Membrane Structure and Cable Structures: Subject: Advanced Construction and Materials
Membrane Structure and Cable Structures: Subject: Advanced Construction and Materials
STRUCTURES
SUBJECT : ADVANCED CONSTRUCTION AND MATERIALS
• Pneumatic structures can be divided into two systems, which are called 1. air supported
• Construction technique: https://youtu.be/m5YRUVx6dF0 ,
https://youtu.be/v2IqJAvVHtY
• Air inflated structure: Air inflated structure have inflated membranes
which are supporting its own weight. This structure is simply using inflated
membranes as external wall. What makes it different is from
other structural systems, is that this structure is light, quick, and easy to decorate
with lights. Due to its weight, engineers can build enormous structures without
the expansive foundation or limited span. It also can be built very quick,
which would cut down in cost of labor. Military operations prefer this
quickness, not because of the cutting down on cost, but the cutting down in
time. Pneumatic structure is mostly transparent or translucent, so it is easy to
display lights in or outside of membrane or structure.
• Construction technique: https://youtu.be/WaOESs5M3VY ,
https://youtu.be/JeqqtuxTErs
The main components of a Pneumatic structure are foundation, envelope, cables, HVAC, and doors.
• Foundation - It is hard to find a typical Pneumatic foundation system. Especially for air supported
structure, the entire structure needs to be anchor down on the ground so there won't be any air leakage to
neutralize the internal and external pressure. Anchors also holds on to the lateral loads caused by the wind.
• Envelope - Depends on its structure type, it could be supported by the internal air pressure or the structure.
Usually a Pneumatic structure has single or double membrane layers to keep the structure rigid. However,
extra layers could provide higher insulation and acoustics.
• Cables - Cables help to stabilize the entire structure. Cables will use tension to hold the envelope down to
the ground. To have evenly distributed load for cables, the envelope needs to be pressurized evenly.
• HVAC - One of the most important aspect of this structural system. HVAC system will keep the air inside
of entire structure or PVC coated fabrics constantly to keep the envelope inflated. Constant and equal
amount of pressure is the key to this structure.
• Doors - For air supported structure, any kind of openings would cause the failure of this structure. To
minimize loosing air from this structure, revolving doors are commonly used. Other types of doors are the
double doors with airlock inside.
MATERIALS:
• Pneumatic structures have a wide range of possible materials. The materials used can be broken down into three main
categories: the fluid that the structure is suspended in, supports/anchors, and the spanning material
• FLUIDS : One of the main concepts behind pneumatic structures is that of pressure. The structure is designed to be held
up by the force a fluid under pressure creates. The primary and essentially sole fluid used in pneumatic structures is air.
While some fluids may be lighter and would cause a higher amount of force from pressure difference (i.e. Helium), cost
is prohibitive. Air is free and its properties allow it to be used in the process successfully.
• SUPPORTS AND ANCHORS: Depending on the use of the pneumatic system, the types of anchors or supports that can
be used are very wide ranging. For pneumatic structures connected directly to the ground, cable ties are most common.
These are chosen because they are relatively cheap, very strong in tension, have a long life span and are readily available
almost anywhere. For pneumatic structures that are not directly attached to ground surface concrete rings are most often
used to anchor the pneumatic structure to the other structural system that holds up the building.
• SPANNING MATERIAL: the most commonly used covering materials are PVC, PTFE (polytetrofluoroethylene, shown
on a stadium roof to the right) or silicon coated fiberglass, ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene).
Joining Techniques:
• Members:
Pneumatic structures have membranes that can
be made of different materials and compositions.
Regardless of the material, the entire membrane
cannot be made in one continuous piece.
• Cable system:
The cable system is the support system for the pneumatic
structure in the same way that beams and girders support
the floor or roof of a non-pneumatic structure. The air in the
membranes has an upward force due to the internal pressure
of the structure. This force is counteracted by a system of
cables that hold the air structure and keep it in place. These
cables experience a tension force due to the upward force of
the air. Cables can be place in only one direction or two
directions to create a network and better stability. The many
cables act as a system of components to reinforce and
stabilize the pneumatic structure.
• Anchorage and Connection/Foundation:
Uses for pneumatic structures vary from permanent to
temporary structures and thus, the foundation of the
system will also vary dependently.
Step 2: the hvac , doors are needed to be places at their required position in the site
Step 3: the foundation should be done with the help of I sections or anchors(in case of cable air supported structures) and
bolting should be done.
Step 4: then the structure should be unrolled and then be spread on the site carefully
Step 5: the structure should be placed carefully and be covered or attached to the air lockers.
Step 7: as the structure is not a single member, the members should be joined either by heating or bolting or clamping.
In cases of cable air supported structure the cables should be placed carefully on air structure and then they be attached
to the anchors.
• Construction technique: https://youtu.be/m5YRUVx6dF0 ,
https://youtu.be/v2IqJAvVHtY
• Air inflated structure:
Step-1 The building has been unrolled on the floor (the tarps are not required but are used to keep everything spotless
during inspection) and the inflator's have just been turned on. The air space inside the arch segments has been filled. The
building has not begun to lift into the arch shape.
Step-2 As the pneumatic cells become pressurized they become rigid and within a very short time the structure begins to
take shape. The center of the arch segment has lifted clear off the floor. Inflation process in progress
Step-3 The buildings virtually inflate themselves requiring minimum of personnel. The inflation is nearing completion and
the arch is approaching its full height. Notice that no internal or external skeleton, framework, or supports are required.
Step-4 The building is fully inflated and is completely self-supporting. The end walls have not been installed and are not
needed to support the building.
Once the proper air pressure is reached within an arch segment a pressure sensor switches that segments inflator off. This
sensor automatically switches the inflator back on when necessary to maintain the proper air pressure. The number of
inflators and their cycle time will vary with the size of the building.
Step 5: The buildings must be properly anchored to withstand winds. This may be accomplished securing the structure to
anchor bolts that screw into the ground, to portable concrete barrier sections, or to water filled ballast tanks. The selection
depending on weather conditions, the surface the structure is located on and the expected duration the building will be in
place.
• Construction technique: https://youtu.be/WaOESs5M3VY ,
https://youtu.be/JeqqtuxTErs
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES:
• ADVANTAGES:
1. Light weight.
4. Portability.
• DISADVANTAGES:
• Tensile membrane structures and tensile building envelopes are thin-shell structures.
• Most often used for roofs and canopies, tensile structures are capable of creating
unique private and public spaces.
• Their innovative forms and inherent efficiencies reduce the amount of materials
required to build a structure and the transportation costs, resulting in cost savings.
1. Hypar
2. Conical
3. Barrel vault
• The fixtures depend on the shape of the structure. So the boundary details changes. The main 3 types of
boundary details depend on
1. Curved or Scalloped edge: This generally consists of a cable slid through a pocket on the edge of the
membrane. In larger canopies webbing belts are added parallel to the edge to take out the shear loads.
• Installion process: https://youtu.be/3Zkzz_tAQwI
2. Straight edge: The membrane would have a bead/keder edge formed by sealing a flexible PVC rod in a
small pocket. This can then be trapped behind an aluminium clamp plate bolted directly onto the structural
steel work or slid into an aluminium luff track extrusion.
• Installion process: https://youtu.be/l-bE0-uugY8 , https://youtu.be/P4mOCpPMWd4
3. Fabric edges:
To get a staight edge or curved edge the fabrics
are bolted or riveted to the frame work.
• ADVANTAGES:
2. It is light in weight
3. Flexible
4. Environmentally sensitive
• DISADVANTAGES:
1. No rigidity
• Cable dome achieves its span by means of continuous tension cables and discontinuous
compression posts.
• Loads are carried from a central tension ring through a series of radial ridge cables,
tension hoops, and intermediate diagonals until they are resolved in a perimeter
compression ring.
• The dome behaves like a series of paired cantilever trusses not quite touching at the
center. One of the system's advantages is that, as the length of span increases, the weight,
2 psf, remains constant and the cost per sq ft increases very little. All that is needed to
accommodate increased spans is the addition of another module defined by its tension
hoop.
• The membrane that covers the dome comprises four independent layers. The outermost
is a high-strength fiberglass fabric with a silicone coating on both sides. Beneath this is
an 8-in. insulating layer of fine, silky fiberglass enclosed in polyester bags. Six inches
beneath the insulation is a Mylar vapor barrier. Two feet below the Mylar is a silicone
coated acoustic liner made with an open-weave, fiberglass fabric. The thermal
performance of the membrane system is R10; its overall light transmission is 6 percent,
which enables the sun to meet most daytime lighting needs
• The Dome Roof Design:
The innovatory structural concept for the roof of the Millennium Dome is seemingly simple. Arranged radially over the surface are 72 tensioned steel stringer
cables in pairs of 32mm diameter steel spiral strand. The stringers are supported at a radial spacing between 25 and 30m by an arrangement of upper hanger and
lower tie-down cables set out around the twelve 100-metre-high primary steelwork masts. Circumferential cables keep the stringers on their radial lines.
Tensioned PTFE-coated fibreglass fabric was used as cladding. The tensioned cables are straight, and the fabric is basically flat. They both carry the loads by
deflection accompanied by an increase of tension. This concept is simple, but there are dangers associated with the deflections, particularly that of ponding
caused by snow or heavy rain. When loaded by wind or snow, the upper hangar, the lower tie-down and the radial cables carry the loads from the fabric down to
the ground. The forces from the primary radial cables are collected at the centre by a 30-metre-diameter cable ring. This was constructed with twelve 48mm
diameter cables to provide safety against failure of any single one. At the perimeter, the radial cable forces are collected by 12 curved boundary cables and taken
to 24 anchorage points.
Tension structures rely on the shape of the stressed surface for their performance under load. Forces are resisted by the tension and the curvature: the greater the
curvature, the smaller will be the tension needed to resist a given load. The radial stringer cables are prestressed to 400kN/line, and the fabric is prestressed to 4
kN/m.
The shape of the dome roof, with tapering segments, has the advantage that the slope of the fabric panels increases with the span. If the circumferential cables
were in contact with the surface of the fabric, however, their hard lines would cause dams and potential ponding. It was necessary, therefore, to remove these
cables from the surface. This was achieved by raising the circumferential cables above the surface by means of rigid members (wishbones) and connecting them
TYPES OF CABLES:
• There are generally two types of cable structure
• Cables:
• Anchorages:
Inside the anchorages, the cables are spread over a large area
to evenly distribute the load and to prevent the damages that may
be caused by concentrated cable forces. The safety check should
be confirmed to avoid the rotary movement and slippage of the
anchorages.
Connections:
• Hangers and cable bands:
• For the cable bands, the transverse
contraction of the cable section is of the
utmost importance. It causes the friction
between cable band and cable to decrease
and, as a result, the load carrying
resistance goes down. Precautions should
be taken to measure the relaxation and to
tighten the bolts during erection, e.g. by
making a backlash (Figure 19). For
reasons of maintenance, the remaining
gap is filled with rubber. In view of the
contraction, the cable wrapping should be
carried out after the bridge carries almost
all of its full dead load.
• Construction process:
1. When bridges requiring piers are built over a body of water, foundations are made by sinking caissons into
the riverbed and filling them with concrete. Note: Caissons are large boxes or cylinders that have been
made from wood, metal, or concrete.
2. In the case of suspension bridges, towers are built atop the caissons. The first suspension-bridge towers were
stone, but now they are either steel or concrete.
3. Next, the anchorages are built on both ends, usually of reinforced concrete with embedded steel eyebars to
which the cables will be fastened. Note: An eyebar is a length of metal with a hole (or “eye”) at the ends.
4. Cables are generally made of thousands of steel wires spun together at the construction site.
5. Spinning is done by rope pulleys that carry each wire across the top of the towers to the opposite anchorage
and back.
7. When the cables are complete, suspenders are hung, and finally the deck is erected—usually by floating
deck sections out on ships, hoisting them with cranes, and securing them to the suspenders.
https://youtu.be/0gtUkIlm5Jk
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES FOR SUSPENSION CABLE BRIDGE:
• ADVANTAGES:
1. Cost Effective
4. Has Flexibility
5. Simple Construction
• DISADVANTAGES:
2. Too Flexible
• The cable-stayed bridge ranks first for a span range approximately from 150 to 600 m, which has longer spanning
capacity bridges, but shorter than that of suspension bridges.
• the cable-stayed bridge is very economical and has elegant appearance due to the relatively small girder depth.
• The concept of a cable-stayed bridge is simple, as all the members in a cable-stayed bridge mainly work in either tension or
compression.
• The cable stayed bridge is mainly used for road bridges, where it is applicable for both narrow 2-lane roads and for wide 6
or 8 lane motorways.
Types of cable stayed bridges:
Longitudinal cable arrangement:
2. Fan cable stystem: In the fan design, all stay cables connect to
or pass over the top of the towers. Due to the steeper cable
slopes, the fan design is structurally efficient with maximum
vertical component for sustaining the vertical loads, but
smallest axial force applied to the main girders.
4. Harp cable system: In the harp cable system, the cables are
nearly parallel to each other so that the height of their fixed
points on the tower is proportional to the distance
Lateral cable arrangement:
Number of spans:
• The cable-stayed bridge can be
designed as single span, two spans,
three spans, or multiple spans.
However, cable-stayed bridges
having either three or two cable-
stayed spans are more widely used,
which is because the cablestays and
the anchor pier are important for the
stability of the pylon.
Parts in cable stayed bridge:
• Cables :
The cable stays are the key load carrying and transferring
members in cable-stayed bridges. Available stay systems for
modern cable-stayed bridges include prefabricated locked coil,
prefabricated helical, or spiral strand, bar bundles, parallel wire
strand, parallel strand, and advanced composite stays,
etc. Diameters in the range 40-125 mm are typical
• Pylon:
1. H- frame pylon
2. A- frame pylon
3. Invert y pylon
4. Diamond pylon
In general, the deck needs to resist both bending moment from
the dead-weight and live load, and axial force derived from the
horizontal component of the stay force. Therefore, unlike the deck
in a suspension bridge, the deck can be designed as different
sections (or structural forms) in cable-stayed bridges.
• Cable anchors:
Connections:
• Usually the cable has a pin type joint to the Pylon
1. Cable-stayed bridges take less time to complete than other 1. Cable-stayed bridges do have a maximum
options. length to consider.
2. The strength of a cable-stayed bridge is unquestionable. 2. This design option can become unstable in
specific environments.
3. It can be significantly cheaper to build a cable-stayed bridge.
3. Cable-stayed bridges can be challenging to
4. Cable-stayed bridges can be constructed to almost any length. inspect and repair.
5. There are multiple design options from which to choose with a 4. It is a design that can sometimes be
cable-stayed bridge. susceptible to rust or corrosion.
6. The design of the cable-stayed bridge supports itself. 5. The strength advantages typically apply to
short spans
7. Cable-stayed bridges offer the possibility of a symmetrical
design
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Membrane_structure
• https://sites.google.com/site/pneumaticstructuresgroup4/home
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f5e33/Study-and-Adaptability-of-Pneumatic-Structures.pdf
• https://youtu.be/P4mOCpPMWd4
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uff%20track%20extrusion
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• https://www.tensinet.com/index.php/component/tensinet/?view=project&id=3782
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• https://www.britannica.com/technology/bridge-engineering/Concrete#ref72034
• https://www.britannica.com/technology/cable-stayed-bridge
•
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