HERA has significantly progressed the ongoing research work on this project initially reported in October 2015. This two-year research project is BRANZ Levy-funded and HERA is working in partnership with the National Association of Steel Framed Housing Inc., (NASH) on the project. HERA/NASH would like to gratefully acknowledge the material contribution of Frametek Ltd, Howick Ltd,…
It is of great pleasure to report that the following structural steel Standards and Technical specification were published in April 2016. HERA is a participating member of the BD-023 Committee, which has been working on the revision of the structural steel standards since 2012 for: AS/NZS 1163-2016 Cold-formed Structural Steel Hollow Sections AS/NZS 3678-2016 Structural…
The drafts for public comment DR AS/NZS 1252.1 and DR AS/NZS 1252.2 have been published by Standards New Zealand. The objective of these draft standards is to provide manufacturers of high-strength steel bolt assemblies with requirements and tests to ensure that such assemblies are suitable for bolted connections in steelwork construction, consistent with the steel…
The Ministry of Business Inovation and Employment (MBIE) and Commerce Commission announcement that some concrete reinforcing steel mesh supplied into the New Zealand construction market doesn’t comply with New Zealand standards has caused considerable concern. Resulting in HERA staff recently being the target of extensive media attention with varying degrees of accuracy in being quoted.…
Rules for evaluating the design resistance of headed stud connectors through-deck welded within steel decking are provided in NZS 3404.1, 13.3.2.2. Due to the pitch of the ribs in the deck, it is normally not possible to provide enough shear connectors to provide a resistance equivalent to the lesser of: the tensile resistance of the…
Our General Manager Structural Systems Dr Stephen Hicks and Finite Element Analyst Nandor Mago have published a peer-reviewed paper in the Journal of Constructional Steel Research. The paper investigates the fire performance of highly utilized and eccentrically loaded concrete filled composite columns with a slenderness greater than currently permitted for the simple calculation model in…
Dr Stephen Hicks has been working with Dr Farhad Aslani, Ryan Lloyd and Prof. Uy of the Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety at the University of New South Wales, together with Dr Won-Hee Kang of Western Sydney University, on design rules for the flexural stiffness of composite columns for the forthcoming standard AS/NZS 2327.…
No doubt many HERA News readers are aware that New Zealand structural steel designers have had access to the free Fabsec FBEAM® design software. With a total of 159 individual licenses issued in New Zealand, this is a widely-used software package that produces efficient steel designs. Last year, at least 6,000 tonnes of welded beams…
The New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering and the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society co-hosted the Tenth Pacific Conference on Earthquake Engineering (PCEE 2015) in Sydney, Australia. The conference was held between 6 and 8 November 2015, and was very well-attended by a mixture of practitioners and researchers from around the world. The keynote presenters at…
Following the establishment of the New Zealand National Group of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE), Structural Systems General Manager Dr Stephen Hicks attended the IABSE Conference in Geneva in September 2015. The conference objective was ‘Providing Solutions to Global Challenges’, which was underpinned by following global themes: Climate Change and the…
According to EN 1090-2, steel components have to be identifiable and traceable throughout the whole production chain. The choice of identification method is not specified consistently in international rules and standards. In terms of durability and liability, markings should be resistant to particular fabrication processes such as sandblasting, hot-dip galvanizing or coating. The methods are…
As a past reviewer, Dr Stephen Hicks was invited to author a paper for the flagship journal of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Civil Engineering. Following its recent publication, details of the paper are given below. Eurocodes – Overcoming the Barriers to Global Adoption, by Dr Stephen Hicks In 2010 the Eurocodes replaced the equivalent…