Industrial Floor Loads
Industrial Floor Loads
(OP)
Can someone provide a good design reference for evaluating the capacity of an elevated two way slab for its ability to support a crane or forklift.
This question has come up in our office and we have referred the question to a civil engineer. Before sending the solution to the engineer we were trying to determine over what area the load from the tires will act and how to evaluate this.
If there are some simplifying assumptions that can be used in the analysis that would be good. Also is there a good design reference that I could aquire for similar problems. Thank you.
This question has come up in our office and we have referred the question to a civil engineer. Before sending the solution to the engineer we were trying to determine over what area the load from the tires will act and how to evaluate this.
If there are some simplifying assumptions that can be used in the analysis that would be good. Also is there a good design reference that I could aquire for similar problems. Thank you.






RE: Industrial Floor Loads
RE: Industrial Floor Loads
If you are using a consulting engineer for the answer then why are you interested in coming up with a solution before you ask him?
If you are looking for one simple answer to this problem, there is not one. It is quite a complicated problem and must be analyzed in detail.
RE: Industrial Floor Loads
This problem can't be that difficult. There must be simplifying conservative assumptions that can be used to solve this problem. If the conservative assumptions prove to be a problem then a more detailed analysis is required.
Any positive comments are appreciated.
RE: Industrial Floor Loads
Code live loads may not be descriptive enough for your application. Find out the NEED of your client before going too far with the design.
RE: Industrial Floor Loads
I know of no simplified methods for two way slabs, however, there are a number of simplified methods for one way slabs.
RE: Industrial Floor Loads
If your slab was properly designed as a two-way slab for 250 psf or more then a small lift will likely be OK.
A 15,000# axel load from a 2 ton forktruck on a skimpy slab likely won't be OK.
A good structural engineer should be able to do a couple of back-of-the-napkin sketches and tell you in 30 minutes how great your concern out to be.