Sending structural components from US to Australia

[TwistedSteel]

I am in the process of designing an ACHE that will be installed in Australia. My ACHE has walkways, ladders, motor removal beams, and a support structure for the cooler's tube bundles. Are there any major difference between the structural standards of Australia i.e AS-1657, AS-1170, AS-1554, AS-4100 vs what we use in the US i.e. AWS, ASTM-123, AISC, etc. I don't have these AS-XXXX standard references and wanted to know is there a summary sheet anywhere with the differences?

 

[vandede427]

ache?

 

[hokie66]

I also don't know what an ACHE is, but to answer the question, there are significant differences between US and Australian standards. I am not aware of any summary of these differences.

The best approach is to engage an Australian engineer to check your design against Australian requirements. This lesson has been learned lots of times with lots of pain.

 

[rowingengineer]

Hokie,
I am over agreeing with you.

Twistedsteel,
However I agree with hokie again. I also vouch for his statement, I make a small amount of money reviewing designs from other countries and upgrading to meet the requirements of Aust codes and BCA. The main difference in my opinion is the wind code and BCA requirements.


An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a very narrow field

 

[TwistedSteel]

An ACHE is Air Cooled Heat Exchanger.

 

[hokie66]

In that case, I think you should advise your mechanical engineers that they should also seek local advice. Just one example...one European manufacturer of caravans (camper trailers) had to strip out all of the gas piping and fittings on their first batch imported into Australia.

 

[dhengr]

Gosh, I really like all these acronyms. I didn’t have any questions. I just thought he was being polite when he said “ache,” and he actually meant that his design was a real pain in the A$$.

 

[Ron]

You need to follow the advice of hokie66 and RowingEngineer. They deal with this routinely and know a lot more about their local laws, codes, and practices than most of us Yanks.

If you're sending large structural components of a device from the US to Australia, it probably is not a cheap device, so spend a few dollars and get a local engineer to review and validate the design.

 

[TwistedSteel]

The problem is I don't know who to go to and the customer is basically throwing this issue in our lap without any guidance. We don't have the experience to know who we need to go to. We already have someone reviewing the pressure vessel portion so I feel confident this is going to be taken care of but they can't help with the structural components. Help!!

 

[dig1]

One question: Is this heat exchanger a pressure vessel? I know you said it is air cooled but if it is pressure vessel design verification needs to be done in accordance with the Australian rules which are in effect in the state of the installation. Some states (NSW comes to mind) use AS1210 and if a pressure vessel is designed to ASME it must also meet AS1210. I have been through this before and knowing it up front saves a lot of pain.

Hokie and RE are absolutely correct to get an Australian engineer involved.

 

[dig1]

Sorry TwistedSteel,

I missed that part of your last post re the PV

 

[TwistedSteel]

Any Australian structural engineers in the United States? I need an answer by today and its 17hrs ahead of us in Australia

 

[Ron]

Hokie66 and RE....why not give him 3 firms that you know who could do this....That's a reference, not advertisement...include yourselves anonymously.

Ron

 

[csd72]

Or you could contact the institute of engineers Australia and they could give you a list.

 

[hokie66]

TwistedSteel,

You should discuss this with your customer and tell him frankly what your problem is. The appropriate assistance is certainly available, but will depend on the location (state), type of customer (industrial, government, commercial), maybe other things. If you want to tell us the general location and type of project, maybe we can help. No point in us suggesting an engineer in Perth who does shopping centres if your customer is a coal miner in central Queensland.

 

[rowingengineer]

Hokie's on the money again, knowing what/who your end user is will help us decide it you just need engineering advice or setout advice. If your end user is a miner as suggest by hokie the BCA dosn't apply and you can use AS standards for access ladders ect. The differance can mean a few $$.

An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a very narrow field