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Stainless Steel Design Innovation PHOTOGRAPHY: Fullframe Photographics
Brisbane’s iconic Story Bridge is sporting increased safety measures with the application of innovative stainless steel products and laser-fusion technology. The 76-year old heritage-listed cantilever bridge now incorporates three-metre tall, stainless steel safety barriers on its pedestrian walkways, as a result of an outstanding collaboration between multiple project stakeholders. Completed in December 2015, the $8.4 million project was led by design and construct head contractor, Freyssinet. The design brief was to develop an anticlimb structure that was both functional and aesthetically appealing, whilst ensuring the heritage values of the bridge were maintained.
This presented a number of engineering challenges, including the affixation of the barrier structure to the existing heritagelisted bridge without permanent methods of attachment, such as welding or other damaging techniques, whilst addressing the weight and wind load tolerances, ambient vibrations and noise potential. Visually, there was also a key design requirement to ensure pedestrian views of the river, Brisbane city and surrounds, and of the Story Bridge itself, was preserved. The initial reference design was specified in stainless steel (with an option for painted carbon steel) and required the fabrication of heavy box sections for over 1000 posts to support a tamper-resistant, horizontal balustrade cable system. The outrigging was specified in carbon steel, with isolation joints to support the upright posts. However, aesthetically, this design created a clutter of vertical elements. Freyssinet developed an alternative design concept employing Carl Stahl X-TEND® stainless steel mesh, and engaged ASSDA
Member Ronstan Tensile Architecture to assist in the design rationalisation. Ronstan Tensile Architecture conducted form-finding analysis to mimic increasing the mesh self-span between the posts. The findings resulted in a substantial reduction in the number of posts required and a more secure fall-restraint system than initially designed. Replacing the original tension wire design with a mesh barrier significantly reduced the structural loading on the posts, allowing for a smaller number of lighter duty posts, and reducing the cost below the initial estimate. The concept solution delivered was a dynamic structural design that met the exacting demands of the specification. The design evolved to using laser-fused stainless steel open section beams for the posts, positioned approximately three metres apart with a blackened Carl Stahl X-TEND® stainless steel mesh barrier. This project is the largest to date in Australia using laser-fused stainless steel structural beams.
ASSDA MEMBER/ACCREDITED FABRICTOR CONTACTS: Anzor Fasteners: Trevor McKenzie, Branch Manager, +617 3711 9977, trevor.mckenzie@anzor.com.au, www.anzor.com.au Atlas Steels: Cesar Cocchi, National Product Manager - S/S Long Products, +61 427 120 758, cesar.cocchi@atlasstseels.com.au, www.atlassteels.com.au Ronstan Tensile Architecture: James Reid, Architectural Business Development & Project Manager, +61 403 434 218, jreid@ronstan.com.au, www.ronstantensilearch.com Stainless Structurals Asia: Kenny Lim, Sales Director, +65 6793 2282, kenny.lim@ssasia.sg, www.stainless-structurals.com Stainless Engineering Services: Richard Shilling, Director, +617 3204 2611, admin@sesbmf.com.au 2 AUSTRALIAN STAINLESS 56 www.assda.asn.au
Low impact laser-fusion is a process that allows the welding together of pre-polished flat components to a special profile without damaging the visible surface. It provides an effective and economical alternative to extrusions or conventional welds, providing closer tolerances, superior joint integrity and more consistent finishes. The introduction of laser-fused stainless steel structural beams into the Australian market allowed Freyssinet the flexibility to plan and design with stainless steel in an outcome that was unrivalled for the project scope. Developed and manufactured by Montanstahl (Switzerland) and its subsidiary Stainless Structurals Asia (Singapore), the laser-fused stainless steel structural beams were supplied by ASSDA Sponsor Atlas Steels, as the exclusive agent for the product in Australia. To this end, Atlas Steels supplied over 30 tonnes of stainless steel for the project, including 316L grade 80x80x6mm I-beam sections for the 530 upright posts, 316 grade 65x65x6mm angle bars for the outrigging, and 316 grade 38.1x1.6mm 320 grit polished tube for the framing of the mesh.
The I-beams supplied were made from a pre-polished strip with a <0.5Ra finish. The I-beam components were laser cut, polished, and then laser-fused together. Freyssinet rolled the I-beams using a local roll forming company in Eagle Farm to form a curve, following several prototypes to achieve the required design. The beams were then delivered to ASSDA Accredited Fabricator Stainless Engineering Services to cut the posts to the specified height, verify the dimensions, placement and drilling of the holes for the bolt connections, and passivate the posts to ASTM 380 prior to installation. Stainless Engineering Services also used the offcuts from the I-beams to fabricate the brackets, ensuring no material wastage. ASSDA Member Anzor Fasteners supplied 550 units of grade 316 stainless steel coupling cables in various lengths of up to 2.1 metres, in 4mm diameter and 1/19 configuration. Each cable was swaged to a threaded stud on one end and a u-shaped fork coupling on the other end. The coupling cables were used to affix the X-TEND mesh to the posts, providing an adjustable method of attachment.
LASER FUSED SECTIONS
Following the erection of the posts, Ronstan Tensile Architecture supplied and installed 3400m2 of Carl Stahl X-TEND® 316 grade stainless steel mesh constructed from coloured stainless steel wire rope. The stainless steel was blackened with an additional polyester amino resin, which was hardened to the wire under temperature. The blackened Carl Stahl X-TEND® mesh was the key to achieving an unobtrusive composition and historical aesthetic, while providing the flexibility and tensile strength required for the structure’s design and use of the laser-fused posts. The structure is a pivotal safety addition to the Story Bridge and exudes functionality in its excellent and unique engineered design. Stainless steel is unmatched in the materials selection for providing durability, structural performance, low maintenance, corrosion resistance and aesthetics.
If you can design it, we can make it
For more information email: cesar.cocchi@atlassteels.com.au
www.atlassteels.com.au www.assda.asn.au
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Revision of A S 1528: Fluid Transfer in Stainless Steel Tube and Fit tings FIGURE 2: Stainless steel handrails and balustrades in Brisbane
CONNECTIONS ARE VITAL Any visit to a dairy, beverage or food processing plant will drive home the critical importance of the connections between the tanks, mixers, driers, pumps, etc. Figure 1 showing an image of a brewery is a typical example. These tubes and/or pipes carry the process materials, the heating or cooling or wash water, gases, and also dispose of the wastes. FIGURE 1: Little Creatures Brewery, WA (Image courtesy of TFG Group)
Verification of leak tightness is the reason why tubing standards for carriage of fluids, e.g. AS 1528.1 or ASTM A269 or ASTM A270, all include either hydrostatic or 100% eddy current testing. Section 8.4 of the ASSDA Reference Manual summarises the test requirements of the plethora of tubing (and piping) standards commonly used in Australia. However, the food and sanitary industries also require surfaces that are readily cleanable. Hence, in addition to a lack of leaks, there are also requirements on the profile of the weld bead in the tubing, potential crevices in fittings and the surface finish of product contact areas.
GETTING THE RIGHT STANDARD Except for high pressure or very aggressive environments, most tube is rolled into shape and welded longitudinally. For mechanical or structural service such as columns or handrails, the weld must penetrate and be sound although to perform its mechanical function, it may not need to provide a seal. This is reflected in the basic test requirements of standards such as ASTM A554 ‘Welded Stainless Steel Mechanical Tubing’ and is a reason why it is cheaper and is sometimes used, in error, for fluid transport. Despite these restricted requirements, the external finish is often critical for aesthetic reasons as seen on the handrails in Figure 2.
SYSTEM DESIGN AND INSTALLATION Quite apart from the manufactured components, the system design must include adequate slope for self draining (including across welded joins), simple cleaning procedures, velocities above ~0.5m/sec for low solids streams, at least double that for high solids content and avoidance of design features permitting stagnant zones or dead legs. Excess velocity (at least below about 40m/second) is not a concern for stainless steel, although it may increase noise and pumping costs. These are matters for another place.
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MATERIAL SELECTION There are quite complete sets of corrosion resistance data for single corrosives (and some mixtures) at a variety of temperatures and concentrations but they are usually for continuous exposure. For some acidic, hot and salty fluids or slurries such as sauces, high alloy stainless steels or even nickel-based alloys may be required and such components are rarely “off-the-shelf”. However, for apparently aggressive fluids processed in batches, the intermediate cleaning will arrest the initiation of attack and restore the passive layer so that standard 316(L) material is usually adequate especially with the highly polished finish often used to enable cleanability. One operational issue is that cleaning chemicals can be quite aggressive and the procedures must ensure that residues from cleaning do not remain and are not able to be concentrated and cause corrosion or hygienic issues.
FOOD TUBE AND FITTINGS – AS 1528 The weld bead is a potential source of crevices and for food tube, its effect must be removed without causing additional surface defects. AS 1528.1 requires the weld bead to smoothly blend without harmful markings. It also sets a nominal surface roughness (0.3 μm Ra) for the rest of the interior by requiring the use of fixed (1.6mm) thickness 2B material. ASTM A270 ‘Seamless and Welded Austenitic and Ferritic/Austenitic Stainless Steel Sanitary Tubing’ assumes a sophisticated specifier as it lists a mill finish as well as multiple alternative mechanical or other finishing techniques. Acceptance of minor surface imperfections is by agreement. The specifier may require a surface roughness (Ra) limit – which, of course, would override a grit size specification. The manufacturing tests (eddy current or hydrotesting) ensure that food tube will hold pressure. For the essential quality assurance purposes, AS1528.1 requires line marking of tube. Finally, food grade tube requires a complementary set of fittings that will fit together. The AS 1528 suite achieves this with screwed couplings (Part 2), butt welding fittings (Part 3) and clamp liners with gaskets (Part 4). Aesthetics may be important and is in the hands of the specifier as the exterior of AS1528.1 tube may be as-produced or “buff polished as agreed”, i.e. polished with grit of a specified size.
European standard (EN 10357- which supersedes BS4825.1 and DIN 11850) covers similar tube but does not cover the range of sizes commonly used in Australia. The British Standard products (BS 4825) are similar in sizes to the AS 1528, but with a restricted range. The American 3A products also cover a restricted range.
“As a result, ASSDA is spearheading an industry effort to revise the 15-year-old suite of AS 1528 standards”. WHAT IS IN NEED OF REVIEW? There are a number of typographical errors and inconsistencies between the parts, there are only some pressure ratings and the listing of fittings requires some revisions. The tolerance on the tube wall thickness has been narrow and one sided since inception and while the standard allows modification by agreement, the current wall thickness requirement will be reviewed. Other issues for discussion will be the addition of larger sizes and assessment of differences for internal finishes between parts of the suite. And finally, it is intended that AS 1528 will be converted to a joint Australian and New Zealand standard to formalise New Zealand’s use. If users of the AS1528 suite of standards have any suggestions for changes or improvements to the standards, ASSDA would welcome your emailed comments to assda@assda.asn.au.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This article has drawn heavily on documents produced by the ASSDA/NZSSDA working group dealing with the proposed revision of AS 1528 and in particular Peter Moore from Atlas Steels, Kim Burton from Prochem Pipeline Products and Russell Thorburn from Steel and Tube in New Zealand.
The AS 1528 suite started life in 1960 as AS N32, was split into four parts in the mid 1970s and completely revised by an ASSDA driven working group to its present form in 2001. It has been widely accepted especially since the 2006 publication by ASSDA of what is now the Food Code of Practice for the fabrication and installation of stainless steel process plant and equipment in the food and beverage industries. The New Zealand dairy industry has effectively adopted the AS 1528 requirements for dairy tube and fittings. Multiple overseas suppliers provide tube to the AS 1528 specification. Food and beverage manufacture is obviously worldwide and this has resulted in national, regional and international standards which are different and locally focused. The sizes of the ISO alternatives (ISO 2037, 2851 – 3) are quite different. The
CASTLE INTERNATIONAL TRADING
Suppliers of Stainless Steel Reinforcing Bars T +61 7 3716 6900 E info@castleinternational.com.au www.castleinternational.com.au www.assda.asn.au
AUSTRALIAN STAINLESS 56 5
Stainless Delivers State - of-the -Ar t Produc tion Facilit y Stainless steel has helped deliver improved environmental performance and increased efficiency for a major food production company. In 2014, Australian agribusiness GrainCorp announced a $125 million investment in a consolidation strategy to integrate its GrainCorp Foods’ manufacturing operations, including the relocation of its Brisbane plant to the existing West Footscray facility in Victoria. This move effectively terminates the use of its coal-fired equipment, giving GrainCorp Foods the opportunity to invest in efficient and environmentally sustainable technology and significantly reduce its carbon footprint. As a result, GrainCorp Foods’ West Footscray operation commenced its expansion and upgrade in 2015 to deliver a stateof-the-art food processing plant. GrainCorp awarded the design, engineering and installation to SPX Flow Technology Australia, and SPXFlow awarded ASSDA Member and Accredited Fabricator TFG Group the contract to install and fabricate specialised components for the facility’s new margarine production line. TFG Group’s Foodline Projects division installed and assembled the stainless steel equipment under the direction of SPX Flow Technology Australia, including numerous pumps, valves, heat exchangers, vessels and specialised processing equipment. The TFG Foodline Projects team also mechanically installed over 12km of stainless steel pipe, AS 1528 304L and 316L tube ranging from 25mm to 100mm in diameter, and over 6000 fittings supplied by ASSDA Sponsor Prochem Pipeline Products. Hygiene and cleanability of equipment used in food production is paramount, and the correct specification and fabrication quality of stainless steel ensured this criterion was met.
6 AUSTRALIAN STAINLESS 56 www.assda.asn.au
The TFG Foodline Projects team consisted of 35 specialised welders, fitters and installation specialists to ensure the project’s tight lead-time of 24 weeks to completion was met with zero safety incidents. Orbital welding was applied to ensure speed, accuracy and prevention of bacterial contamination in the products. As part of the factory upgrade, TFG Group’s Austline Fabrications division assisted with the fabrication and installation of the specialised scalloped stainless steel tank access platforms, break tanks, stainless steel chemical bunds and support racks. Jacketed pipework was fabricated to ensure the internal temperature of the process pipework was controlled to prevent the viscous product from solidifying. These specialised items were all fabricated at TFG Group’s purpose-built factories in both Western Australia and Victoria, and transported to the West Footscray facility for installation by the Foodline Projects division. GrainCorp’s investment in its West Footscray plant has delivered a fully integrated facility and a more efficient focal point for the sourcing, refining, and distribution of GrainCorp’s locallyproduced edible oils and food ingredients. ASSDA MEMBER/ACCREDITED FABRICATOR CONTACTS: Prochem Pipeline Products Paul Adams, Sales Manager Piping - WA +61 8 9458 7777 padams@prochem.com.au www.prochem.com.au TFG Group (Austline Fabrications and Foodline Projects) Justin Anderson, Managing Director +61 8 9451 7300 justin@tfggroup.com.au www.tfggroup.com.au
Stainless in Color A modern and innovative design using coloured and textured stainless steel has left an impressive statement on an Adelaide streetscape. South Australia’s premier shopping district Rundle Mall underwent a full makeover from 2012-2014 as part of the Adelaide City Council’s initiative to revitalise the precinct. Part of this redevelopment included a redesign of the facade of a commercial tower at 80 Grenfell Street, housing the Adelaide headquarters of the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. Design practice HASSELL delivered an iridescent façade design using coloured stainless steel cladding, supplied by ASSDA Member Steel Color Australia. The extent of the façade referred to as ‘the ribbon’ cascades over 10 storeys, connecting the office tower to the lobby entrance via the retail parapet. The ribbon was made up of over 100 panels that twist and bend over the full height of the building, creating an artistic ripple effect. HASSELL and Arup’s façade engineering team tested this unique design with physical and virtual models, further refining the design detailing with extensive prototyping. This collaboration with the assistance of Steel Color Australia’s product and material knowledge ensured this remarkable design element was feasible. Stainless steel was specified for this design as its inherent properties allowed for the level of manipulation required to construct the architect’s creative expression, as well as provide a high quality and aesthetically pleasing finish. Over 1500m2 of grade 304 stainless steel in 4000x1250x1.2mm sheet in a Rosso colour (Italian for red) was supplied by Steel Color Australia, as the sole distributor in Australia and New Zealand for embossed, coloured, mirror finished and textured stainless steel manufactured by Steel Color S.p.a in Italy. Steel Colour Australia owner Vince Araullo said that electro-colouring (INCO system) is the main technology in Steel Color Australia’s production. ‘The stainless steel sheet’s surface was directly altered, chemically stimulating the natural passivation of the material. No painting was involved in the process, increasing the pitting resistance of the stainless steel.’
after folding due to the fragility of the coloured anodic coating.’
In terms of manipulating the steel’s shape, Araullo said that colouring is an intrinsic part of the stainless steel. ‘This means the stainless does not lose colour during shaping, as opposed to aluminium for example which would need to be coloured
The visually striking building façade integrates impressively into the Rundle Place precinct, and the outcome has resulted in a virtually maintenance-free and colour enduring structure.
Steel Color Australia facilitated the overseas production of some 270 sheets, weighing 10 tonnes and their shipment to the project site. Modular framework was constructed to bend the stainless sheets into shape for easy installation on site by crane.
ASSDA MEMBER CONTACT: Steel Color Australia Pty Ltd Vince Araullo +61 488 249 999 vince@steelcolor.com.au www.steelcolor.com.au
www.assda.asn.au
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www.anzor.com.au/assda ABOUT ASSDA The Australian Stainless Steel Development Association (ASSDA) is a not-for-profit industry group that aims to increase the consumption of stainless steel in Australia. Established in 1992, ASSDA represents more than 160 member companies representing the stainless steel spectrum, including overseas mills, stockists and distributors, fabricators, engineering consultants, end-users and service providers. ASSDA aims to foster the understanding and use of stainless steel in Australia by developing the competence and efficiency of the industry through promotion, education and training, the provision of adequate technical advice and industry accreditation. ASSDA could not continue without the valuable support of its sponsors and members, who work with ASSDA to grow the market for stainless steel. www.assda.asn.au
AUSTRALIAN STAINLESS STEEL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION
ASSDA SPONSORS 1
ASSDA SPONSORS 2 Midway Metals, Stoddart Manufacturing, Viraj Profiles Ltd., YC Inox Co., Ltd. ASSDA SPONSORS 3 Allmate International Co. Limited, Austral Wright Metals, Australian Stainless Distributors, Dalsteel Metals, Froch Stainless, Metal Centre Australia, Prochem Pipeline Products, Sanwa, Valbruna Australia. is proudly brought to you by the Australian Stainless Steel Development Association (ASSDA).
MORE INFORMATION Enquiries for further information on any material presented in this publication should be directed to ASSDA: Level 9, 167 Eagle Street T +61 7 3220 0722 Brisbane QLD 4000 AUSTRALIA E assda@assda.asn.au www.assda.asn.au EDITORIAL Contributions of story ideas specialising in stainless steel and its applications are welcome from members of ASSDA. ADVERTISING Advertise in the only publication that targets more than 6,000 readers in the Australian stainless steel industry. Rates available at www.assda.asn.au. CONTACT Lissel Pilcher, ASSDA Communications Manager: lissel_p@assda.asn.au. DISCLAIMER ASSDA sources articles and advertisements from a variety of contributors and accordingly does not accept responsibility for the accuracy of the contents of this publication nor the suitability of specific applications referred to herein for any particular use. Competent advice should be sought before acting on any matter contained in this publication.