Engineered Ballast Containment Structure

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Green Frog Systems approached Aretech seeking an alternative to conventional concrete ballast blocks used across their solar lighting product range.

Traditional concrete ballast systems were expensive to manufacture and transport, difficult to deploy, and inefficient for temporary or remote infrastructure projects. To improve transportability and operational flexibility, a ballast containment system using locally sourced materials such as sand or soil was proposed.

Replacing solid concrete ballast with loose fill material introduced significant structural challenges. Unlike concrete blocks, loose ballast cannot provide a direct structural load path, requiring the development of an internal steel structure capable of safely resisting overturning loads under extreme wind loading conditions.

The system also needed to:

• Integrate with existing solar lighting platforms 
• Support the company’s largest product configurations 
• Allow lifting via forklift or crane while fully ballasted 
• Enable rapid ballast removal and redeployment 
• Be cost-effective to manufacture using standard steel sections 

The project required a structurally optimised solution balancing strength, manufacturability, transport efficiency, and field deployment practicality.

Aretech led the structural engineering and development of the ballast containment system, delivering an optimised solution tailored for demanding temporary infrastructure environments.

Key Engineering Features:

• Designed an optimised internal steel structure to provide an efficient load path to ground under multi-directional loading conditions 
• Engineered the system to safely support approximately 4 tonnes of ballast material 
• Developed the structure to enable lifting via forklift or crane while fully ballasted 
• Designed a removable base plate system with an optimised fastener configuration to support compatibility across multiple product platforms 
• Conducted advanced non-linear finite element analysis (FEA) across worst-case loading scenarios to validate structural performance and optimise material utilisation 
• Developed a tipper-style discharge door mechanism enabling rapid ballast removal and redeployment in the field 
• Optimised the structure for manufacturability using standard steel section sizes and practical fabrication methods 

Aretech provided end-to-end engineering support throughout the project, including:

• Detailed 3D CAD modelling 
• Manufacturing drawings 
• Advanced FEA and structural calculations 
• Detailed engineering analysis and reporting 
• Manufacturing and quality control support 
• Prototype development support 
• Functional and load testing development 
• Validation testing support under real-world loading conditions

The project successfully delivered a prototype engineered ballast containment structure capable of replacing conventional concrete ballast systems with a more flexible and transport-efficient alternative.

The resulting design demonstrated:

• Improved deployment and transport efficiency 
• Reduced reliance on precast concrete ballast systems 
• Enhanced adaptability across multiple product platforms 
• Structural capability under extreme loading conditions 
• Practical field operation and redeployment functionality 

A full-scale prototype has since been manufactured, with functional and load testing currently underway to verify and validate structural performance under real-world operating conditions.