Page 89 - Industrial Plants

• Electrical insulation: made from a non-conductive • Inclined stairways to connect the multi-height
material. walkways.
• No earthing necessary: made from an insulated • Area-confining handrail systems.
material.
• Radiotransparency: does not interfere with wave Due to the considerable height of the tanks - roughly 15
transmission in a wide range of frequencies. m - the walkway-accessing vertical stairway was
divided into 3 parts with the creation of two intermediate
landings; also made from FRP brackets and gratings.
Potential applications In this case, the path of the above-tank walkways was

The fields of application of fibreglass gratings and not flat; in fact, there were several changes in level. This
structures are truly manifold. Some examples being the problem was overcome by incorporating platform-
integrated water cycle, waste treatment, energy, connecting inclined stairways, in addition to vertical
outdoor, railway infrastructure, shipbuilding and offshore stairways, where necessary, which compensated for
construction, street furniture and tourist harbour the height variations of approx. 3 m whilst taking up
sectors. Furthermore, the material’s industrial very little space. The walkways mainly comprise low-
applications are suitable for the chemical and height “C” profiles - equal to 150 mm - and 30
pharmaceutical, petrochemical, electroplating, mm-thick open-mesh walkway gratings. The only metal
manufacturing and food sectors. elements are the bolts and connection brackets
Two interesting case studies - provided as a means of between the various profiles.
further elaborating on the potential uses of FRP
structures - are explained below: the first concerns the
chemical industry, where extremely harsh environments
are commonplace and various M.M.-produced support
structures have been installed, such as walking
surfaces, walkways, and both inclined stairways and
vertical ladders. The second case study, on the other
hand, touches upon the work carried out at a water
purification plant, where fibreglass was chosen over
traditional materials - e.g. steel - due to its corrosion,
humidity, low temperature and thermal shock resistance;
furthermore, its use is expected to increase in light of
the forthcoming design-related European regulatory
developments.

Case study: chemical plant
As far as the many advantages of using fibreglass are Constructing a FRP inclined stairway for tank access purposes
concerned, we would like to again touch upon its
lightness, ease of installation and remarkable resistance
to aggressive chemicals. In fact, it is these distinctive The purpose of the new FRP walkways is to provide
features that led a crop protection product manufacturer access to maintenance personnel. To facilitate working
to opt for FRP structures. on the apparatus located at the top of the tanks, M.M.
Before M.M. arrived on the scene, the agro- also succeeded in creating work landings with
pharmaceutical production tanks were equipped with removable gratings and protection systems to ensure
steel walkways and stairways which, over time, had that work is always carried out in a safe manner.
gradually corroded due to continuous exposure to a As previously mentioned, M.M.’s fibreglass products
harsh environment, thus deeming their use unsafe. replaced the previous existing structures: the reduced
As maintenance work at the top of the tanks remained weight of the FRP structures - compared to their steel
an essential requirement for the client, fibreglass counterpart - allowed the tank designers to easily adopt
products were chosen which, by their very nature, do this new solution as no overloads were created on the
not require maintenance and therefore guarantee long- existing structures.
lasting consistent performance. More specifically, M.M. The installation operations were extremely fast and very
supplied the following FRP products for this plant: little machinery was used to lift the walkways and
• Vertical stairways to access the walkways. stairways which, as we recall, were supplied on site
• Walkways for walking at height to the tanks. having already been pre-assembled in the M.M. plants.

IndustrIal Plants - May 2022
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