Characteristics of actions in the industrial environment

Characteristics of the external industrial environment

The characteristics of the environment on industrial platforms are

determined by the chemicals used in those installations and depend to a large
extent on the atmospheric conditions specific to the zones (dominant winds, daily
and annual temperature and precipitation regime etc.).
The action of vapors, gases and aggressive substances released into the
atmosphere is strongly catalyzed by moisture and precipitation so that very often
their action outside the constructions is more obvious than on the inside.
It is worth noting that aggressive substances enter the ground, dissolving in
precipitation or directly, change its characteristics and corrode the foundations.
The action of the atmosphere containing several aggressive agents is
complex, the effects usually cumulate, but there are also situations where there is
only a corrosive agent, in the case of single industries (e.g. salt mining where the
external environment, due to the release of salt dust and atmospheric humidity, it is
strongly aggressive).

Characteristics of the indoor industrial environment

The characteristics of the industrial environment inside the production

buildings vary widely, often being far superior to the characteristics considered in
the design.
Increased aggression is due to the primary discharge of solutions directly on
the building elements and the uncontrolled directing of gases and substances
outside the buildings or towards the neutralization stations.
Aggressive dust releases (e.g. salt) in the presence of humidity lead to a
particular aggressivity of the environment in which the constructions are exploited.
In an industrial plant there are often not only one aggressive agent but
several (bases, acids, salts, etc.), with complex actions (e.g. in stripping baths).
The degradation of buildings, due to the often very severe aggressivity of the
environment, has as primary error causes carelessness or lack of knowledge of the
phenomena in the design, design, execution and service life of the building, causes
which can be eliminated in almost all cases.
 Humidity and temperature

Humidity and temperature are powerful catalysts for aggressive actions both
inside and outside of buildings.
The role of moisture in the production of degradation is crucial and should
not be dissociated from the action of the self aggressive substances.
Temperature plays a negative role as long as it favors the release of
substances, but it can also play a positive role when it is lowering the humidity of
the environment ("dries" it).

The characteristics of shock type actions

Shock actions can be accidental (explosions from gas accumulations, car

collisions, oil explosions, etc.) or routed (quarry explosions).
Actions such as explosions in enclosed spaces take place by increasing the
pressure on the walls, which can reach in a few milliseconds to 600 – 12000
kN/m2. For constructions where there is a danger of explosions some structural
measures (anti-ex walls) are foreseen. Although not taken into account in the
calculation of buildings, statistics show that such actions are relatively frequent in
nature. Thus, in France over 10 years (1957-1966), 1889 explosions took place in
residential buildings mainly due to the accumulation of gas from the network, and
in our country the media reported that annually in industry there are around 2000
cases of explosions and fires.

The characteristics of the fires action

Fires are caused by a lack of or ignorance of fire protection measures. The

fire safety performance of construction works is assessed against three parameters:
fire stability (ability of components not to fail by collapse), tightness (ability of the
division elements to prevent the passage of the flames) and thermal insulation
(ability of the division elements to reduce the heat transfer).
 The characteristics of the actions specific to construction works

The characteristics of the permanent actions

Assessment of permanent loads requires much lower uncertainties than other

load categories. Some uncertainties may result from changes in the function, the
approximate assessment of volumes at the intersection of the elements, some
simplifications in the calculation of the loads resulting from the concept of the area
concerned. Such uncertainties result in differences between actual and calculated
loads of up to ± 30%, but usually of ± 10%.
The statistical surveys have shown, in Table 1.3 and 1.4, low values for the
coefficients of variation of the permanent loads as follows: for reinforced concrete,
the coefficient of variation of loads shall not exceed 7 to 8%, for metal elements 1
to 2 %, for roofs, clover, insulating layers, the coefficient of variation values may
be 10 to 15 %.

Table 1.3 Statistical expression of specific weights

Sample Average Standard Variation
Material
number specific weight deviations coefficient
Beton simplu 2096 2319 67,7 2,92
Cărămidă plină 172 1500 138,0 9,25
Cărămidă cu goluri mari 114 1231 104,0 8,46
Cărămidă cu goluri 294 2278 97,3 7,49

Table 1.4 Statistical expression of the thicknesses of some elements

Dimensiune Grosimea
Număr de Coeficientul
Tipul elementului proiectată medie
măsurători de variație
[cm] măsurată
Perete din beton armat 15 106 15,3 6,3
Placă din beton armat 10 118 10,8 7,8
Zid de cărămidă 6-10 28 - 5,2
25-38 100 - 2,6
Tencuială cu ipsos 0,8 68 1,07 21,5
Izolație termică 10,9 35 11,7 5,9
 The action of prestressing is also considered to be a permanent load.
Changing over time of stresses from unforeseeable values in the calculations is
highly unlikely. Variations in this may occur due to initial degradation (poor
quality concrete, structural defects) due to faulty execution or corrosion effects
occurring during service life.

The characteristics of the temporary actions

due to service life process

These actions are considered in a simplified way to be evenly distributed on

the floor, although there is a possibility of concentrated action on heavy objects
(stoves, special equipment, apparatus etc.).

The characteristics of the corrosive actions of the materials

Alkali-aggregate reaction
The materials making up concrete (aggregate and cement stone) may, under
certain conditions, have expansion effects. There are reactive aggregates that
contain active forms of silicon hydroxide and actively participate in the reactions
with cement alkalis, by forming products that can lead to the destruction of
concrete through expansion.
In Romania, usually, reactive aggregates are not used in the preparation of
concrete, but situations may arise when the need to use large quantities of
aggregate (for example, in the execution of the dams) requires its extraction from
local quarries, in which case their reactivity must be tested.

Expansion of cement
Some cements where hydration continues long after their apparent
hardening, forming expansion products, can cause the destruction of concrete.
Normally, the control of the technological process of obtaining cement must
exclude this possibility, which means that the degradations caused by the
uncontrolled expansion of the cement cause deficiencies in the manufacture of the
cement.