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Date: October 17, 1996
Author: Thomas Bird, Senior Engineer Foresight Products, LLC, Commerce
City, CO (USA)
Subject: Air Structure Tie-Down using Manta Ray® Earth Anchors
Description of Problem: An interactive, movable, sports theme park
required housing at various locations throughout the United States. The buildings chosen were a pressurized fabric
structure 320' x 150' x 60' high. Two air structures were required at each location to accommodate the theme park's
equipment. Location requirements included recovery of all anchor rod hardware.
Design: The fabric structure manufacturer designed the anchoring requirements
to resist the force of the internal air pressure and wind loading. Two hundred and fifty (250) anchors were required
for each structure. Soil analysis revealed medium dense fine sand and silts.
The holding capacity requirement of 13,000 pounds for each anchor dictated the use of the MR-1 Manta Ray anchor.
The anchor was complemented with a 1" diameter, 7' long solid anchor rod. The assembly was terminated using
a 20,000 pound capable eyenut and
all components were galvanized to provide significant corrosion protection.
Installation Procedure: The timing of the job allowed only a five
(5) day anchor installation period for both tent structures (500 anchors). There was no familiarity among crew
members regarding the Manta Ray system prior to this job. The job site equipment consisted of two (2) hand held
jackhammer equipped crews and one (1) skid steer with mounted breaker equipped crew.
One hundred fifty (150) anchors were installed during the first day of operation. Ninety (90) of these were driven
by the skid steer and mounted breaker equipped crew. Anchor load verification was also performed solely by the
skid steer crew since the hydraulic circuit of the skid steer was necessary to power the LL-1 "Load-Locker".
All five hundred (500) anchors were installed prior to the end of the fifth day, meeting an important customer
requirement.
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