- #1
nculhane
- 2
- 0
Hello,
For a structural analysis term project I'm currently working on, my team has come across a problem. Here's the setup:
Intermodal shipping containers (dimensions 8ft height, 8ft width, 40 ft length) can (according to company sources) be filled to a max load that grossly weighs 66 kips. Fully loaded containers are often stacked 8 high (we specifically asked the company to affirm this). We're trying to find the force applied on the bottom container of a stack of 8, and where this force is distributed.
Sources have confirmed the majority of the load ends up in the vertical columns (corner posts) of the container, and these columns are very strong. We have calcs that confirm this (they will not buckle and have a factor of safety of 1.25 under the entirety of the max load). However, we're also trying to determine the bending experienced on the top side rail beam of the bottom container (the 40ft long beam of top of the container's frame). This is our problem.
The beam is a hollow square beam 40ft long, with side length 2.4 in & thickness 0.1 in. Looking at max yield stress/strain curves of the beam's material, a maximum force applied on the beam that does not permanently deform the beam would be about 0.03 kips (found using stress=force/area, and taking the "stress" from the highest value on the elastic stress/strain curve (59 kips)), and we're assuming the container's design doesn't allow it to deform under the weight of 7 containers. Basically, we found that after calcs, this means that 99.94% of the forces applied on the top of the bottom container go into the columns, and only 0.16% of the force goes into the 40ft beam. This seems pretty farfetched; could anyone provide insight into what my team has done wrong?
For a structural analysis term project I'm currently working on, my team has come across a problem. Here's the setup:
Intermodal shipping containers (dimensions 8ft height, 8ft width, 40 ft length) can (according to company sources) be filled to a max load that grossly weighs 66 kips. Fully loaded containers are often stacked 8 high (we specifically asked the company to affirm this). We're trying to find the force applied on the bottom container of a stack of 8, and where this force is distributed.
Sources have confirmed the majority of the load ends up in the vertical columns (corner posts) of the container, and these columns are very strong. We have calcs that confirm this (they will not buckle and have a factor of safety of 1.25 under the entirety of the max load). However, we're also trying to determine the bending experienced on the top side rail beam of the bottom container (the 40ft long beam of top of the container's frame). This is our problem.
The beam is a hollow square beam 40ft long, with side length 2.4 in & thickness 0.1 in. Looking at max yield stress/strain curves of the beam's material, a maximum force applied on the beam that does not permanently deform the beam would be about 0.03 kips (found using stress=force/area, and taking the "stress" from the highest value on the elastic stress/strain curve (59 kips)), and we're assuming the container's design doesn't allow it to deform under the weight of 7 containers. Basically, we found that after calcs, this means that 99.94% of the forces applied on the top of the bottom container go into the columns, and only 0.16% of the force goes into the 40ft beam. This seems pretty farfetched; could anyone provide insight into what my team has done wrong?