Large-Span Structural Buildings

Horizontally spanning more than 60 meters of space in all types of structural forms of buildings. Large-span structure is mostly used in civil buildings such as theaters, gymnasiums, exhibition halls, assembly halls, air terminal waiting halls and other large-scale public buildings, and industrial buildings such as large-span factories, aircraft assembly workshops and large-scale warehouses.

Types of Structures

There are folded plate structures, shell structures, space frame structures, suspension structures, inflatable structures, canopy tension structures, etc.

Folded Plate Roof Structure

A monolithic thin-walled folded plate roof structure consisting of a number of reinforced concrete slabs joined into a zigzag shape. This folded plate can also be used as a vertical component of the wall or other load-bearing components. Folded plate roof structure combination of single-slope and multi-slope, single-span and multi-span, parallel folded plate and compound folded plate, etc., can adapt to the needs of different building plan. The commonly used cross-section shapes are V-shaped and trapezoidal, and the thickness of the plate is generally 5~10 cm, with the thinnest prefabricated prestressed plate being 3 cm thick. Span of 6~40 meters, the folding width is generally not more than 12 meters, cast-in-place folding plate folding angle is not more than 30 °; slope is large when the use of double-sided template or jet method of construction. Folded plate can be divided into two kinds of edge beam and no edge beam. Edgeless beam folded plate consists of a number of flat plate of equal thickness and cross partition, V-shaped folded plate is a common form of edgeless beam folded plate. Edge beam folded plate from the plate, edge beams, cross-partition boards and other components, generally cast-in-place, such as the UNESCO headquarters building in Paris, built in 1958, the roof of the conference hall, is the Italian P.L. Nervi design and construction. In accordance with the law of stress change, the folded plate cross-section from both ends to the span gradually increased, so that the shape of the roof of the hall has a sense of rhythm.

Shell Roof Structures

Large space shell roof structures constructed from reinforced concrete. Shell form cylindrical, spherical flat shell, split conical flat shell and a variety of single-curved, double-curved parabolic, twisted surface and other forms. The United States in the 40’s construction of Lambert St. Louis city air terminal waiting room, by three groups of 11.5 cm thick cast-in-place reinforced concrete shell, each group is two cylindrical curved shell orthogonal, and cut into octagonal planar, set up at the intersection of the light belt. Two cylindrical surfaces intersecting line made to protrude from the surface of the cross arch, not only to increase the strength of the shell, but also the load transfer to the support. The support is the hinge point, the shell edge is thickened, there are stiffening ribs, rolled upwards, so that the shell cross-arch architectural shape is simple and chic. German scholars such as U.F. Wald and F. Dichinger contributed to the theory of shell structure. Nervi designed the Turin Exhibition Hall built in 1950 is a waveform assembly thin shell roof building. Shell structure can reduce self-weight, save steel and cement, and the shape is novel and smooth.

Space frame Roof Structure

A large-span roof structure that is more commonly used. This structure has strong integrity, good stability, large spatial rigidity and good seismic performance. The height of the net frame is small, and it can be assembled into a large-span building by using small rod-shaped components, effectively utilizing the building space. Suitable for industrialized production of large-span network structure, the shape can be divided into two categories of flat plate space frame and shell-shaped network frame, which can adapt to circular, square, polygonal and other plane shapes. Plate-type racks are mostly double-layer, shell-type racks have single-layer and double-layer, and have single curve, double curve and other roof forms.

Inflatable Roof Structure

This is a large-span roof structure constructed by inflating a nylon membrane, synthetic fiber surface coating, and other materials. This structure is easy to install and dismantle.

Tent Tension Roof Structure

Over the past 20 years, a large-span roof structure has been newly developed on the basis of the suspension structure, which is mainly composed of various shapes of tent structures by utilizing gussets or gusset frames, tensile cables, tarpaulins or membranes, and tie-down points.