Water Resource Recovery Facility Structural Design Guide/ Information

[oengineer]

I have been tasked to design a 19' tall by 15.67' wide by 29' long equipment support structure (a Headworks structure). It has two levels. One is 12 ft then the other is 7 ft above that. It is supporting 3 equipment. Is drift due to wind typically considered for these designs? I come from an oil & gas background where we always considered drift for our structures using L/150. I am getting a drift of 3 inches in one of my columns at the top of the structure. Any suggestions/comments are helpful.

Also is there a recommended design for Water Resource Recovery Facility? Please let me know.

 

[oengineer]

Is there a structural design book/document anyone would recommend for these types of facilities?

 

[SAIL3]

sketch?.....how much lateral deflection can the equipment tolerate....3" seems allot for a 19ft tall structure...what type of bracing is being used or is it a moment frame?

 

[JedClampett]

The channels and therefore the supporting walls of headworks are almost always (always) made of cast in place concrete. As such they're enormously stiff. The drift due to wind is negligible. If you're supporting it on columns you need to support it on walls.
You're going to fill this thing with sewage and put heavy equipment in the channels. The loads will be high. Plus there needs to be room around the equipment for access. This is not a place to economize. Twelve inch walls, sixteen inch slabs, a heavy mat, plus bearing and shear walls connecting the whole thing together.
There's no book. Find someone who's done one before and make sense of their design. Or visit a site that has a headworks. I've done more than a few, evaluated a few more and they all look pretty much the same. Drift was never even checked.

 

[oengineer]

@SAIL3 - I was able to reduce the drift by adding bracing to the structure in one direction and using moment connections in the other direction. I was just hoping to find more information about structural design of treatment facilities.

@JedClampett - So there is no book regarding the structural design of these treatment facilities? It seems similar to designing a refinery. I used wide flange beams and columns (W8x31 column & beams) to the design the structure along with double angle bracing (2 - L3x3x3/8). This worked for my design. Why is drift not checked? I based my design off of PIP Code and they specifically state to check for drift in access structures.

 

[JedClampett]

There's tons of books on the process end. There's books on circular structures, rectangular plates and pipe designs. But there's very little literature on the structural design of miscellaneous structures that make up a treatment plant. Maybe I'll write one in my spare time.
I'm not sure what kind of headworks you're designing. But I question supporting it on steel shapes of any size.

 

[Archie264]

But there's very little literature on the structural design of miscellaneous structures that make up a treatment plant. Maybe I'll write one in my spare time.

Do it!