Step 1: Within the Project Design Environment, Click Structural on the left Navigation Bar.
Step 2: Enter Geotechnical data.
| Field | Description | Default | Range |
| Linear Weight of Piles (lb/ft) | Weight of Piles Per Foot of Pile Length | 7 | >=7 |
| Length of Piles Including Above Ground Portion (ft) | Total Length of Piles Including the Above Ground Portion | 10 | >=0 |
Step 3: Enter Foundation Cost data.
| Field | Description | Default | Range |
| Price of Structural Steel ($/lb) | Structural Steel Costs | 0.52 | [0.05 – 0.25] |
| Pile Equipment Rental Cost ($/pile) | Pile Equipment Rental Cost | 25 | >= 0 |
| Pile Install Labor Cost ($/pile) | Pile Install Labor Cost | 25 | >= 0 |
| Price of Concrete ($/cuyd) | The cost of concrete per cubic yard. | 90 | >= 0 |
Step 4: Enter Layout Constraints
| Field | Description | Default | Range |
| Max Road Separation (ft) | The maximum spacing between roads, from curb to curb. Note if the distance specified is less than the width of a single sub-block, the simulation will return an error as being infeasible. The sub-block dimension is often in the order of ~100ft. | 500 | >= 0 |
| Road Width (ft) | The width of inverter / transformer station internal access roads. Note this road width is added to the existing aisle space (which may be determined automatically if optimizing over row-spacing). Therefore, where roads are placed, the clear distance between racks will be equal to the road width plus the normal aisle space between racks. This approach ensures the full road width specified by the user is available for vehicle access since the dimensions of the inverter / transformer station may encroach into the normal aisle space. | 16 | >= 1 |
| Minimum Aisle Spacing (ft) | The minimum spacing between the back of one row and the front of the next one. | 3 | >= 0 |
Access Roads
Access roads are placed automatically within the array layout and are placed to align with the azimuth of the project. Inverter station placement is constrained to be placed along an access road. Access roads are placed at regular intervals within the array layout based on the Max Road Separation distance and the dimension of a sub-block (which is determined automatically). The system does not break sub-blocks to place roads and therefore the road separation distance is calculated as the length of the maximum number of sub-blocks that does not exceed the Max Road Separation distance. It’s important to note that the road separation distance and total number of roads are not optimized (although this is planned for later releases). However, the locations of the inverter stations along the roads as well as the placement of sub-blocks around inverter stations are optimized with respect to wiring costs.
The Road Width dimension specified by the user is added to the normal row-spacing between racks. Therefore, the aisle spacing between racks where roads are placed can never be less than the normal aisle spacing throughout the rest of the site. Depending on the dimensions of the inverter station, part of the normal aisle between racks may be occupied by the station. Therefore, the user specified Road Width is added to the existing aisle spacing and can thus be thought of as a minimum separation between inverter station and the rack across the road.