Installing steel within congested existing plant?
Installing steel within congested existing plant?
(OP)
We’re designing some modifications in a fairly congested areas within a coal plant. One of the members is 30ft long and weighs 39kips. How are members such as this typically lifted into place inside an existing plant? Is this something the structural engineer has to worry about is it typically left completely up to the erection Contractor?






RE: Installing steel within congested existing plant?
RE: Installing steel within congested existing plant?
This might mean actually visiting the site with the erector as many times they need to see the surroundings, supporting floors, access widths, etc.
I agree with jayrod that it is ultimately a means and methods, but taking the time to check feasibility can't hurt and if you are also providing cost estimates this goes a long way to understanding the time and labor required.
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RE: Installing steel within congested existing plant?
RE: Installing steel within congested existing plant?
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RE: Installing steel within congested existing plant?
In my experience some portions of power plants are designed by significant loads whereas others are not. Can the floor framing even support this thing on possible entry paths? Shoring multiple floors tends to be impossible in those types of places.
RE: Installing steel within congested existing plant?
One reason for the existence of large hydraulic cranes is to get stuff like this where you can't get close enough to it.
RE: Installing steel within congested existing plant?
In this kind of design project, means and methods must be taken into account during your design process, or as mentioned above, you may be designing something that can’t be practically installed. You should consult with (interact with) the plant people, millwrights, riggers, erectors, plant maintenance and management, and the like. They know their facility and the types of equipment they have available. They likely have contractors who work with them on a regular basis, who bring in special lifting equip. etc. This kind of work is fun, challenging and very educational, as compared to designing a whole building starting from a hole in the ground. You can learn a lot by talking and working with these other trades and people. It is surprising how smart and clever they are about what they do. They may not always speak exactly your engineering lingo, or know the codes the way you do, but many of them are very clever mechanics with some good ideas. You do sometimes have to rein them in, with their ideas, they tend to want to use-up 150% of your safety factors if they have never dropped anything yet. I’ve almost always enjoyed working with and interacting with good tradesmen and mechanics, and enjoyed watch them do their job.
RE: Installing steel within congested existing plant?
Scaffolding is mobile, but will interrupt other work and other crafts while it is going up and down.
For example, a "4x4 cut in a sheetmetal wall (if non-asbestos or non-leaded-paint!!!) may be a simple way to move the entire structural member into a 5th level position from the outside with a single lift.
or it might require a 40,000.00 crane rental for that one lift. And a asbestos abatement and moving 6 instrument lines inside. If a long crane is on-site already (already scheduled, even if for another contractor) maybe you can come right down through the sheetmetal roof with a 2x2 hole. Or through a vent fan panel.
You HAVE to go look. In place. On the floors and rooms being worked. ALL of the floors, inside and outside. Remember your layout area, and the load path from the truck-trailer ALL the way to the fitup.
RE: Installing steel within congested existing plant?
"We shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us." -WSC
RE: Installing steel within congested existing plant?
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