CIVIL ENGINEERING FOSTER WHEELER ENERGY LTD 40A1 (READING) WIND, EARTHQUAKE, CORPORATE STANDARD PAGE 2 OF 7 SNOW & ICE LOADING ENGINEERING REV 5
1. SCOPE
This Standard specifies the minimum design requirements for wind, earthquake, snow and ice loadings to be imposed on buildings, equipment, vessels, structures and their foundations.
If a specialist Supplier or Consultant is employed, the design criteria shall be
reviewed by FWEL and approved prior to commencement of the design.
2. REFERENCES
Design loads shall be in accordance with the latest revisions of the following Standards and Codes of Practice current at time of Contract Placement. Where conflict exists between Standards and Codes, the more stringent shall govern.
2.1 Foster Wheeler Standards (Reading)
Eng. Std. 40A2 Design Loading for Buildings, Equipment, Structures and Foundations
2.2 British Standards
BS 4076 - Specification for Steel Chimneys
BS 6399 - Loadings for Buildings
Part 1 - Code of Practice for Dead and Imposed Loads
Part 2 - Code of Practice for Wind Loads
Part 3 - Code of Practice for Imposed Roof Loads
BS 8100 - Lattice Towers and Masts
Part 1 Code of Practice for Loading
Part 2 Guide to the Background and use of Part 1
Part 3 Code of Practice for strength assessment of members of lattice
towers and masts.
Part 4 Code of Practice for loading of guyed masts
Special Digest SD 5 Wind loads on Unclad Structures.
CIVIL ENGINEERING FOSTER WHEELER ENERGY LTD 40A1 (READING) WIND, EARTHQUAKE, CORPORATE STANDARD PAGE 3 OF 7 SNOW & ICE LOADING ENGINEERING REV 5
2.3 National Standards
Uniform Building Code
NZS 4203 Code of Practice for Structural Vol. 1 – Code of Practice, Design and design Loadings for Vol. 2 – Commentary. Buildings
2.4 Technical Literature
CICIND Model Codes for Stacks
ACI Standards
Engineering Science Data Unit
The Standards and Codes of Practice listed above shall be used on all projects in the United Kingdom or in areas where British or U.S. Standards and Codes are applicable. In areas where this does not apply, the corresponding National or Local Authority Codes may be used provided they are no less stringent than their British equivalent.
2.5 The Eurocodes: Building and Civil Engineering Codes for Europe
Eurocodes are progressively becoming available and in due course will replace British Standards Codes of Practice. The Eurocodes will be investigated by the Engineering department and when appropriate FWEL engineering standards will be revised accordingly. The following Eurocodes will be investigated:-
BS EN 1991-1-1, Eurocode 1: Actions on Structures-Part 1-1: General actions
– Densities, self-weight and imposed Load
BS EN 1991-1-3, Eurocode 1: Actions on Structures-Part 1-3: General actions
– Snow Loads
BS EN 1991-1-4, Eurocode 1: Actions on Structures-Part 1-4: General actions
– Wind Action
BS EN 1991-1-5, Eurocode 1: Actions on Structures-Part 1-5: General actions
– Thermal actions
BS EN 1991-1-6, Eurocode 1: Actions on Structures-Part 1-6: General actions
– Actions during execution
BS EN 1992-1-1, Eurocode 2: Design of Concrete Structures-Part 1-General –
Common rules for building and civil engineering structures
BS EN 1993-1-1, Eurocode 3: Design of Steel Structures-Part 1-1:General
rules and rules for buildings
BS EN 1998-1, Eurocode 8: Design of Structures for Earthquake Resistance
Where the references listed above do not cater for the wind loading on a structure due to dynamic effects such as gusting, vortex shedding, flutter and galloping, then the loads shall be determined in accordance with the latest technical literature and practice. If a specialist Supplier or Consultant is employed for the design of such a wind sensitive structures, then the wind loading design criteria shall be reviewed by FWEL and approved prior to the commencement of the design.
3.2 Design Wind Loadings for Buildings
Design wind loading shall be established from BS 6399-2 “Loadings for Buildings: Code of Practice for Wind Loads”.
3.3 Design Wind Loadings for Process Structures and Equipment
Design wind loading for process structures and equipment shall be established from BS 6399-2 “Loadings for Buildings: Code of Practice for Wind Loads” and supplemented by Special Digest SD 5-Wind loads on Unclad Structures, with the following minimum requirements:
3.3.1 The altitude factor (SA) shall not be less than 1.0.
3.3.2 The directional factor (SD) shall normally be taken as 1.0.
3.3.3 The seasonal factor (SS) shall normally be taken as 1.0.
3.3.4 The probability factor (SP) shall normally be taken as 1.0 except for temporary structures, (where a shorter period of exposure may be considered), and structures requiring greater than normal safety.
3.3.5 The effective exposed area of open framed structures which support piping and equipment shall be estimated as a percentage of the gross projected area.
3.3.6 Vessels or other large equipment supported on a structure shall be calculated
separately and be additive in computing the total wind load.
3.3.7 The design wind loading shall be assumed to act in any direction, including diagonal wind on a lattice towers or similar structures. Reduction shall not be made for the shielding effect of adjacent structures or equipment except:-
In case of open structures with two or more parallel frames where the windward frame has a shielding effect on the frames to leeward side.
CIVIL ENGINEERING FOSTER WHEELER ENERGY LTD 40A1 (READING) WIND, EARTHQUAKE, CORPORATE STANDARD PAGE 5 OF 7 SNOW & ICE LOADING ENGINEERING REV 5
The shielding effect shall also be considered when assessing wind load on series of pipes in one plane.
In case of vessels and stacks where leeward items are shielded for some wind directions.
3.3.8 Transverse forces due to wind acting on pipes in racks shall be calculated and the effect of wind on all pipes shall be considered, including any shielding effect. Wind forces on longitudinal beams shall also be included, but shielding effect shall be neglected.
3.3.9 Alternatively for racks up to 6 metres wide and with pipes not greater than 450mm diameter the wind load may be deemed equivalent to the load on a 1.5m high band. For wider racks the height of the equivalent wind band shall be increased in the ratio of 1:1 with the width. For racks with pipes larger than 450mm diameter the actual wind load shall be calculated.
3.4 Dynamic Effects
3.4.1 Structures such as, but not limited to, heater stacks, chimneys and tall towers, may be sensitive to wind gust effects and/or vibrations due to vortex shedding. There is no exact slenderness ratio at which these effects will occur, but, as a general guide, when the ratio of height to diameter exceeds 12, vortex shedding analysis is required. Fatigue loading shall be considered for equipment and structures subject to vortex excited vibrations
3.4.2 If vortex shedding analysis results indicate that unacceptable levels of vibrations can occur, then helical strakes, dynamic vibration absorbers or other means shall be adopted provided prior approval is obtained from FWEL.
3.4.3 All calculations for gust or vibration analysis on purchased equipment shall be submitted to FWEL for review prior to release for fabrication.
4. EARTHQUAKE LOADS
4.1 General
Seismic loading and design of buildings is well covered by the relevant National Codes of countries subject to moderate and high levels of seismicity, eg USA, Japan, New Zealand. When working in such countries, design documentation can usually be identified by Clients and used accordingly by appropriately qualified personnel.
Comprehensive loadings and design codes for seismic design of industrial and petrochemical plants, process and equipment facilities are not as widely available. Codes are typically written for structures, and require interpretation for vessels and other equipment.
CIVIL ENGINEERING FOSTER WHEELER ENERGY LTD 40A1 (READING) WIND, EARTHQUAKE, CORPORATE STANDARD PAGE 6 OF 7 SNOW & ICE LOADING ENGINEERING REV 5
Due cognisance shall be taken of the applicable data available for each individual country or site, and consideration should be given to the use of specialist seismic consultants.
When working in countries subject to seismicity where National Codes for seismic loading and design do not exist or are not considered adequate, specialist geotechnical/seismic investigation will be required.
Such investigation will establish peak ground accelerations for a particular return period, to be agreed with the client and local authorities. This will then form the basis of seismic design loading.
The choice of design codes will need to be rationalised appropriate to the seismic consideration, e.g. British Codes are very unlikely to be appropriate. It would be more appropriate to use UBC loading in conjunction with USA design codes.
The Engineering disciplines will need to liaise with other Departments, such asv Proposals, Estimating and Construction to ensure that these Departments appreciate any impact that seismic considerations would have on a particular project.
4.2 Codes
4.2.1 For sites in countries where National Earthquake Standards exist, then those standards shall apply.
4.2.2 In the absence of appropriate National Earthquake Standards, the design shall be based on the appropriate sections of the Uniform Building Code.
4.2.3 Where the above references do not cater for earthquake loads on a particular structure, then the loads shall be determined in accordance with the latest technical literature.
4.3 Response Spectrum Analysis
Response Spectrum Analysis shall only be required where the relevant National Earthquake Standard requires it for sensitive structures with:- 1. Major set-backs of storeys 2. Large torsional eccentricities 3. Unusual mass or stiffness distributions 4. Unusual foundation conditions 5. Height exceeding that stipulated in the Standard When using modal analysis, sufficient number of structural vibration modes shall be determined such that more than 90% mass participation is achieved in all axes under consideration.
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5. SNOW AND ICE LOADS
5.1 Codes
5.1.1 For all sites located within the United Kingdom snow loads shall be in accordance with: BS 6399-Part 3. - Code of Practice for Imposed Roof Loads
5.1.2 On wind sensitive structures such as masts, supporting towers to flare stacks, etc., loading due to ice formation shall be considered in accordance with: BS 8100 – Part 1 Lattice Towers and Masts – Code of practice for loading.
5.1.3 Snow and ice loads not included in the above references shall be to the latest technical literature.
5.2 Design Parameters
Snow and ice loading parameters required for design shall be as follows: 1. Maximum snow depths, including drifting snow in valleys and against vertical faces 2. Ice thicknesses and density 3. Formation of ice sheeting 4. Wind speeds during and after ice deposition 5. Frequency of icing conditions
