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Designing foundations for equipment is necessary for the correct operation of process equipment; it is important to accurately calculate and prepare the base for its installation. Each type of equipment has its own purpose, is capable of performing specific functions, and possesses characteristics inherent only to it.
The weight and dimensions of the equipment, the loads acting on it, and the vibrations created during operation all influence the choice of foundation for the future machine.
Recommendations on the calculation and design of the foundation are given by the manufacturer. In the absence of the necessary information, methods for foundations for units and process equipment can be used. The foundation is most often made of reinforced concrete. For the base under the equipment it is possible to use combinations of metal and concrete, metal plates and structures, and concrete blocks.
When designing a foundation, it must be taken into account that the machine installed on it must fully retain its functionality. The base must be strong and withstand all loads, including dynamic ones when the equipment is operating. At the same time, the reliability of the fastening, resistance to aggressive substances, and the foundation’s ability to dampen the vibrations transmitted to it are all important.All forces created by the equipment must not be transmitted further, affecting the operation of other structures in the workshop.
Recommended sequence of work for designing foundations:
- Developing or obtaining the construction assignment from the equipment supplier
- Engineering-geological and geodetic surveys of the site
- Inspection of the site's building structures
- Selecting the type of the future foundation
- Developing the graphic part with verification calculations
- Agreeing the foundation design with the equipment manufacturer
- Issuing the drawings for the execution of the works
Foundations for equipment must satisfy the following basic requirements:
At the same time, foundation structures are designed depending both on the characteristics and operating conditions of the equipment and on its layout, as well as on the geological and hydrogeological conditions of the site.- strength, stability and durability;
- inadmissibility of settlements and deformations that violate the conditions of normal equipment operation;
- inadmissibility of strong vibrations that interfere with the equipment's operation and complicate its servicing by personnel.
By their effect on foundations, equipment can be divided into two main groups.
The first group, the most numerous, includes equipment of quiet action, whose dynamic effects are small, are accumulated by the foundations and transmitted to the base. This group also includes foundations subjected to the effects of high temperatures.
The second group consists of machines with rotating unbalanced masses and an impact principle of operation. During their operation, significant dynamic loads or vibrations arise, and the foundations perceive and transmit dynamic loads to the base, as well as “damp” the oscillations.
When designing such foundations, the intensity, type and frequency characteristics of the dynamic effect of the machines on the foundations are taken into account. The same conditions are considered when designing foundations for quiet-action equipment that is nevertheless sensitive to vibration in the presence of sources of external dynamic effects.
Regulatory documents used in designing foundations for process equipment:
SNiP 2.02.05-87, edition SP 26.13330.2012 Foundations of machines with dynamic loads
Guidelines for fastening process equipment with foundation bolts (SN 471-75)
GOST 24379.0-2012.Foundation bolts. General technical specifications.
VSN 361-85 “Installation of process equipment on foundations”
Code of practice SP 26.13330.2012 “SNiP 2.02.05-87. Foundations of machines with dynamic loads”