The Provision of Computational Modelling of Inflatables

There have been a number of incidents involving inflatable play devices recently, many of which have been the result of ineffective design, resulting in significant internal pressure, concentrated wind loading, insufficient support to the overall shape of the structure and the inflatable not being anchored to the ground adequately. Anchorage is very important and can be affected by different ground types and conditions, weather, size of inflatable, etc.

The current benchmark for inflatable play equipment is contained in BS EN 14960. This standard takes a simplified approach to the design of inflatables by only considering wind loading applied to the vertical surface area directly exposed to the wind and applying a correction factor to accommodate any additional loads and any variation in anchor performance.

The purpose of the proposed theoretical analysis is to assess the validity of the current standard by development of an accurate desk-based model(s) to allow prediction of foreseeable loading conditions and evaluate the resilience of the structures to these loads provided by their design (including anchorages).

Foreseeable loads are considered to be [but are not limited to]: direct wind loading effects, indirect wind funnelling (e.g. wind blowing through an opening in the structure and acting on the inner surface of the rear walls) aerodynamic lift effects (including considering distortion of the shape of the inflatable), thermal lift effects, effects of internal pressure (pneumatic lift - with a tendency to distort the inflatable into a sphere and apply additional vertical loading to the anchors).

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