The TCA announed today that the Tilt-Up Convention & Expo in Miami will continue as scheduled. The hotel and convention center in Miami suffered some landscape damage but otherwise withstood the sustained winds and storm surge from Hurricane Irma. The Miami airport is reopening today and travel will be back to normal by the time of the convention. The convention will begin on Thursday, September 28.
Jeff Needham will be presenting "Structural Design of Composite Tilt-Up Panels" on Saturday, September 30.
Abstract: The continued adoption of energy codes is pushing tilt-up designers to use more edge to edge, insulated panels. Using the two wythes of these panels working together in composite action is a logical solution for engineers to provide a strong and very efficient insulated panel. The use of composite design has been limited due to thermal bow concerns, lack of good design methods, and limited connector types. This presentation will explore the current-state-of-the-art in composite tilt-up panel construction and explain developments in design methods for tilt-up composite panels. The differences between solid panel design and two-wythe composite design will be illustrated and the limitations of current composite design methods will be shown. The future of composite panels in tilt-up construction will conclude the talk.