Our Food and Beverage client in Indianapolis, Indiana had a desire to add cooling tower capacity.
A steel building was designed to roof support three new cooling tower cells and piping. The building dimensions were 54’ x 30’ x 23’ tall. The cell height reached an additional 18’ above the roof. The operating weight of all three cells combined was 108,000 lbs.
Structural Design
The structure was designed as a braced frame. It needed to resist the overturning moment created by empty cells and the maximum vertical force due to gravity, as well as, various combinations of horizontal wind loads and vertical gravity loads.
Civil/Site Work
An existing underground sanitary line was re-routed to an existing sewer. New concrete pavement was added and the existing grade was re-shaped to allow storm water drainage away from the building.
