Is this ok for design?? 1

[phatso86]

hi, i wanna make this short
i work for a company and it seemed to me that the way they work things are quite inefficient

i attached a picture of what they have..
looking at it, it seems VERY basic; in reality its even a 2D frame

anyways, i wanted to know if this is sound engineering..
i was thinking of using a finite element program using an estimate on what the member sizes should be. I plan on running the case twice, once with aasumed pinned connections and once with assumed fixed connections. I planned on taking the worst case for internal stresses and use that to size the members accoringly. Then maybe repeat analysis until i can get a fairly decent size on members.
Then finally in the last run, i want to take the worst reaction moments and using this for the sizing/spacing of connections (bolts, welds, etc.)

as for boundary conditions, i wanted to take the worst reactions out of all the cases and use that for design of footer/piles/ etc.

can anyone tell me if this is flawed in any way?

thank you

 

[transmissiontowers]

Yes, the student version of GTStrudl is for non-commercial use and I should have said that. In the OP's quest for knowledge, it would solve his problem provided that he can look over the consultant's calculations and model the truss and the loads. If he found that GTStrudl was suitable for his needs, he should get a copy of the full program.

_____________________________________
I have been called "A storehouse of worthless information" many times.

 

[BWAppliedKinetics]

IMHO The easy answer is that if you are not comfortable with the technique than it is not OK as a tool. As a responsible engineer you must be confident that you arrive at the right conclusion based on your method.

Brad Woodward

http://www.akeng.com

http://www.appliedkinetics.ca

 

[Dinosaur]

In my opinion, if you can't compute the dynamic loads on that structure by hand, you should hire someone that can. This is an instance where the codes are pushing people to produce answers to questions they don't understand. However, I think a little earthquake analysis on our atomic energy infrastructure sounds like a good idea.