PEBS Pennar completes a project for UltraTech Cement which is a Stacker Reclaimer building with a clear span of 99 metres.

PEBS Pennar is one of the reckoning powers in the pre-engineered steel buildings in India. It offers varied solutions like design, manufacture, supply and installation of PEBs and building components for industries, warehouses, commercial centres, multi-storeyed buildings, aircraft hangars, stadia etc.

Notable PEB projects
PEBS Pennar has a big achievement to its credit as it completes a project for UltraTech Cement Ltd. which is a Stacker Reclaimer building with a clear span of 99 metres. The building is 350 metres long and has 29 metres peak height. This is considered as one of the largest clear span buildings in India and also believed to be one of the largest clear span buildings in Asia. The project was a challenge with respect to both designing as well as installation. It had no reference which made the entire design to be contesting. Stability was the major concern with collateral load of dust from the existing unit, wind speed and seismic load.In addition, a warehouse building for IOT Infra commissioned by ONGC OPAL is being built at Dahej, Gujarat. The building is 1 km long and 135 metres wide with an area of 1,31,350 sq.m.

PEBS Pennar has some other notable projects also under its belt. A Ground+7 formulation/R&D building for Bharat Biotech which is 33 metres high. Decking system used for flooring has a capacity of taking load up to 7KN per sq.m. The roof and the wall panels are provided with thermal insulation to maintain temperature.

Also a Ground+10 commercial building for Jayabheri Properties – Orange County at Hyderabad. A Ground+3 lab building for Gland Pharma at Hyderabad which is completely air conditioned. Moreover, the company has bagged an order of multi-level car park for LuLu Mall, Cochin, through Sobha Developers. The project is under execution and will be completed by the end of this year.

Hurdles in the way
The major hurdles faced by the company while executing some of the hard-hitting projects are the structures which need to be designed with the optimised steel consumption due to the tight market competition.

However, steel consumption is not only the major concern as several other parameters should also be considered as per the customers’ interest. Also some factors like the safety and stability need to be ensured.

Solutions provided
Considering Ultratech as 99 metres clear span building, the focus was on optimising the steel consumption. To attain the best, the company’s design department came up with several options and solutions for the same:
• Solid web type built-up I section structure
• Space frame type structure
• Open web type truss structure.

Out of all the above options, solid web type was eliminated as this did not meet the objective and resulted in high consumption of steel for this kind of large span and high structure. Space frame type structure was not liable as lots of complexities involved in manufacturing and erection process. So finally the company zeroed down on the open web type structure for the column and the rafters. For the secondary members, angles were chosen because of its ease in availability in the market. Also the end connections of various segments were trouble-free with angles.

The peak height of the structure was another major challenge faced by the erection team. The site was highly wind prone area and also it was a green field project with lots of processes going on at the site. The complete installation was carried out without any supporting platform in between the span.

Design was based on latest Indian codes and the final design arrived was the most optimum with least weight of steel per square meter which was certified by IIT Madras.

Authored by-
I V Ramana Raju,
Senior General Manager – Sales & Marketing,
Pennar Engineered Building Systems Ltd.