swinging beef live load
swinging beef live load
(OP)
I am in the early phase of design for a small commercial butcher facility which will have meat rails in a cooler for the swinging beef. Anyone know what the design load for the meat rail system is?






RE: swinging beef live load
Just a suggestion - I don't have my copy of ASCE 7-Steak handy.
But on a serious note - I would thing that the rail system has a hook capacity and if there was some type of hook spacing that would be a start.
I used a 2.0 safety factor above but there might be some type of OSHA safety requirement you could check.
Check out Eng-Tips Forum's Policies here:
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
RE: swinging beef live load
Get entrance into a meat locker and take some measurements. I would ask what the maximum weight of a carcass is and double it as JAE recommended, after turning off the music.
Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)
RE: swinging beef live load
RE: swinging beef live load
http://igrow.org/livestock/beef/how-much-meat-can-...
BA
RE: swinging beef live load
http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/T0098E/T0098E03.htm
TABLE 3. Density of storage of hanging carcasses
or
http://www.lefiellco.com/
RE: swinging beef live load
It is funny (maybe kinda sad) how the internet, Google, Wikipedia etc, and forums like E-Tips have become the go to places for everything unknown. It is kinda funny that you/we would even expect that ASEC 7 would have live load criteria for beef carcasses. And, it is even crazier that we would not automatically go to someone who might actually know the info we need. What about the people who make this butcher/cooler equipment, they design and manufacture the equipment? They must have some design loads, allowable rail span lengths, rail/wheel loads, etc. What about a few butchers who have this type of equipment, they buy the beef by the pound, they ought to know. How close can they pack carcasses on a rail? The idea that if some code doesn’t say it, then it can’t be done, is driving us to be automatons, not thinking, knowledgeable engineers using some engineering judgement and experience, a reasonable factor of safety and calling it good. Where has our imagination gone, and our ability to develop a reasonable problem solution. We shouldn’t need the ‘code gods’ to tell us how to do everything. Just use a W36 and be done with it.
RE: swinging beef live load
RE: swinging beef live load
Check out Eng-Tips Forum's Policies here:
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
RE: swinging beef live load
Or - maybe that is a 500# bull with 50# man.
"It is imperative Cunth doesn't get his hands on those codes."
RE: swinging beef live load
"When it comes to beef weights, there are 3 different ones of which customers should be aware. The first is “live” weight. This is what the animal weighed on the hoof, or when it was alive. The live weight for our Premium summer Angus steers usually averages around 1200 lbs. Jersey steers are usually less, as are heifers. The next weight is “hanging” weight. This is the weight that the butcher gives us after the animal has been taken back to the butcher shop to hang. The weight difference from live to hanging is from loss of blood, head, hide, hooves, viscera, lungs and heart. The hanging weight is usually about 40% of the live weight. So, a 1200 lb animal would have a hanging weight of 720 lbs (estimated). (A half share would then be 360 lbs, and a 1/4 would be 180 lbs)."
This should be a good start. I'd probably add a factor of 3 or 4 to that and see where the design is at. If it's unreasonable, maybe try justifying a reduced weight. If it's a reasonable design and you feel good about then keep it. I think this falls into "engineering judgement" rather than an actual codified load.
RE: swinging beef live load
_________________________
TKE
RE: swinging beef live load