STEEL TIPS / june 2002 / excerpt
"...If you are currently designing or planning a large warehouse or distribution facility, this Steel Tips should interest you. Depending on your client's needs, code requirements and location, you may have a choice between using a plywood roof system or a metal decking roof system.

The debate to use plywood or metal decking in roof construction has been quite common in recent years. However, over the past decade the development of the "hybrid" system utilizing open web steel joists with shop attached wood nailers and field applied plywood sheathing has become a popular choice. One of the key factors influencing this choice is the apparent value due to the slightly less initial cost for the plywood option. But you should look beyond the initial cost and investigate additional factors to ensure your client is, in fact, receiving the best overall value...."

BUILDING DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION / december 1998 / excerpt
"...The Gateway Oaks IV office building in Sacramento, Calif., incorporates special moment-resisting truss frames that are designed to yield and absorb seismic energy. Replacing the wide-flange beams typically used in moment frames, the trusses helped to shave two months off the construction schedule. They also provided substantial savings in labor and material costs. Specified as an alternative to the wide-flange beams typically used in a moment frame, the trusses feature "special segments" at their mid-points. "The cross-bracing yields in elongation and the chords yield due to bending, or flexure. As those actions occur, a hinge forms in the truss that essentially absorbs the seismic energy," explained Gilbert Petersen, the project's structural engineer. By comparison, rigid steel beams transfer seismic stresses to their columns.

Studies of damage caused by the 1994 Northridge earthquake indicated that some moment-resisting steel frames experienced failures at the point where the beams and columns were joined. "The yielding in the beams was so significant that the steel became embrittled and broke at the beam-column interface." Such factors prompted steel erector and fabricator JD2, Inc. of Auburn, California to recommend the special trusses for the Gateway Oaks IV project..."

ENGINEERING NEWS & REVIEW / june 1998 / excerpt
"...At considerable savings in time and money, steel trusses are being used in an innovative way in a nearly completed office building in Sacramento, Calif. Use of trusses shortened the project schedule by two months, saved 20% on steel fabrication costs, and two weeks on fabrication time. It also reduced the erection cost by at least 25% compared to what the project engineer and contractor expected to spend on raising the wide-flanged steel beams in moment-resisting frames.

The project team hesitated to use braces, which sometimes create eyesores, or "special moment-resisting frames", which often require expensive full-penetration welds. The idea to use special trusses came from the erector and fabricator JD2, Inc., in Auburn, California..."

NOVA AWARD RECOGNITION
JD2, Inc. is proud to have been selected as one of the recipients for the 1999 Nova Award. This is a prestigious international award given in recognition of innovative development in the construction industry. It is commonly referred to as the "Nobel Prize" of construction. For more information, go to http://www.cif.org