BRAZILIAN ENGINEER USES ALGOR FEA SOFTWARE TO DESIGN
A SAFE AND ECONOMICAL COMMERCIAL CENTER
Frederico Beck of Beck Engineering used Algor FEA tools
to design and analyze a beam and plate model of the eight-story
tower Via Sul Center, a commercial center and shopping plaza in
de Venancio Aires, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
June
30, 1998, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Just as consumers
want to buy safe, but affordable cars, commercial developers want
to build safe, but economical shopping centers and office buildings.
Luckily, engineers such as Frederico Beck, a managing partner
and project engineer at Beck Engineering in Santa Cruz do Sul,
Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, can optimize structural safety and
the economics of the project using finite element analysis (FEA)
software. Mr. Beck used FEA tools from Pittsburgh-based software
producer Algor, Inc. to design and analyze the eight-story tower
of the Via Sul Center, a commercial center located in de Venancio
Aires, a small city 30 km from Santa Cruz do Sul.
The main commercial tower of the Via Sul Center rests upon
two large, paved areas shared by the center's smaller store buildings
and supermarket. The tower is exposed to extremely strong winds
because the terrain around de Venancio Aires is very flat. Further,
neighboring residential development offers little wind protection
since the tower is much taller than the surrounding housing complexes.
Mr. Beck analyzed the concrete tower structure using Algor
linear static stress analysis to ensure the building would withstand
high winds and comply with Brazilian and international standards
for concrete building materials.
Building from the Ground up with Algor
Mr. Beck used Superdraw III, Algor's precision finite element
model-building tool, to create plate elements to represent each
of the eight floors and beam elements to represent the support
columns. He then applied material property values and load cases
to the beams using Algor's Beam Design Editor. The final model
was produced using Superdraw III's element combining capabilities.
Mr. Beck used the Algor linear static stress processor to determine
displacement, bending moments in the X-, Y- and Z- directions
and shear stresses that could result from the force of high winds.
He viewed the analysis results in Superview.
"The results obtained with Algor were compared with hand
calculations and other similar FEA software," Mr. Beck said.
"In both cases, the results from Algor software were far
superior."
Based on analysis results from Algor, Mr. Beck reduced the
amount of material used in the concrete structure -- which
he had previously calculated without the use of FEA -- without
compromising safety factors.
Looking to the Future with Algor
Mr. Beck plans to use Algor software in future projects, including
a similar analysis of a 12-story building situated on a hilltop
where high winds are the main problem as well. Mr. Beck cited
Algor's element combining capabilities as important to achieving
a realistic model of the actual building.
"One of the most helpful aspects of Algor software is
the possibility of combining many types of elements." Mr.
Beck said. "This is very important when using FEA in civil
engineering applications, which typically require plate and beam
elements, because it takes us very close to the real situation."
Mr. Beck is able to optimize the safety of his structural designs
using Algor's element combining and analysis capabilities while
shortening the design process. According to Mr. Beck, both he
and his clients appreciate these advantages.
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