Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)
Paper format. National Examinations, December 2013 — 98-Civ-B2 Advanced Structural Design, 3 hours, closed book (handbooks and textbooks permitted). Seven design questions of equal value; any five constitute a complete paper.
Reference texts. CSA S16:19 Design of Steel Structures; CISC Handbook of Steel Construction; CSA A23.3:19 Design of Concrete Structures (Clause 18 for prestressed concrete, Clause 17 of S16 for composite members); National Building Code of Canada 2020 for load combinations; Hibbeler, Structural Analysis, for the frame and continuous-beam analysis.
Design data printed on page 1. Concrete $f_c' = 30\ \text{MPa}$; structural steel $F_y = 350\ \text{MPa}$; reinforcing steel $f_y = 400\ \text{MPa}$. Prestressed concrete: $f_{ci}' = 35\ \text{MPa}$ at transfer, $f_c' = 50\ \text{MPa}$, modular ratio $n = 6$, $f_{ult} = 1750\ \text{MPa}$, $f_y = 1450\ \text{MPa}$, $f_{initial} = 1200\ \text{MPa}$, losses $= 240\ \text{MPa}$. Design in SI. All loads shown are unfactored.
Check: load factors. Page 1 states only that the printed loads are unfactored; it gives no dead/live split, so no code load combination can be assembled uniquely. Every load printed on Figures 1–4 is therefore factored by 1.5, and any self weight the solver itself introduces (the concrete frame, the prestressed girder, the steel sections) by 1.25, consistent with NBCC 2020 Table 4.1.3.2. State this assumption on the answer paper as page-1 Note 1 invites. The choice scales the magnitudes only — the collapse mechanisms, section classifications and interaction equations below are unaffected.
Check: section properties. Rolled-shape properties cannot be reproduced from first principles, so every steel member selected here is a welded three-plate I-section whose area, $I$, $Z$, $J$ and $C_w$ are computed from its plate dimensions and are therefore fully checkable. A candidate with the CISC Handbook would instead take the lightest rolled W-shape whose $Z_x$ (or $M_r$, $C_r$) exceeds the value derived in each question; the design logic is identical.
