Slow Down I’ll bet “Slow Down” isn’t an expression you hear much in your business. I dream of a day when a customer tells me, “Slow down, we really don’t care when you finish your design.” I can’t get you more time on...
Tornado Alley I live in Oklahoma and during the Spring and Fall seasons we tend to have a lot of tornadoes, and that’s why this part of the country is part of the region dubbed “Tornado Alley.” Since our company sells the MecaWind software, we...
I Feel the Need, the Need for Speed In my humble opinion, the Movie Top Gun is one of the best movies of all time. One of the best parts is when Tom Cruise says “I feel the need, the need for speed”. It’s not just a great line, it also applies to...
Shining light on Windows and Doors Calculating pressures on windows and doors is one of the most common operations performed in MecaWind, and so we thought we would make a brief video to explain the way to calculate Components and Cladding (C&C). We also show some...
Welcome to our Damping Pad When a vortex shedding problem exists on a stack, sometimes the most economical option is a damping pad. What is a damping pad? A damping pad is a preformed laminated fabric pad of a manufactured material composed of layers of tightly...
Florida Building Code 2017 Wind Loads Update: The Florida Building Code 2020 was adopted in 2021 We have added the Florida Building Code 2017 Wind Loads to our software, MecaWind (Pro feature), and this gave us an opportunity to get familar with the Florida Building...
How to Determine Damping We can all grasp the physical attributes of a stack such as the height, weight, diameters, etc.; however, what is the stack’s structural damping? Does MecaStack estimate the damping of the stack? Is there any harm in just arbitrarily...
Getting High on Wind I am an amateur cyclist, and I typically ride my bike on trails in my home of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma at an elevation of 700 ft [213 m]. One year I took my bike on a vacation to Breckenridge, Colorado at an elevation of 9,000 ft [2743 m]. The...
MecaWind is like Driving a Car The new MecaWind release provides a new way to select the method used for the Main Wind Force Resisting System (MWFRS) and the Components and Cladding (C&C). The results can be different based upon the MWFRS method and C&C method...
Getting Twisted about Helical Strakes If you have a vortex shedding problem on a stack, then in some cases helical strakes are your best option; however, there are other cases where helical strakes are not the best option. When not to use Helical Strakes? If there is...
It’s not my Default There is a feature in MecaWind that is seldom used, but can be very helpful. It’s a feature under the File Menu called “Save Current File as Default”. What does it do? When this feature is is selected, it takes the current...
The Next Big Thing in Lifting Lug Design All structural design is important but verifying that the lifting lug design is adequate to lift a piece of heavy equipment might just be one of the most important things an Engineer can design. Engineers often design...
Take Vortex Shedding Seriously When I was a new Engineer working for an equipment manufacturer, I can say that I didn’t have a healthy appreciation for wind Induced vibration (vortex shedding). I worked for an equipment manufacturer who won and lost jobs based...
MecaStack Default File There is a feature in MecaStack that is seldom used, but can be very helpful. It’s a feature under the File Menu called “Save Current File as Default”. What does it do? When this feature is is selected, it takes the current...
ASCE 7-16 Wind Changes The ASCE 7-16 Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures was released in the Summer of 2017, and some jurisdictions are starting to reference this standard. MecaStack has a built in calculator for ASCE 7 wind loads on the stack, but...
Tune up your next Stack One of the most common problems encountered on a cylindrical stack is Wind Induced vibration due to Vortex Shedding. If you have never visually observed vortex shedding, watch this brief video and prepare to be amazed. There are a couple of...
