Structural

Steel Structural Design for Grain Storage Solution

The client is a USA-based company founded in 1970, specializing in providing dairy farming solutions. They offer a range of products and services to optimize dairy production and improve efficiency for dairy products and animal food manufacturers, including structural fabrication solutions, advanced dairy farm management systems, innovative milking equipment, milk storage cooling systems and hygiene solutions.

Scope

The client sought us to design a structure for the Grain Storage Bins. These grain storage bins are essential for the safe storage and handling of grain and other bulk commodities. Their primary purpose is to protect the harvested grain from spoilage, pests, and weather, while enabling efficient handling and transportation.

As this was outside their regular product line, the client needed an expert solution for designing a steel structure to support and hold all the components while meeting their specific requirements.

So, the scope of this project included:

  • Design a durable, safe, and easy-to-handle steel structure measuring 40 feet x 40 feet x 65 feet.
  • Ensure stability under wind, seismic loads, and provide maintenance access and grain discharge.
  • Design the structure to withstand wind speeds of 45 m/s, moderate seismic conditions, and a soil bearing capacity of 150 kN/m².
  • Provide ongoing design and detailing support for production parts and sub-assemblies.
  • Deliver the complete design, including bracings, supports, native CAD files, PDF files, a bill of materials (BOM), and an erection sequence.

Challenge

The key challenges while designing a huge steel structure were significant, with some major ones outlined as follows:

  • Equipment Mounting: The equipment mounting presented significant challenges, requiring structural rework and design adjustments. These changes were necessary to ensure proper load transfer, stability, and alignment with engineering standards and installation tolerances.
  • Joints and Connections: Initially the connections were not pre-defined based on the design inputs.
  • Stair Access at Multiple Levels: The stair structure required access at three levels: the first floor, second floor, and roof. This added complexity to the design, requiring consideration of factors like common access points and overall structural integrity.
  • Stair Assembly Bracing Interference: The stair assembly involved interference from bracing, which affected the alignment and positioning of the treads.
  • Roof Design: The roof design presented challenges due to its slope and division into three sub-assemblies. It was connected to the main structure using bolted connections, requiring precise alignment.
  • Transition Chutes Design: The design of transition chutes required optimization of angles to ensure proper alignment with screw conveyors, promoting efficient material flow.

Solution

To meet the client’s requirements and address the challenges of complex structural designs, Sedin’s expert engineers utilized a comprehensive approach that enabled timely product completion and installation, presenting enhanced versions to the clients.

We categorized the solution into 4 phases.

Phase 1: Load Calculations

Before the design phase, we conducted detailed load calculations, including live, dead, wind, and seismic loads, in compliance with AISC standards. This ensured the structure would meet all strength and stability requirements:

  • Material: Structural steel grade S275, with a yield strength of 275 MPa, was chosen for its durability under static and dynamic loads.
  • Weight: The structure was estimated to weigh 250-260 tonnes, including beams, columns, bracing, and roofing.
  • Wind Resistance: The design could withstand wind speeds of 45 m/s while adhering to local safety standards.

Phase 2: Design Calculations

In this phase, we selected the appropriate sizes for the columns, beams, and foundation elements, ensuring they can safely handle the applied loads:

  • Beam and Column Design: Beam and column sizes were selected based on analysis of bending moments and buckling loads, to ensure they could safely support the applied loads.
  • Foundation Design: The foundation was designed with isolated footings, considering a soil-bearing capacity of 150 kN/m². We checked the bearing pressure to ensure the actual soil pressure is within safe limits for stability.

Phase 3: Detailed Design

In this phase, our team designed a 3D CAD structure to support 20 grain storage bins, each holding 53,000 liters and weighing 5-8 tonnes. The structure was built to handle various loads and weather conditions.

The design also included essential components like bin assemblies, screw conveyor systems, hopper assemblies, combining funnels, and transition chutes. To ensure reliable performance, we focused on providing adequate support for each component and maintaining uniform load distribution across the structure.

Key Design Features:

  • Steel Structure: Design included steel sections for poles, beams, bracing, handrails, stairs, and platforms.
  • Beams and Columns: Symmetrical columns and beams were designed using square, rectangular or circular hollow sections and I-sections, as per the requirements. CHS 219.1 × 8 mm size was chosen for buckling resistance and ease of fabrication. IPE 300 beams were used for load distribution.
  • Foundation: Designed with reinforced concrete pads (40 ft × 40 ft × 1 ft) with anchor bolts.
  • Bracing: Cross-bracing and knee-bracing were used for stability, with L4x4x 0.375 mm angle sections in an X-pattern.
  • Connections: We incorporated M20 bolts and welded connections for strength and ease of assembly.
  • Multiple design iterations were evaluated, focusing on dynamics and installation tolerances.
  • The final design also incorporated considerations for sheet metal processes like cutting, bending, and welding, ensuring manufacturability and structural integrity. It met operational requirements and was feasible to produce.

Safety and Maintenance:

  • Factory of Safety: A safety factor of 1.5 was applied for structural loads and 1.25 for material strength to ensure safety.
  • Easy Maintenance: Ladders and platforms were added for easy maintenance access.
  • Drainage system provisions: We provided design support for drainage systems to prevent water buildup and protect the structure.

Phase 4: Structural Validation

Emphasizing value addition, our designers and engineers worked closely with the client to develop an effective structural engineering design solution without compromising functionality. We suggested improvements for cost savings, process optimization, hardware reduction, plate thickness adjustments, and alternative materials.

Before final delivery, we ensured:

  • Bin assemblies, screw conveyor assemblies, hopper assemblies, combining funnels, transition chutes and their weldments were validated using DFMA (Design for Manufacturing and Assembly) and DFMEA (Design Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) techniques.
  • Thorough quality checks ensured precise dimensions, accurate GD&T, flawless welds, and adherence to a high-quality checklist.
  • All weldments adhered to AWS (American Welding Society) standards.
  • Structural selections followed ANSI/ASTM standards for steel structures.
  • Fabrication and erection followed AISC standards for structural steel members and connections.
  • Finite element analysis (FEA) using ANSYS was performed to validate stresses, deflections, and stability under combined loading conditions.

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Value and Benefits

Sedin’s steel structure design efficiently supported the grain bins while addressing all loading conditions and safety requirements. The modular design allowed for scalability and ease of assembly.

Our structural design helped the client reduce operational costs and streamline their grain storage and transportation processes.

Our design's flexibility ensured it can easily adapt to future changes or expansions, offering a forward-thinking solution.

With Sedin engineers as their design partners, the client gained confidence in managing steel structure projects alongside their existing product line. This being their first such project, they are now better equipped to handle similar large-scale projects in the future. Their manufacturing capabilities have improved, enabling them to offer complete turnkey solutions to customers.

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Sedin Engineering is the division of Sedin Technologies. We offer multidisciplinary and holistic engineering design services across product development, plant design & engineering, industrial automation, structural, civil, electrical, wiring and harness design. Our agenda is to enable engineering brilliance.

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