Riverwood Corporate Center

The Riverwood Corporate Center is a 40-acre office park consisting of multiple Class A, three-story office buildings.  The majority of the buildings’ facade consists of a strip window system supported by brick-faced precast concrete spandrel panels.  The precast spandrel panels span between steel columns and typically include a midspan lateral connection.  On one of three office buildings, the precast panels were bowed outward, and, in some locations, gaps had formed between the window framing and the interior drywall.  Previous numerous repairs had been made to the midspan precast panel connections to the structure in an attempt to restrain the bowing.  RRJ was retained to perform a structural review of the precast concrete spandrel panels to evaluate the adequacy of the current spandrel panel midspan connection configurations to resist the anticipated design forces.

RRJ conducted an evaluation of the connections, including the current conditions, reviewed available project documents, original construction documents, calculations and sketches for the new midspan connections, and various post-construction-related correspondence.  RRJ conducted independent structural calculations to evaluate the performance of the panel connections, specifically the ability of the connections to resist sustained tension loads.

The primary cause of the panel bowing was attributed to the material differences between the clay brick facing and the concrete.  RRJ’s evaluation indicated that the midspan connections have sufficient capacity to resist the anticipated design forces.