Structural Team Takes Second Place in Portland

A project supported by CB&I to design an intake structure for the future Duke Energy William States Lee Nuclear Power Plant came in second place in a national competition sponsored by the Structural Engineering Institute of ASCE. The competition was held at the Structures Congress in Portland Oregon on April 21, 2015. The structural design came in second in a competition with 18 other finalists that had been invited to compete. The civil/structural component of this project included location of the structure on the river based on EPA 404 permitting, cost and existing access. The design of the structure used reinforced concrete. All applicable loads were determined as defined by ASCE 7-10, IBC 2012, ACI 350-06, ACI 350.3-06 and ACI 318-11. Loads included the dynamic force distributions from the water during an earthquake. A finite element structural analysis was performed using STAAD-Pro, an analysis program produced by Bentley Systems. A portal frame analysis was performed to validate the results of the FEA Mode.

Judging was based on the team’s oral presentation and written presentations at the congress to a group of judges.

Accepting 2nd Place Award