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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