Capstone Design Project — Fall 2026

Client brief — Client: a steel fabricator has procured a hybrid HSS column–to–W beam moment frame for a mid-rise office. The connection uses blind bolts through the HSS wall combined with a shop-welded stiffener ring and a field-welded flange plate. You are the detailer producing the fabrication and erection package.

Client brief — A shipment of 40+ steel members arrived at the fabricator's yard but the mill tags have fallen off. As the receiving inspector, you must measure each piece, back-calculate its AISC designation, and produce a professional inspection report before the material can be released to the shop floor.

Client brief — Each team receives a fixed kit — two 3/8" plates, one gusset, 4 × A325-N 3/4" bolts, washers, and nuts. Design the strongest tension splice you can build while staying inside AISC 360-22 §J3 and RCSC spacing, edge distance, bearing, and tear-out rules. The connection is pulled to failure in a UTM.

Client brief — You are handed a set of shop drawings with sloppy or ambiguous weld callouts. Redraw them per AWS A2.4, size the welds per AISC §J2, then observe (or perform, if certified) fillet and groove welds and produce a visual inspection report per AWS D1.1 Table 6.1.

Client brief — Client memo: a warehouse owner needs a new set of X-bracing for lateral wind resistance. Given Tu from the wind analysis, select a rod, HSS, double-angle, or plate, size the gusset, and verify all limit states.

Client brief — Architect gives you: 30 ft span, 8 ft tributary width, D = 40 psf, L = 100 psf, and a ceiling clearance that limits total depth to 22 in. Select a W-shape, verify flexure, shear, and deflection, and produce a beam schedule row and shop drawing.

Client brief — A warehouse column has begun to bow visibly. Owner suspects overload. As the investigating engineer, back-calculate KL/r, elastic Euler load, AISC §E3 capacity, and base plate bearing to determine whether the column is over its factored capacity.

Client brief — Each team gets a different load case (shear-only, moment-only, or combined) and must choose an appropriate connection type — shear tab, double angle, seat angle, extended end plate, or bolted-flange plate moment — then produce shop drawings, a field-erection sequence, and a 3D model.

Client brief — Client hands you an architectural floor plan (60 ft × 90 ft, 3 in composite deck, ceiling clearance 12 ft). Lay out the framing (beam spacing, girder direction, column grid), then produce a framing plan, member schedule, and reaction summary — the exact output a consulting firm delivers.

Client brief — Given a 20 ft simple-span pedestrian bridge, HL-93 pedestrian loading per AASHTO, and a fixed portal geometry, design the truss, gussets, bracing, and connections. Produce a complete fabrication drawing set — exactly like the ASCE Student Steel Bridge Competition.

Client brief — Your team is assigned one historic failure (Hyatt Regency, FIU, Hartford Civic Center, Silver Bridge, Tacoma Narrows, Quebec Bridge, Sampoong, or I-35W). Reconstruct the failure, identify the AISC or code violation, and produce a forensic engineering report + red-lined drawing of the as-built vs the safe redesign.

Client brief — Everything learned in Labs 1–11 comes together. Client delivers architectural drawings, owner requirements, a $/sf budget, and a construction schedule. Your team designs, details, models, draws, prices, and presents a complete steel-framed building — including a full calc package, connection details, framing plans, schedules, erection sequence, material takeoff, and cost estimate.