Design of new scaffold anchor based on the updated finite element model

•The shape of the anchor as a part of the new scaffold system has been developed.•The 2 FE models of the anchor have been created and verified on the experiments.•The updated accurate FE models are subsequently used during the optimization process.•The FE tubular scaffold model has been deduced for a purpose of using in optimization.

In this paper, a new scaffold anchor system is presented. The developed scaffold system overcomes the problems associated with the existing scaffold anchors. The existing scaffold anchors damage the surrounding insulation layers subsequently decreases the stability of scaffold anchors. The developed scaffold system has a new type of the facade anchor and the position pattern used for scaffolding. The developed scaffold system is based on the accurate FE models of the prototype anchor, which have been updated in the light of the experimental results i.e. force–displacement curve. It has been observed that the results of finite element model do not match with experimental results. The modelling of stiffnesses of the joints is considered to be the major source of uncertainty in the finite element model. Subsequently, stiffnesses of joints of anchor have been updated in the light of experimental data. The results have shown that after updating, the predictions of finite element model of scaffold system matches well with experimental results. Subsequently, the loading forces used during the optimization process have been obtained from the updated finite element model of the tubular scaffold construction related to the Eurocode standards. In addition to the problems associated with existing scaffold anchors, the developed scaffold anchor is also effective in transmitting support forces to the facade object along with increasing the stability of scaffold anchors.