Metallic structures
The structures
called for by the piping
and the equipment
On an installation that already exists, a new structure has to fit into an occupied volume and rest on a structure whose remaining capacity is not always known.
What we design
Our structural work is not a separate trade: it is what the piping, the equipment and their operation make necessary.
Pipe racks
The main rack is treated as a work in its own right: preliminary routing, load note, then 3D modelling — from your 2D drawings, from a 3D scan, or by integrating the vendor's model.
Platforms and walkways
Operating and maintenance access, stairs, ladders, handrails. Laid out with the volumes needed to operate and to remove components, not only with the envelope of the equipment.
Equipment supports
Plinths, frames and secondary steelwork carrying pumps, exchangers, skids and vessels, with the loads they transmit.
Local strengthening
What has to be added to an existing structure so that it can take a new load: the most frequent case in a modification, and the least predictable.
The formats
DWG and PDF, native 3D model, and the associated calculation notes.
Sizing is carried out to the Eurocodes and to the national provisions applicable where the plant is located. The actions retained — permanent, imposed, snow, wind, seismic and accidental as the case may be — are stated, together with the combinations considered.
Verification covers the ultimate and serviceability limit states. On an existing structure, it starts from what is actually known about it: sections in place, connections, state of corrosion, and loads already carried. What is not known is identified as such, not assumed favourable.
Where a structural study starts
In a modification, the starting point is almost never a blank page.
From the piping
The routing and the load note determine where the line has to be carried, guided or anchored. The structure follows the piping, not the reverse.
From your existing drawings
The drawings of the structure in place, even old ones, serve as a basis — once confronted with the field.
From a 3D survey
When the drawings are missing or no longer match, the scan gives the real geometry of what will have to be built upon.
From a vendor's model
A rack or a frame delivered as a model is integrated into the project model and checked against its surroundings.
We design the structures related to process installations and we pass the loads, the openings and the interface constraints to the project's civil or structural design office.
We do not take on the foundations, the geotechnical study, the building envelope or its thermal design. Saying clearly where our responsibility stops is part of what we deliver: a badly defined interface costs more than a missing service.
Tell us what you have to add or modify, what you know about the structure in place, and the documents you hold even if incomplete. We will tell you what has to be checked before anything is sized.
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