Development of raised access floor panel by optimisation techniques

Raised access floor panels currently have a chipboard core and are encapsulated within thin layer of galvanised steel. Two key problems with these raised access floor panels are that they are heavy because of the chipboard and expensive, as the cost of steel has increased significantly over the past few years. The consequence of the raised access floor panel’s mass is that they are difficult to handle, they are expensive to transport and they add considerably to the load on a structures foundation. Glass fibre filled epoxy of floor panels were designed and optimised to achieve lighter weights without compromising their strength using Altair Hypermesh software. A material weight reduction of the glass fibre filled epoxy floor panel was achieved by optimised design of the panes using an evolutionary structural optimisation (ESO) method and the introduction of panel ribs. The lighter weight of new raised floors panel would have a significant impact on the loadings of buildings foundation and allow architects to reduce the carbon footprint of a building resulting in reduced construction costs. In addition, a reduction in the weight of the new raised access floor panels would reduce the transportation costs of the panels