How should the Pre-engineered Building (PEB) shed be designed for efficiency?

November 22, 2021

Key aspects of PEB buildings

Pre Engineered Buildings (PEB) refers to the type of buildings that are engineered and manufactured at a factory and assembled at the site. Usually, PEBs refer to steel structures. Built-up sections are fabricated at the factory to the exact size, transported to the site, and assembled at the site with bolted connections. This type of Structural Concept is generally used to build Industrial Buildings, Metro Stations, and Warehouses, etc. They can be used on large spans without any column support in the middle.

It is an effective way to optimize cost for large span buildings and its quick installation saves time as well. Various options for sheet material such as pre-coated galvalume sheets, Insulated Sandwich Panel sheets, Fiber sheets, and Polycarbonate Sheets are available to suit different requirements.

Spans and structure planning

While planning for PEB shed bays, factors like Gantry movement, the width of production lines, circulation areas have to be taken into account. The arrangement of machines and equipment within a factory includes the layout of departments within the factory site, the layout of machines within the departments, and the layout of individual workplaces.

A range of 25-30m is preferred for PED shed. More than 30m can be costly to install. For example, in one of our projects, we optimized the overall 55m span of the shed by splitting it into 2 bays to help optimize the bay width of PEB.

Other Factors for Efficiency

Some other factors to consider while discussing with the Pre- Engineered Building vendors are earthquake safety, wind, ventilation, and fire resistance. Coordination with the foundations on-site with the engineers for accuracy and loading criteria is equally pertinent.

Additional benefits of PEB (Pre-Engineered Buildings) can be that solar panels can also be installed on them to optimize energy consumption. It must have good enough strength to bear wind loads.

The Design Basis Sheet is the single most important factor in getting all coordinating teams to be on the same page and avoiding any unforeseen misunderstandings.

How can we manage wastage efficiently through design?

Industries work with processes at all stages. Various kinds of waste are generated at various stages, which may require different levels of treatment such as:

Preliminary / Primary
Secondary
Tertiary (or advanced)

Some waste products that may impact the building directly are heavy metal scraps and corrosive liquid and gaseous waste.

Managing Corrosive Fumes to safeguard factory building!

Corrosive fumes can potentially eat into the metal, weaken the shed structure, and erode the paints and other surface finishes, besides damage to human health and other machines over time.

A very efficient way to manage corrosive fumes is to understand and also direct their movement path inside the building premise. Fume extraction systems from the shed clubbed with scrubbers are an efficient method to manage the corrosive fumes and prevent them from damaging the environment around them.

Having the right HVAC system installed not only helps keep staff safe but can also extend the life of equipment by extracting fumes and managing environmental conditions that have adverse effects on delicate electrical and mechanical machinery.