Engineering Support for Vertical Structures Construction: Sabez School, Adraskan District, Herat Province– Design Review

The review was conducted in response to a request from USAID to assess the suitability of the proposed design. The proposed design does not meet the IBC 2012 code requirements, including seismic requirements. Technical specifications, basis of design, design loads, and design calculations were not provided, and the drawings appear incomplete and are missing essential information. The design drawings provided list the same individual in both the "Designed By" and "Checked By" blocks on all of the drawings, which is poor design practice and provides no QA/QC of the documents. Tetra Tech performed a structural analysis of the proposed school to assess the proposed design of the structure and found several areas of deficiency in the design. The analysis was conducted using RAM Structural System, a structural program used for design and analysis of buildings. The roof slab design was not analyzed within the model, but was reviewed independently using RAM Elements beam module. The design assumptions made by Tetra Tech include design loads, geotechnical parameters, and general design assumptions. The design loads include lateral loads and live loads based on ASCE7-10, IBC 2012, and UFC 3-301-01 U.N.O. The geotechnical parameters include an assumed allowable bearing pressure of 9800.0 kg/m2 (2.0 ksf) and a surcharge due to the soil cover on the foundations. The general design assumptions include roof slab design, roof slope, building story height, and top reinforcement layout for the concrete beams. The structural review revealed several areas of deficiency in the design, including failure of the foundations due to exceeding allowable bearing pressure, failure of the beams and columns to meet the Intermediate Reinforced Concrete Moment Frame requirements, and lack of clear information on wall types and dimensions. The review also highlighted inconsistencies in the drawings and the need for additional information to assess the adequacy of the wall design. The overall quality of the drawings is inconsistent and not in accordance with generally accepted standards. The construction documents are incomplete and are missing essential information, including technical specifications, basis of design, design loads, and design calculations.