Design and optimisation of a structurally separated roof structure for event venues

Abstract

Nowadays football stadium encounter a lot of problems. Often services are outdated and the capacity is often too large or too small. These capacity problems especially occur in stadium that are built for major tournaments. When the tournament is finished, no appropriate tenants can be found and the stadium often remains empty. Another problem for a football stadium is the infrequent use. Most stadiums are in use only 20-25 times a year. Because these times are spread relatively even throughout the year, there are no large periods in which construction or refurbishment can happen. Besides all this, football stadium are unique structures, which require a large investment. Football clubs are often not capable of making such an investment.
A lot of possible solutions are researched in the past, such as a demountable stadium or a modular, that can easily be enlarged or reduced by adding or removing extra modules.
In this research another possible solution to these problems is drafted. By structurally uncoupling the grandstand structures and the roof structure, a lot of possibilities arise for the stadium. Grandstand structures can easily be enlarged or reduced, services can be refurbished without extensive construction and even movable grandstands can be designed. By moving the grandstand, the stadium can become suitable for other sports or events.
Besides the extra possibilities that arise, uncoupling the two structures also causes the opportunity to design both structures in a structurally efficient way. Bendingmoments can be prevented as much as possible,which makes the structure much more efficient. A lot of material can be saved, making the total stadium much cheaper.
In this research the roof structure is designed. The starting point in this design was that the structure should be optimal with regards to material usage. Different shapes are designed, which are compared by both structural and functional aspects. A few systems are selected that will be used for the preliminary calculations. In the preliminary calculations each of the different systems is calculated and optimised with Karamba and Galapagos. The total self-weights of the systems are compared and the best scoring system is analyzed further.
This final system is then modeled parametrically. Multiple parameters, like the height, centre-to-centre distances and the different cross-sections, are optimised to determine the optimal design with regards to material usage. After all parameters are optimised, the final design is calculated thoroughly. The results of these calculations are compared to similar structures to check if it really is an optimal design. From the results it follows that similar structures have a larger self-weight. This shows that the design in this research is indeed an appropriate alternative compared to more traditional stadium designs.
Besides the final design, also some design options are researched to see their influence on the structural behaviour of the roof structure. These design options are, for instance, a slightly different shape or a roof with a hole in it. These options can be seen as extras for the design. The determination of the structural consequences of these extras show how much they influence the total price of the system.