SPECIALTY SERVICES
To better serve our clients with fit-for-purpose solutions and complement our stablished reputation as "problem solvers", we offer a variety of specialty services. These services are tuned to our clients' needs, and are backed by our team's decades of experience working on challenging projects around the globe.
Highly educated and cross-trained in academia and industry, our experts will provide you with practical and cost-effective solutions to save your time and money, while increasing opportunities. The solutions we provide are innovative and evidence-based, and are customized to fit your specific purpose. Some of our previous solutions have received high recognition by being published and presented in peer reviewed reputable conferences and journals, and shared in engineering communities in the USA and Canada.
Visit our Insight page to see how our innovative approaches can provide a solutions for your next project.
ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES WITH ALPHATECS
FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
During their many years of experience in finite element analysis, our team has successfully provided innovative and cost-effective solutions for complex problems in various industries. This method pushes the boundaries of traditional design tools, and is used for projects where day-to-day engineering approaches cannot provide a feasible solution. Finite element analysis simulates the real-world behavior of structural and mechanical systems, specially when combined with other techniques such as nonlinear analysis and fracture mechanics. This removes the conservatism implemented into the design codes and standards, hence providing an economical and easy-to-implement construction solution.
Our team has successfully used finite element analysis for projects in various sectors, including:
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Buildings
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Infrastructure
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Bridges
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Ports and terminals
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Dams, spillways and powerhouses
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Pipelines
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Connections
DYNAMIC ANALYSIS (TIME-HISTORY, RESPONSE SPECTRUM, AND VIBRATION)
With the advancement in computers and engineering solutions, dynamic analysis is becoming more popular, and most codes require that a dynamic analysis be performed for certain buildings and structures. Used in different applications, dynamic analysis helps better understand the real behavior of the structure, and provide an economical and robust design. It generally includes three categories: Time-history, Response Spectrum, and Vibration.
Our team has decades of experience in dynamic analysis, and can support you in your projects in various sectors, including:
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High-rises
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Infrastructure (Dams, Bridges, Underground structures)
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Seismic design and earthquake engineering
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Heavy industry (vibrating machines and foundations)
NON-LINEAR ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
Engineering codes and standards usually incorporate linear elastic analysis and design methods. This approach has proved to be conservative and lacks a complete control over the response of the structure under extreme loading conditions such as wind and earthquake. In recent years, design codes have started providing new provisions for performing nonlinear analysis, so that the real response of the structure can be better studied. However, there is no comprehensive body of knowledge yet available that can be used by practicing engineers for such analysis approach.
Our team has successfully completed various nonlinear analysis and design projects with different degrees of complexity. Ranging from dams and under-ground pipelines, to heritage buildings and high-rises, we will help you avoid design complexities and reduce construction cost using coupled nonlinear analysis and design. We provide this service for different industries such as:
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Infrastructure
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Pipelines
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Dams and bridges
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Buildings
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Seismic upgrade
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Structures under extreme events
PERFORMANCE-BASED DESIGN
As a goal-oriented design approach, performance-based design specifically addresses the performance-related criteria such as the response of the structure under earthquakes or hurricanes. It is founded on the premise that the structural systems must meet specific performance objectives under various levels of loads. In this approach, the design end goal sets the criteria for the starting point of the design process. The engineer engages creativity and innovation to identify optimal solutions to different, and oftentimes competing, objectives. This requires a thorough analysis, simulation, experiments, or a combination thereof. The outcome of this in-depth effort is an effective and efficient economical design with improved performance.
Our team members in Alphatecs have been doing performance-based design for over two decades, and even before it was officially incorporated in design standards as it is today. This provides us with an invaluable experience and insight that we will bring to your projects. We will help you achieve the performance you expect from your project in different industries, including:
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Buildings and high-rises
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Bridges
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Dams and spillway
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Tunnels and underground facilities
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Pipelines
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Oil & gas
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Infrastructure
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Mining & metal
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Pulp & paper
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Ports & terminals
Visit our Insight page to see some of our previous novel and innovative approaches for performance-based design.
The interaction of the structure with the soil had been long ignored in many engineering design projects. However, damages sustained in recent earthquakes have shown that the behavior of a structure is highly influenced by both the response of the superstructure and the soil. Therefore, modern design codes require that the analysis of a structural system be conducted by taking into consideration its interaction with soil.
Our experts have completed a variety of small and large-scale projects involving SSI analysis, and have the knowledge and experience to meet and exceed your expectations. This includes various SSI analysis for:
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Heavy foundations and retaining walls
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Dams and spillways
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Bridges
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Tunnels and embedded structures
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Pipelines
FLUID-STRUCTURE INTERACTION (FSI)
A multi-physics coupling between the laws of fluid dynamics and structural mechanics, fluid-structure interaction studies the behavior of a structure surrounded by fluid (i.e. wind or water). This interaction can be investigated using various approaches, ranging from simplified equivalent static analysis methods to Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and full nonlinear coupled dynamic analysis.
Our team has used performed fluid-structure interaction analysis for projects in different sectors such as silos, towers, pipelines, dams, spillways, marine and offshore structures.