ABSTRACT
The installation difficulties associated with soleplates can be reduced, to varying extents, by mounting the equipment on a base which is in turn attached to the foundation. In functional terms, a pump has to be connected to its driver in a manner that will maintain acceptable alignment under drive reaction, thermal expansion, and reasonable piping loads. Materials for bases are cast iron, carbon steel, austenitic stainless steel, or reinforced polymers. Cast iron is limited to standard bases. Fabricated carbon steel allows design flexibility and is the usual material. When baseplate corrosion is a problem, austenitic stainless steel or reinforced polymer offer solutions. Compared to supported bases, the additional design requirements for suspended bases are: High bending stiffness; sufficient to maintain coupling alignment under equipment weight and imposed loads. A carbon steel base generally realizes this at minimum cost by a simple arrangement of moderately heavy pieces.
