Loads

Thermal ranges used to be given in the exam but have not been stated in the question since the format of the exam paper changed in 2004.

Nevertheless, they could be important to your design for a number of reasons including:

Wind loading is usually given in the exam. Depending on the question and form of structure you are considering, this may or may not be a significant load. This cheat sheet is therefore relevant in part 1a (design appraisal) and also in the calculation section.

Wind loads given in the exam are usually given as a 3-second gust speed, and/or a mean hourly wind speed, for example:

The site is located near open sea. Basic wind speed is 56m/s based on a 3-second gust; the equivalent mean hourly wind speed is 28m/s”

When starting the calculations in part 2C, the first thing you will need to do is estimate the weight of your structure.

There isn't enough time in the exam to go through the full process and estimate the self-weight, do your analysis, check your member sizes, adjust if necessary and then re-calculate the actual weight of the structure. You just have to make a good guess, do your analysis, and at most make a note of whether your actual weight is higher/lower than the expected weight.

So, how do you estimate the weight of a structure without knowing your member sizes?