Approach

Here at IES, we know our role is to bring architectural visions to life.

WE deliver first-rate engineering services, but we know ultimately, it’s not really about the drawings. It’s about the people, the service, and the relationship. Over the years, we have developed and maintained long-term relationships with our primary clients, both owners and architects, because we deliver what our competitors cannot: on time and responsive service.

Structural Engineering

The structural engineering professionals of IES have a record of providing innovative structural engineering solutions that respond to architectural design, project schedules and budgets. We provide complete structural consulting services, including analysis and design, value engineering, preparation of builder-friendly construction documents, and construction administration.

IES design projects have included a range of project types with a variety of materials, structural systems, and services. With decades of engineering design experience, our structural design services include:

  • Building Design
  • Building Performance Analysis
  • Design for Sustainability
  • Condition Assessments and Rehabilitation
  • Design for industrial plants
  • Design for water/wastewater facilities
  • Transportation Structures

Facilities Assessment 

IES conducts assessments of existing facilities for various purposes including change of use in occupancy, verification of structural integrity, re-adaptation of existing facilities or upgrades to existing mechanical systems to name a few. Often times these require strengthening or repair of existing structural framing systems to accommodate the proposed changes. Our team utilizes highly skilled engineers to assess existing conditions and provide recommendations and/or design documents for the necessary improvements. Examples of recent projects include the following:

SAN ANTONIO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT:
WEST WALL OF FIRE STATION ASSESSMENT, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

The Fire Station building is a 26 year old, 18,000 SF, two-story structure. The west and east thirds of the building are high apparatus bays. The middle third of the building is the office and living areas of the fire station. IES performed a relative floor elevation survey, observed cracking and separation in CMU partitions and brick veneer, distress in parapet framing, and “oil canning” of the roof membrane where the roof and parapet meet. IES recommended installing a root barrier around the drip line of a nearby tree, installing a horizontal moisture barrier outside of the west wall, underpinning and jacking of the grade beam under the west wall, grout injection of the voids created below the beam and below the slab, and repair of the CMU walls, brick veneer, parapet, and re-roofing of the west zone of the roof. This structural renovation was completed in early 2020.

CITY OF SAN ANTONIO: ALAMODOME FRACTURE CRITICAL MEMBER ASSESSMENT, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

The Alamodome Facility is a multi-purpose dome stadium completed in the spring of 1993. Since then, the facility has been used to host conventions, award shows, concerts, trade shows, and sporting events including basketball, hockey, and football. The Alamodome roof structural system is an innovative use of stay-cable bridge technology. This allows the interior of the dome to be free from columns and other obstructions. However, this building system does not have inherent redundancy of more traditional construction, so it is imperative to regularly monitor the condition of structural members considered to be Fracture Critical Members (FCM). FCMs are elements of the structure loaded in tension whose failure could result in partial or complete collapse of the roof structure. FCMs in the Alamodome include the components and connections of three types of cable-stays, located at the exterior of the building, and two types of bowstring trusses. To be thorough, IES also observed the condition of compression elements in the roof structure, including the concrete masts and struts.