Failures occur in all industries. They may be structural failures due to overload conditions, piping failures due to erosion or foundation failures due to improper sub-base conditions. Archon has been contracted several times to review existing failure conditions. Some of our projects included failure of a large highway billboard, excessive foundation settlement and cracking, torsional failure of a jib crane and our example project progressive failure of a large SCR support structure.
SCR Structure Failure:
This project involved an existing SCR support structure that was showing signs of progressive failure at its highly loaded structural connections. Our client was a large contractor. This project involved the review of design loading and the design configuration on over 700 individual connections. Our analysis showed that approximately 150 of these connections were under designed. Archon provided analysis calculations for all connections and proposed modifications to the connections that were under designed.
Jib Crane Failure and Repair:
A new jib crane was installed at a power plant. The crane was supported by a main column in their turbine building. During load testing, when the crane was set at a 90 degree angle, excessive deflection was observed. Archon was contracted to review the cause of the deflection and design a repair. Our analysis showed that the deflection was due to torsional rotation of the column.
Our solution was to reinforce the column to resist torsion. The modification stiffened the column and allowed the use of the jib crane at the desired location.
