As part of a renovation project at the SkyCity Hotel, the supporting structure of an escalator had to be structurally adapted and redesigned. Dlubal's customer KONE Elevator carried out a comprehensive analysis of the modified structural elements.
As conventional analyses do not provide the required accuracy for critical connection points, the decision was made to use solid elements in RFEM. These allow for a local detailed analysis with significantly higher precision. RFEM supports combined modeling with member, surface, and solid elements so that both the global structure and the highly detailed nodes can be calculated in a single software package.
The special “hole” solid type was used for modeling complex recesses, allowing Boolean operations to be implemented quickly and efficiently. The finite element mesh was generated automatically and in a structured way, while additional refinements to nodes and lines ensured optimal accuracy in critical areas.
After the calculation, the stresses of the solid elements were evaluated using the stress-strain analysis add-on to ensure that the steel stress ratio met the requirements.
Quote of the Dlubal customer: “This project impressively shows the applicability of the Dlubal software in the field of structural design of escalators. Not only can the global structure be designed using RFEM, but the detailed connection nodes can also be analyzed and checked.”
| Location | SkyCity Hotel 72 Victoria Street West Auckland Central Auckland 1010 New Zealand |
| Structural Design | KONE Elevators China |
| Investor | SkyCity Hotel, Auckland |
