Seismic considerations for control cabinets

  • Thread starter Juan Antonio Robles Ortiz
  • Start date
J

Thread Starter

Juan Antonio Robles Ortiz

I'm preparing a DCS proposal for a Chilean company and they require that the system must be seismic resistant.

Does anybody know any brief rules for a right design of control cabinets when installed in seismic areas?

I'm interested in Zone 3 according Chilean codes.

Thanks.

Juan Antonio Robles
Sales Manager
FI Controles (Foster Wheeler Group)
Spain
 
The customary requirement for control panels intended to withstand seimic events is to provide seismic anchorage calculations. A civil /
structural engineer will need the following information to perform these calculations:
Panel dimensions
Total weight
Location of center of gravity
Mounting bolt-hole pattern
Seismic zone (you've identified this as Zone 3)
The engineer will calculate the restraining force expected at each anchorage point, and specify the required anchor bolt type, length, and diameter.

In my experience it is generally not required to perform similar calculations for each component in the panel as long as you don't have
obvious issues such as non-anchored components resting on shelves. (This may be different for nuclear and other safety-critical applications, where more stringent specifications such as shaker-table tests may be required.)

I would expect that Foster-Wheeler has experience with these seismic design criteria.
 
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