Equipment Skid Anchor Bolts

[mmaurigi]

I'm a mechanical designer for a company that manufactures skid mounted water treatment equipment. The equipment (pressure filters)is bolted to a structrual steel skid and the skid assembly is anchored to a concrete foundation. One of our clients is asking for the calulations for the sizing of the anchor bolts that fasten the skid to the concrete. There will be wind and siesmic forces to be considered. Can anyone guide me in the calulations for the anchor bolts. There will probably be six around the perimeter of the skid.

Thank you

 

[zcp]

You have two choices:
1) Obtain some books (ASCE 7 would be a good start), do some reading, apply engineering principals, do some calculations (hilti has a nice calculator available online if you go that route), and write up your assumptions and calculations.
2) Spend a few dollars with a consultant experienced in doing these calculations and obtain a well written report that you can provide to your client or incorporate into some best practices documentation in case this comes up again.


ZCP

http://www.phoenix-engineer.com

 

[TVP]

How did you arrive at 6 fasteners being necessary if you have no idea what the loading conditions (wind, seismic, etc.) are? Option 2 as outlined by zcp seems like the best option since you likely need an immediate answer.

 

[diamondjim]

I would assume you will have a hard
time keeping the bolts tight if the
skid is wood? Are you only concerned
about the shear loads?
How long are the bolts from the concrete
thru the skids? Are you using heavy
washers and nuts? You do not give much
information for such a complex situation.

 

[CRG]

1. Find out what the building code is used in your area. IBC, UBC, etc. Use their load criteria for seismic and wind loading. The following link has some good information using the building codes to determine seismic loading for equipment.

http://www.kineticsnoise.com/seismicbook/index.asp

The following has a guide for wind loading.

http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Civ...4E25-AF42-418CF0C59202/0/rec1wind_eqloads.pdf

2. Go to the Hilti fastener site and download their program that can be used to specify the required anchors. Also their site has some good engineering information regarding concrete anchors.

3. Hire a competent, licensed structural engineer to review your work. Once you have done a few of these calculation sets, you may no longer need the structural review.