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Steel Designers' Manual - 6th Edition (2003)
98 Industrial steelwork
nected with the support and operation of plant and equipment, rather than simply
a steel-framed building envelope constructed over a process plant.
Although the processes and plant vary widely, the essential features of this type
of industrial steelwork are common to many applications and are conveniently
examined by reference to some typical specific examples. There are many similarities
with power station boiler house and turbine house steelwork described in
section 3.1.2.
Cement manufacturing plant. Typical cement plants are an assembly of functional
structures arranged in a manufacturing flow sequence, with many short-term storage
and material transfer facilities incorporated into the processes. The physical height
and location of the main drums are likely to dictate the remaining plant
orientation.
Vehicle assembly plants. Substantial overhead services to the various assembly
lines characterize vehicle assembly plants. It is normal to incorporate a heavy-duty
and closely-spaced grid roof structure which also will support the roof covering.
Reasonably large spans are needed to allow flexibility in arranging assembly line
layouts without being constrained by column locations. Automation of the assembly
process brings with it stiffness requirements to allow use of robots for precise
operations such as welding and bonding. Open trusses in two directions are likely
to satisfy most of these requirements, providing structural depth for deflection
control and a zone above bottom boom level that can be used for service runs. Building
plans are normally regular with rectangular type plan forms and uniformly
regular roof profiles.
Nuclear fuel process and treatment plants. Steelwork for nuclear fuel process and
treatment plants is highly dependent on the actual process involved, and often has
to incorporate massive concrete sections for biological radiation shielding purposes.
Particular points to note are the importance of the paint or other finishes, both from
the point of view of restricted access in certain locations, leading to maintenance
problems, and also from the necessity for finishes in some areas to be capable of
being decontaminated. Specialized advice is needed for the selection of suitable finishes
or to give guidance on whether, for example, structural stainless steels would
be appropriate. In addition, certain nuclear facilities must be designed for extreme
events, the most relevant of which is seismic loading set by the statutory regulatory
body. Frequently designs will have to be undertaken to comply with well-established
codes of practice for seismically active zones in, for example, America. Seismic
design requires the establishment of ductile structures to allow high levels of energy
absorption prior to collapse, and local stability and ductile connection behaviour
become of critical importance. It follows that joint and connection design has to be
fully integrated with the structural steel design generally; the normal responsibilities
of joint design assumed by the steelwork fabricator may have to be altered on
these projects.
Petrochemical plants. Petrochemical plants tend to be open structures with little
or no weather protection. The steelwork required is dedicated to providing support
to plant and pipework, and support for access walkways, gangways, stairs and
ladders. Plant layouts are relatively static over long periods of use, and the steel-