FEMA 353

Date 12-20-2004 15:46

The wise fellows in the front office have decided to bid on a project invoking FEMA 353 requirements. We do not know if it will be A, B, or C class building yet. None the less, I was not consulted until the evening before the preliminary bid was to be submitted. I shocked them when I told them this was no where near our normal assignment. They greatly increased their bid trying to shoot in the dark with what I told them. Many things we we are not used to to successfully complete the project. Everything from welding procedures, welder certifications, wire exposure limits, specific hold points, outside inspectors (probably 2 different levels), etc. etc. etc. would be different from the normal. And I would not bend one inch to cover any difficiencies due to stringent requirements (don't normally bend much anyway).

I have a copy of FEMA 353, but have not read it for quite some time. My memory tells me it takes us from the "normal" everyday structural D1.1 practices to somewhere near or exceeding bridge code type requirements. I will be trying to find time today to review it again. I want to be prepared should we be successful in winning the project so I am looking for some advise from some of you structural fabricators who have completed projects under a FEMA 353 requirement. I will be on vacation starting Wednesday thru the end of the year, but I will be studying and checking in on this forum. You can answer here or contact me direct. Thanking you in advance for your help.

By swnorris (****)

Date 12-20-2004 20:39

Hi Doug,

FEMA 353, Recommended Specifications and Quality Assurance Guidelines for Steel Moment-Frame Construction for Seismic Applications, provides supplemental design and fabrication recommendations and supplemental quality control and quality assurance recommendations for the construction of steel moment frame structures designed for seismic applications. FEMA 353 is designed to supplement other welding codes, such as AWS D1.1, and The AISC Manual of Steel Construction LRFD. FEMA 353 contains provisions that affect welder qualification, filler metals that can be used, welding procedure specifications, inspection practices, and other issues. FEMA 353 has numerous recommendations beyond the "normal" parameters of D1.1. Lincoln Electric has an easy to read brochure, FEMA 353 Welding Manual (C1.60), that summarizes many of the main welding recommendations in FEMA 353. Here's a link to the 36 page manual on the Lincoln site that may be helpful:

http://content.lincolnelectric.com/pdfs/products/literature/c160.pdf

By thcqci

Date 12-21-2004 13:01

Thanks. Got that and a couple of other articles that have been published the last couple of years (http://www.aws.org/wj/mar02/feature2.html, http://www2.thefabricator.com/Articles/Welding_Article.cfm?ID=69) and sent them to upper management so they could get a feel for the tiger they are trying to catch by the tail. As a design-build fabricator for our corporate "monster", we make our mark by turning steel around quickly, keeping the main office happy. The longer the job is strung out, the poorer we seem to perform. We thrive on quick turnaround projects. This definitely does not seem like the kind of project we do well. Has the shop scared as to what we will be asked to fabricate, whether we think it is our best interest (ie; bottom line - still have to feed the monster downtown) or not. Don't get me wrong, I want to be able to fabricate this sort of project. It would be very benificial for our personnel to experience a project like this. But to jump into a project of this magnitude without taking an intermediate step is scary. Espescially when I have had trouble getting everyone on board and organized to submit to an AISC audit!

By albcwi Date 12-23-2004 22:54

Just wanted to pass on some info that we learned about in our first job under FEMA 353 guidelines. This was our first job under these guidelines and it ate us up. We were not prepared for the requirements and I received this info as the job hit the shop. You really want to look at the estimating end for time to produce the project. It took us approximately twice as long to produce than original estimates due to the requirements. The AISC has incorporated the reccomendations from FEMA in the 2002 Seismic Provision document. They also provide an online seminar at their website. Just be careful about time estimates for fabrication. Hope this provides a little insight to your concerns.

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 01-18-2005 16:27

Hi Doug,
BEWARE of FEMA! The first job we had with these requirements caught us totally by surprise due to how it was referenced by another document in the job specs. My advice from past experience is to deal with the EOR as soon as possible and find out before you bid how much of the FEMA guidelines he intends for the fabricator/erector to follow. We have had to follow it strictly and then on other jobs they only wanted certain details followed. Get all that sorted out ahead of your bid so you can throw enough money at it to cover your costs.
Best wishes to you,
John Wright