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Ben Gries took over the reins at Kerr-Greulich as President in January of 2017. With a year under his belt leading the now 35-year old company, Ben took a little time away from his busy schedule to answer some questions about the industry and his mentor and colleague, Don Greulich.   Q: What is the … Continue reading “A Q&A with Ben Gries, President, Kerr-Greulich Engineers, Inc.”

As engineers, we must make assumptions and estimations as part of the design process. Unfortunately, we don’t always get to explain or discuss our assumptions with the people who are most affected by them. ASHRAE has laid out a few guidelines to help us keep similar assumptions throughout the industry. The Fundamentals Handbook published by … Continue reading “Design Summary Data and what it means to building owners and occupants”

Fire Protection Engineers use egress models to simulate occupants exiting a building during emergencies. The results are analyzed to determine the time required to evacuate buildings. This software allows engineers to evaluate building evacuation strategies and provides animated 3D results.    

Fire Protection Engineers use Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling, such as the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) to simulate smoke and heat transfer during various fire scenarios. This software allows engineers to evaluate harmful effects of fire and smoke such as high temperatures, production of carbon monoxide, and decreased visibility for building occupants.    

Determining what items are required to be brought up to current building code requirements is a challenge when designing renovations of existing structures. Looking at the life safety scope of a project, I tend to find issues in almost any existing building that would not meet current code if the building were designed today. Of course as … Continue reading “Does renovation mean everything must be brought up to code?”

In our previous article on building envelopes, we discussed how envelopes are changing more and more, becoming increasingly interesting and unique. From an engineering standpoint, the most significant aspect of the building envelope is not always the insulation factors (U-values, solar heat gain coefficients, etc.) but the infiltration. Infiltration is defined as the flow of … Continue reading “It’s in the details, it’s always in the details: Building Envelopes – Part 2”

One of the most critical components, if not the most critical component, of a building is the envelope. This may seem obvious, since the envelope protects the building interior and structural components from water, temperature, moisture, air and sound. But, often it is taken for granted and this can be a costly mistake.   Over … Continue reading “It’s in the details, it’s always in the details: Building Envelopes”