Issue 22

The roof and walls of the Beijing Olympic National Swimming Centre have a polyhedron space frame format developed from foam theory; the first and largest application of its kind in the world. Some key techniques of structural design are described in this paper, including development of the geometrical form; optimisation of the space frame structure; analysis of various loading conditions; whole structure oriented analysis; pushover and shutdown analyses and elastic-plastic time-history analysis under seismic loading. Test studies of the joints and submodel structures are introduced.

Xueyi Fu, CSCEC National Swimming Center Design Consortium, Beijing, China

Lei Gu, CSCEC National Swimming Center Design Consortium, Beijing, China

Xianqiao Yang, CSCEC National Swimming Center Design Consortium, Beijing, China

Weijiang Yu, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

Xianchuan Chen, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

The structural form of the Beijing National Stadium (The ‘Bird’s Nest’) is unusual and iconic. This paper describes the rational behind its framing solution, the types of analysis adopted and the loading conditions considered, Given its complex geometric form, issues of fabrication and buildability were especially difficult and are described. Theoretical design of the more complex joints was verified by FEA and back up model load testing. An explanation is given of the construction technique.

Zhong Fan, PhD, MIStructE
Deputy Chief Engineer, China Architecture Design and Research Group, Beijing, China

The National Gymnasium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics is located in the central area of the Beijing Olympic Park. It ranks among the Olympic site’s three major stadia (the other two being the National Stadium and the National Swimming Centre) but is the only one designed independently by a domestic designer. The Gymnasium consists of two parts, a Competition Hall and Training Hall. The Competition Hall has a 114m ¥ 114m roof composed of two way spanning trusses incorporating integral pre-stressed cable supports and is thought to be the largest roof of its kind in the world. This paper focuses on the structural system, design standards, pre-stress control, cable replacement and fire-prevention plus the construction process calculations and subsequent verification by model experiment.

Yang Qin, Senior engineer, Professor, Beijing Architecture Design of Institute, Beijing, China

Zhong-Yi Zhu, Senior engineer, Beijing Architecture Design of Institute, Beijing, China

Chang-Hua Ke, General engineer, Professor, Beijing Architecture Design of Institute, Beijing, China

Kai Qin, Senior engineer, Beijing Architecture Design of Institute, Beijing, China

Yi Wang, Senior engineer, Beijing Architecture Design of Institute, Beijing, China