Steel for Impact resistance 1

[Ipetu]

A concrete wall in an industrial application needs to be protected against impact from machinery. Will 3/4" thick steel with a yield strength of 43.5 ksi (CSA G40.21) be satisfactory? Anyone with experience in this are please provide some feedback.

 

[btrueblood]

From experience, if the plate is bolted up tightly to the wall, impacts will damage/fracture the concrete behind the plate, and never be seen until the wall falls down, or the cracks propagate up above the cover plate.

Better is to stand thin metal plate off the wall with wooden 2x4's or similar. Dents and impacts can then be seen, and inspection made to the underlying wall very quickly by shining a flashlight into the gap between the plate and the concrete.

Another good idea: paint the corners of the fork trucks with different colors. This helps in finding/identifying the operators in need of corrective "training", by looking at the color of paint scraped off on the walls.