ALGOR AROUND THE WORLD - Spain

Spanish Shipbuilders Design Dry Dock Door with Algor FEA

If you've ever wondered about modeling large, complex structures on a desktop computer, this story should be of interest. The naval construction firm of Empresa Nacional Bazán, located in Madrid, Spain, recently designed a floating dry dock door using Algor Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software. The structure measures approximately 81 feet long, 36 feet high and 11 feet wide. It is constructed of more than 225 tons of Class "A" Naval steel.

The dry dock door is shown in the final stages of construction. The structure is more than 80 feet long, 36 feet high and weighs 225 tons.

According to Andrés Mora Cañadilla, the firm's Director of Innovation and Technology, "Algor was chosen for the analysis because of its enormous capacity to model structures of great complexity and allow visualization of various displacements. This makes accurate analysis possible in any area of the structure."

The finite element model of the door was developed by engineers Francisco Guerra and Francisco Peralta. Because of geometric and load symmetry, half of the actual door was represented. The model has 923 nodes and 1851 elements. Construction of the door was completed in July and it is currently in service.

Engineers Francisco Guerra and Francisco Peralta.

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