Industrial unit structure joint assessment

The customer

• Size: Small-medium enterprise
• Sector: Industrial structures design
• Country: United Kingdom

The Project

• Size: 45-60 man-hours
• Duration: 1-2 weeks

The Problem

• Stress assessment required on structure's joints
• AISC standard compliance needed for structure's commissioning

Proposed solution

• Stress analyses under different load scenarios described by AISC standard
• Factored load combinations (flood, ice, wind and weight) as per AISC code

The simulations

• Stress analysis to find mechanical hotspots of the structure (FEA analysis)
• Load combination cases for worst case scenario assessment (FEA analysis)
• Design iterations for joint optimisation (FEA analysis)

Project overall results

• Re-design of the joint to comply with AISC requirements.
• Savings over £19,000 for the customer in prototyping and testing (estimate).
• Savings of more than 7 weeks in development time (estimate).