural goals, and provide the client with a higher level of protection. Read full article.