Craig Allen

From: Steve Ash [Steve.Ash@lycopodium.com.au]

Sent: Saturday, 18 July 2015 3:42 PM
To: brett.grey@lycopodium.com.au; brad.eaton@lycopodium.com.au; Josua Arnigo; Rhodel
Villaruz; Craig Allen; adrian.edel@lycopodium.com.au; Andrew Sacco;
paul.brummel@lycopodium.com.au
Subject: Rectangular Bin - structural form

All, 
 
One of the areas I feel we can do better is have a more consistent approach to framing out rectangular bins.  Attached is 
a sketch of how I would normally frame out a bin to resist outward material loads (I have not discussed vertical support 
here).  I have not included details, just the layout of the main wall stiffeners.  The logic behind this goes something like 
this: 
 
• Outward pressure from the material or fluid is resisted by the platework. 
• The platework to be designed spanning vertically between horizontal plate stiffeners. 
• Horizontal plate stiffeners can be further apart for top (vertical walled section) and closer together in inclined 
“hopper section”.  Nominally these can vary between 600 and 1200 centres – refer sketch. 
• Horizontal stiffeners span 2,000 to 3,000 to vertical stiffeners.   
• The vertical stiffeners are likely to be ‘T’s cut from UB section. 
• The vertical stiffeners span between horizontal ring girders.   
• There are usually 2 or 3 horizontal ring girders. 
o Top ring girder – floor bracing can help reduce the size of this member. 
o Middle Ring girder located at transition between vertical walls and hopper – sometimes this coincides 
with a bolted splice. 
o Bottom Ring Girder as close to skirts/bottom flange as possible.  This girder is not always required. 
• The horizontal ring  girders are usually fabricated from plate. 
• The middle ring girder is usually used to support vertical loads which means it is subject to bending and shears 
in both planes. 
• At the bolted vertical splice between bins, a triangular cross beam is often required to span between side walls.
• Cross beam at top of bolted splice sometimes fouls the ore flow.  In this case, a pair of cross beams need to be 
provided either side of the ore stream and the top ring girder cantilever to the vertical bolted splice.  Floor 
bracing at top of bin will help solve such problems. 
• An inclined plate stiffener is to be provide in corners of the bins.  This stiffener has 2 functions, it makes it easier 
to connect horizontal stiffeners on the inclined surface and it ensure shear transfer out of the horizontal plate 
stiffeners. 
 
From experience, this form of solution is easy to design (suits hand calcs really well), efficient in use of stiffeners and is 
simpler to construct than many of the solution i have seen. 
 
Please provide you comments so I can get a typical solution sketched up to allow us to better design bins on new 
projects. 
 
Regards, 

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