SALT LAKE PARALYMPICS 2002 OPENING CEREMONIES STAGE
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

In mid-January of 2002 Scenic Technologies, Inc., a fabricator with whom we often collaborate, came to us with a fast track job. Our task was to design and engineer structural steel frameworks for six 40' by 60' three dimensional mountains. The structures must be made up of weldments no larger than 10' by 10' by 30' to facilitate flat bed truck shipment to Salt Lake, the shipping sections are to be welded together onsite, the assembled mountains are to be lifted by crane into the arena, and they must be able to withstand a 70 mph wind. And by the way we need finished shop drawings with engineering details for all mountains in three weeks.

Using our unique technique of designing and analyzing simultaneously in 3-D using AutoCAD and the RISA3D analysis program, we were able to accomplish our goals. On February 11 we delivered a 34 sheet engineering and shop drawing package with a finite element analysis summary including reactions at the baseplates and stress analysis of each structure. All mountain structures are made of ASTM A500 2-1/2" square structural steel tube. Each finished mountain weighs about 6.25 tons.