Ductwork

Dali Museum Case Study

The Dali Museum's climate-controlled geodesic dome in St. Petersburg, Florida stands 60 feet tall and 39 feet wide and complements the Museum’s free-form glass enigma.

The dome is reinforced with an inner cover made of a specialized, architectural-grade membrane able to withstand 140 mph winds. Hardware includes a projection truss mounted into the roof, that then projects onto circular IMAX sized screen walls, as well as the 2,800 square feet of the theater itself.

Location: St. Petersburg, FL

Owner: Salvador Dali Museum

Architect: Stantec - Tampa

General Contractor: JE Dunn

Mechanical Engineer: Volt Air Tampa

Mechanical Contractor: Page Mechanical Group, Ft Myers

Products/Manufacturers: AQC Industries, BlueDuct

Our TBCo team faced multifaceted challenges on this project, demanding innovative solutions. The dome's location on a concrete slab posed the unique requirement of running all of the BlueDuct ductwork beneath it, strategically positioned just inches above the Tampa Bay water table.

Adjacent to the dome and linking to the main museum, a grassy area served as a pivotal space for fundraisers and art events. The necessity to assess the ground's load-bearing capacity became paramount, ensuring it could withstand the additional weight imposed by the heavy equipment used in event setups.

Complicating matters further, the scheduling clash with the St. Pete Grand Prix presented a logistical puzzle. Streets were set to close precisely when the crucial BlueDuct material needed delivery to maintain project timelines.

Addressing these challenges, our engineering team employed the use of highly specialized BlueDuct, meticulously designed for subterranean deployment in trenches. Collaborating closely with civil engineering experts, we determined the optimal trench depth for the BlueDuct and augmented the infrastructure with a crushed rock bedding and sand layer just above the water table.

To ascertain the BlueDuct's load-bearing capacity, our team collaborated with industry specialists, incorporating additional rock and sand to evenly disperse weight during the setup of heavy equipment for events held on the grass field outside the dome.

Coordinating with AQC Industries, the manufacturer of BlueDuct, we meticulously scheduled a dedicated truck, creating a detailed hour-by-hour plan with the TBCo team to ensure seamless tractor trailer ingress and egress before the impending two-week road closure. In the intricate dance between engineering challenges and solutions, our team's precision and ingenuity prevailed, securing the success of this complex project.

The completed structure opened to the public in the summer of 2023 featuring the Dali Alive 360°, an immersive journey into the work – and the mind – of Surrealist master Salvador Dali.

NEA Baptist Hospital

Often times who is responsible for underground site work can be a source of contention between trades. In the case of the NEA Baptist Hospital in Jonesboro AR, the underground duct was designed to be concrete, however there were lead time and cost issues related to using concrete. TBCo Memphis was there to help. Looking at the price of the concrete duct plus lead time issues and installation of the duct, BlueDuct became a perfect solution.

Not only was the duct at a better price point, but the installation was significantly easier than concrete. Imagine the handling of 24" concrete duct sections! Oh yeah... and it shipped in 2 days standard since it was a stock size. The customer took the time to watch the installation videos provided by TBCo and when the duct arrived on site, he was so excited about the finished installation that he sent TBCo photos. BlueDuct is the perfect solution for underground duct and not just an alternative to FRP or PVC coated steel... it can also "BLAST" concrete.

Zambezi River Hippo Camp Memphis Zoo

The project was a total success and the contractor and design team will be using BlueDuct for underground projects in the future.

When the Architects designing the Memphis Zoo were tasked with designing a new habitat for Hippos with ”tiki-hut” type buildings in their design, the mechanical design team knew they would have to be going underground with the ductwork and air distribution system. The idea was to give the viewing area of this exhibit of the zoo the look and feel of wild Africa, with the comforts of air condi- tioning. The product used needed to be strong, dependable, long lasting, easy to install, and fully customizable for the application.

With FRP duct being expensive to in- stall and not easily customizable, and PVC coated galvanized spiral lacking the long life expected by the owner, the perfect solution was BlueDuct by AQC Industries. BlueDuct has be- come well known for superior perfor- mance for underground ductwork and being relatively new to the market was the first time the engineer had experi- ence with the product. The easy instal- lation using flanges or compression joints, much shorter lead time, and attractive pricing levels, made design- ing around BlueDuct an easy decision. In addition, BlueDuct offered training to help with the installation and even sent the tooling needed to assemble the duct. Every BlueDuct project is provided with detailed engineered as- sembly drawings for coordination and layout.

Lastly, due to the inherent strength of BlueDuct, the backfilling requirements were also reduced which benefited the General Contractor.

The complete install was done in just a couple of days with the slab and structure quickly thereafter. The Zam- bezi River Hippo Camp at the Memphis Zoo will open to the public March of 2016.

The project was a total success and the contractor and design team will be using BlueDuct for underground projects in the future.

OMNI CRA Miami Entertainment Complex

Price Sound Attenuators

Miami Entertainment Complex is a full-service movie and TV studio complex with about 70,000 square feet of studio space, including two 15,000 square foot sound stages. The sound stages required a room NC level of 25. In order to achieve NC 25, these rooms required the use of double wall lined ductwork. Price Industries was able to add elbow sound attenuators and eliminate the double wall ductwork and replace it with single wall ductwork. Not only did this save money first cost versus the double wall ductwork, but it saved labor as the single wall ductwork was much lighter and easier to install.

The Challenge: Miami Entertainment Complex is a full-service movie and TV studio complex with about 70,000 square feet of studio space, including two 15,000 square foot sound stages. The sound stages required a room NC level of 25. In order to achieve NC 25, these rooms required the use of dou- ble wall lined ductwork. The ductwork was very large (54x42), which would be very heavy and difficult to install, especially 15 feet in the air.

The Solution: Price provided a complete engineering analysis for the designed system and we were able to add elbow sound attenuators and eliminate the double wall ductwork. We provided a total of 18 Price sound attenuators, which allowed the Con- tractor to eliminate 980 feet of double wall ductwork and install single wall ductwork and still maintain the NC 25 sound levels. Not only did this save money first cost versus the double wall ductwork, but it saved labor as the single wall ductwork was much lighter and easier to install.

NOTES:

• Price silencers are tested in our NVLAP-Accredited sound lab – certification is available upon request and in our AIO software.
• Price silencers consist of ASTM A653 / A653M steel casings and perforated liners.
• Price silencer material has flame spread classification < 25 and smoke development rating < 50 when tested in accordance with ASTM E84, UL723 and NFPA255.
• Dynamic insertion losses are limited to 55dB due to flanking.

• Silencer model was selected to achieve NC 25 criteria level based on octave band sound levels of 63/65/62/60/56/50/49/45/ from 63Hz to 8000Hz.

• System effects assume Sharp Inlet at the silencer inlet and Elbow Without Vanes at the silencer outlet.

• Performance data is derived from test values obtained in strict accordance with ASTM E477.

• Silencer to be shipped in multiple components for assembly on site by Others.

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