We're often asked about the differences between installing our patented EM-BOLT boltable steel embeds and installing standard field welded steel embeds.
You can take advantage of the construction efficiencies of boltable steel embeds while maintaining your existing design engineering and structural steel fabrication and erection processes. The boltable steel embeds are largely installed using the same process that you'd use for standard welded steel embeds.
Field welding is a common construction practice to assemble structural steel elements. Most construction welding is done using ‘stick’ welding, or SMAW, Shielded Metal Arc Welding. SMAW uses an electrode (euphemistically called a ‘stick’) and electric current to create an electric ‘arc’ between the stick and the base material, which has a ground clip attached to it to complete the electric circuit. This arc creates a very high temperature between the electrode (stick) and the metal being joined or welded. The electrode is a solid metal selected to be compatible with the material being welded (base material) and is coated with compounds and metal powders (flux) that improve the weld quality. The flux generates a gas when heated by the arc which surrounds the point being welded and reduces contamination of the weld from the atmosphere. The electrode is ‘consumable’ in that the electrode core metal is used to fill the weld joint.
Construction has evolved to become an extremely competitive industry. Owners, Architects, Structural Engineers and Builders compete every day in a rough and tumble industry where small decisions can have big financial implications.
As they say, the devil is in the details and sometimes a minor change in an approach to building can yield big improvements in cost, efficiency and timeline.
Concrete is the most commonly used man-made material on Earth. From dams, to bridges to culverts, concrete is everywhere that you look. Concrete is a composite, made from portland cement and water, with a filler of aggregate material (sand or gravel). Because of its makeup, concrete can be very strong under compression loads, but does not hold up as well to shear loads and is not a good design material for tension loads.
In order to remain competitive and consistently win new business, Architects, Engineers, General Contractors and Sub-Contractors must diligently find new ways to lower construction costs, save time and improve building envelope energy performance for Owners.
Since construction is largely a service-based business, nothing is more valuable than time. The EM-BOLT patented boltable embedded plate is proven to save construction cost, labor and timelines.
The EM-BOLT boltable embedded plate design follows many of the installation steps of the traditional welded embedded plate design, making on-site installation easy with little difference to skilled labor.
Eagles Landing Mixed Use Building
Eagles Landing is a mixed use building built for Champlain College in Burlington, VT. It includes housing for 314 students as well as retail stores. The building achieved Two Green Globes certified by The Green Building Initiative (www.thegbi.org). In order to achieve the Green Globe awards, energy efficiency of the building envelope was a priority. That’s why using imbed plates with thermal breaks was important!
Image Courtesy Steven Holl Architects
The Rubenstein Commons on the Institute for Advanced Study campus at Princeton University is a challenging steel and precast concrete construction project on many levels. You can click through these images on the architect’s (Steven Holl) website to see the complexity of the design.
The EM-BOLT embed plate system saves significant construction time by eliminating costly field welding during construction. The boltable embed plate is installed similarly to a traditional welded embed plate but is provided with ease-of-use features which make installing the embed plate to the form a breeze.
Engineers and designers who are considering switching to EM-BOLT boltable embed plates from standard field welded embeds are often concerned that their standard embed plate design practices won’t hold. In reality, embed plate design for EM-BOLT boltable embed plates is no different than designing for standard field welded embed plates. The same calculations and software are used to validate the embed plate design.
