Dapeng Town Industrial Park, Tongshan District, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, China
With the rapid development of China’s economy, the continuous improvement of science and technology, and the acceleration of urbanisation, the demand for space structures in the construction field is growing and becoming more and more diversified. With its unique mechanical properties, excellent spatial modelling ability and good economy, space structure has been widely used in various large-scale public buildings, industrial buildings and even special engineering facilities.
Recent Development and Engineering Practices of Chinese Space Structures
1.Innovation of large-span space structure form
(1) Large-span space structure
Cable structure: cable dome, string support dome, spoke cable structure and other forms are constantly innovated and applied. For example, the large-span cable dome structure of Tianjin Polytechnic University Gymnasium has an elliptical plane size of 102m×82m; the large-opening cable bearing grid structure used in Xuzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium is both beautiful and large-span covering capacity.
Prestressed cable net structure: The double-curved saddle-shaped roof cover of prestressed cable net adopted in the National Speed Skating Pavilion is the largest cable net roof structure in China, showing a high level of technology and providing the building with a unique spatial form and good structural performance.
(2) Aluminium alloy space structure:
With the features of strong space spanning ability and beautiful free-form architectural shape, it has been successfully applied to large-span mesh shell structure. For example, the three independent exhibition halls in the greenhouse of Shanghai Cinnabar Botanical Garden are all free-form single-layer aluminium alloy mesh shells; the roof of Nanjing Niushoushan Fodong Palace consists of large free-form mesh shells and small elliptical domes.
2.Space grid structure application expansion
Airport terminal construction: It is widely used in large public buildings such as airport terminals. For example, in Beijing Daxing International Airport, the lower part is reinforced concrete frame, the upper roof is space truss and space mesh, and its unique ‘starfish’ modelling becomes the highlight of the building. In order to cope with the problems of temperature effect and seismic response, seismic isolation bearings, dampers and other technologies are adopted in the structural design.
3.Development and breakthrough of membrane structure
Attention has been paid to its lightweight and light-transmitting properties. The ‘Water Cube’ of National Swimming Centre is the successful application model of ETFE membrane structure in China; the tensioned membrane structure system of the Expo Axis of the World Expo also shows the unique charm of membrane structure.
4.Achievements of space structure in large scientific devices
FAST Project: For example, FAST in Guizhou, whose reflecting surface is composed of geodesic cue network structure and aluminium alloy structure with joint support, overcame a lot of technical difficulties during the construction process and achieved high precision and adaptability of the super large-span reflecting surface.
In conclusion, China’s space structures have achieved fruitful results in recent development and engineering practice, whether in structural form innovation, material application expansion or breakthroughs in special engineering fields, all of them show strong technical strength and innovative spirit, and are expected to create more brilliant achievements in more fields in the future.
