Eclipse has performed condition assessments for the lookout towers throughout the northwest United States. Assessments included detailed as-built drawings, seismic and wind analysis and material testing to determine the structural integrity of the structures.
Eclipse Engineering, Inc. has been involved in many biomass power projects in the Northwest. Biomass power generation is a great alternative to traditional power generation methods. With ample fuel sources so close throughout the Northwest, biomass boilers have been a popular option for school disctricts and universities in the region. Biomass boilers can take what seems like waste such as the wood chips in the adjacent photo and turn it into a viable and cost effective energy source. Structural services for the projects include the structural design of the boiler building as well as equipment and piping supports. With 100 foot tall stacks and 200 ton pieces of specialized equipment, quailty structural engineering is a very important part of the implementation.
Located in Sandpoint, Idaho, this 10,000 square foot building consists of a mixture of dimensional wood framing and traditional log construction. Built to meet LEED Silver status, it is likely that once certified it will meet LEED Gold status. A geothermal heating system and low-flow plumbing fixtures contribute to the LEED status along with a structure built using local resources.
Flathead County 911 Dispatch and Emergency Coordination Center, designed by CTA Architects Engineers, is a 12,197 square foot building with a call center, emergency operation center, offices, vestibules, corridors, mechanical equipment rooms, equipment cache, and storage. It is a one-story CMU building with a two story CMU tower in the center to house mechanical equipment.
It has conventional spread and strip concrete footings, CMU walls, pilasters, lintels, and parapets. The roof is framed with steel (bar joists, steel deck, miscellaneous steel canopies) and it has pre-cast hollowcore planks for the mezzanine floor of the mechanical tower and pre-cast hollowcore planks for the roof of the mechanical tower. The equipment room has an 18-inch deep access floor system which consists of 2-inch thick concrete planks supported on steel pipe posts at 24-inches on center each way. The access floor is used to route wiring and ducts below the usable floor and each 2-ft square panel is removable for maintenance purposes. A 15-foot diameter satellite dish is mounted on the roof (we worked with the satellite manufacturer to create a support pier for the dish). It also has a 100-ft tall steel lattice type communications tower. The tower was designed by others, but we designed the micro pile foundation to support it.
An assessment of the structural integrity of this 5-story access platform was made by using a state-of-the-art finite element modeling software. The structure is installed at a US Army Base in Nevada. It is subjected to very high seismic activity and must support sensitive testing equipment. Eclipse worked closely with our client, a US Army contractor, to assure that the platform and the adjacent structure which provided much of the support, could withstand code required load cases.
The 100-ft tall steel observation towers were free climbed and visually inspected to determine the condition and any required repairs for the structures. An extensive code check was provided on the structures with recommendations to bring the structural and safety components up to date with current code requirements. Eclipse created a finite element model of the towers to help define the need of retrofit work. One of the tower inspections included the addition of a stairs and a viewing platform, designed to be accessible to the public.
The project consisted of adding several structures to update the wastewater treatment plant. The engineers at Peccia and Associates determined the size of the structures and Eclipse had to make it happen structurally. Most of the structures had cast-in-place concrete foundation walls, slabs and walkways. Some had steel floor, wall and roof framing. The water table at the site was high (design for 5-feet below grade) and some of the structures were 14-feet deep, so buoyancy forces had to be taken in to account so that the buildings would not be pushed up out of the ground. We used extra wide footings that would be weighted down by backfill and on the Oxidation Ditch we specified over 70 screw piles to resist uplift. The crane rail systems and hoists under the floors and roofs were designed to transport equipment, miscellaneous manholes and retaining walls, aluminum chutes, walkways, gratings, guardrails and stairs.
As part of the water distribution system improvements for the town of Clyde Park, Eclipse designed a 700,000 gallon water tank for potable water storage. Due to restrictions in budget the tank was subsequently reduced to 350,000 which amounted to a small revision in the footprint of the tank. The tank is constructed of cast-in-place concrete walls and slab with pre-cast concrete columns, beams, and hollow core planks. A crystalline waterproofing system was incorporated into the mix design to help reduce the permeability of the concrete and to limit the leakage of the potable water.
