Architecture, engineering and construction experts are embracing the advantages of modular construction, including expedited deliverables and a lower carbon footprint. The boons must not veil the challenges of modular construction or the industry cannot ascend to its full potential. What can structural engineers contribute to ensuring modular construction’s benefits shine in every project, making it scalable for sturdy infrastructure?

Structural Integrity

It is simpler to mass-produce modular facets that click into place, but automated production could cause widespread defects, inciting building code violations. Other structural integrity concerns involve inadequate regulatory standards for this new brand of construction, causing quality issues. The solution is for structural engineers to verify the quality control protocol of modular producers, and implement aggressive inspection and testing schedules that set a structure up for success.

Transportation and Logistics

Assembling fleets and safely moving massive modular home pieces requires intensive planning and coordination. Without high degrees of curation, financial losses are certain and the product may be discarded. Corporations must acquire specialized trailers and hauling equipment to ensure each module remains intact and defect-free upon delivery.

Structural engineers should collaborate with logistics and procurement teams throughout the supply chain to assert transparency and communication. It allows everyone to stay current with recent permitting changes or timeline adjustments. Software is an ideal integration for solving these concerns across businesses, time zones and geographies.

Foundation Design

One of the advantages of modular construction is identifying the most optimized way to construct a stable foundation, and replicating it at scale for residences and commercial buildings. However, foundation design is a common obstacle for structural engineers because inexpensive materials do not always correlate with the most resilient or load-bearing outcomes.

Additionally, novel solutions in modular construction are only sometimes communicated to the geotechnical engineers responsible for foundation analyses. If architects, construction managers and engineers connect better with these essential consultants, they can better identify what soil conditions and foundational securities meet the needs of innovative modular builds. Foundational options are endless for modular homes, with the potential for basements, crawlspaces and blocking stations.

Structural Redundancy

The infrastructure looks homogenous when module makers pump out identical apartments and hotels on loop. Structural redundancy is also about more than aesthetics — it highlights the challenges of modular construction by making its issues more prominent with each repeated build. Purchasing distinct, unique structures costs more time and money, and the financial benefits of cheap, modular assemblies dissolve if an entire production line forges faulty parts.

How can structural engineers convince projects to choose modular over a potentially more reinforced, customized option? Designers and architects must identify the industry’s top performance concerns, and implement peripherals to compensate for the most prominent weaknesses. This heightens resilience and promises clients safeguards are in place to dissuade skepticism.

Design Flexibility

Spiked interest in modular construction has led to expedited project completion. Unfortunately, designers compromise uniqueness in their blueprints for convenient configurations. Modular construction has less flexibility than conventional methods. However, structural engineers must innovate so designers can have more freedom when docking up ideas, whether a BIM model or CAD drawing.

First, they must relay the intricacies of assembly and front-loaded designs so designers can invent novel solutions or experiment with them creatively. Secondly, prioritizing these conversations will allow this obstacle to disappear more quickly, as designer insight is critical to modular construction’s success. The industry cannot afford to have these creative minds disenchanted.

Fire Safety

As previously mentioned, the current regulatory and safety standards for modular construction are insufficient. Agencies are writing them, but in the meantime, engineers and architects have to solve problems like fire safety.

Lightweight materials that easily catch aflame or complex layouts with few evacuation options present myriad challenges in modular construction. Construction experts must recognize these oversights and incorporate fire-resistant building materials to implement defensive measures in the event of a fire, such as room for next-generation ventilation equipment.

Resistance Against Natural Disasters

Modular homes are simple to assemble. If aggregated improperly, they are just as easy to fall — high winds or seismic activity may dismantle modular components with little effort. Structural engineers must advocate for more holistic building codes for seismic resistance, just like they should for fire codes.

Similar techniques in creating earthquake-resistant bridges may apply when retrofitting modular homes for natural disasters, such as using seismic dampers and braced frames. Focusing on natural defenses asserts that modular companies choose sustainable strategies for their projects. Bolstering defenses against a volatile climate is another way to minimize residual waste and consider longevity.

Integration and Coordination

Ideally, the modules come from the same distributor and manufacturer to obtain the actual benefits of modular construction. However, this is only sometimes the case, and coordinating and installing different products might cause assembly concerns or delays.

Structural engineers can prevent this by clearly communicating and distributing assembly plans throughout the various teams involved with planning. Advanced 3D modeling and cloud technology are only a few resources integral to streamlining this experience.

Acoustic Performance

Lightweight materials strike again. While they provide numerous advantages for modular construction, those seeking projects with high acoustic performance might feel underwhelmed. The connecting joints, thin envelope and potential flanking paths leave tons of openings for sound to flow through the rooms undesirably. Suitable sound-dampening insulation, reinforcing connectors with sealants and executing acoustic audits are ways engineers can overcome these hurdles gracefully.

Overcoming the Challenges of Modular Construction

Compliance will become sturdier, just like the materials geotechnical engineers recommend for improved foundations. Designers will discover inspiring ways to forge diverse modules, just as logistics teams find novel ways to employ technology to bolster communications.

The benefits of modular construction will become more apparent as structural engineers innovate with other industry professionals. The key is collaboration, which will amplify the sector’s existing advantages.

Author : Emily Newton

Cover image by Anthony Esau on Unsplash