Design and Construction of

306m Span Hangar Roof at

Capital Airport
Liu Shutun

China Design Master, China Aeronautical Project & Design Institute.

(Received 30th November 1998, revised version received 3rd March 1999)

SUMMARY:- The 306m-span hangar of Capital Airport is one of the largest

hangars in the world, with a span of (153 + 153)m. This roof structure includes
tripe-layer pyramidal space grid together with bolted and welded long-span
steel space truss. This article describes the type of roof structure, design of
joints, quality standard and a safe method for welding and lifting the roof of
the hangar.

1. INTRODUCTION
The 306m span maintenance hangar in Beijing Capital
Airport is divided into two parts, 153m long each, with one
column in the middle to main door only (Fig.1). The hangar
can accommodate four B747-400 airplanes for being
serviced at the same time. It is believed to be the longest
span hangar in China and one of the largest hangars in the
world. Roof structure was completed in September 1995.
All the dimensions and deflection of the 306m-span steel
space truss and the 306m 3 90m space grid satisfy all the
requirements of design. No loss of stability or failure were
found in 16800 tubes 200,000 high strength bolts and over
4000 ball joints, and no warping and sliding found in the
members of space truss. 100% of ultrasonic testing results Figure 2. General view of hangar roof
complied with the standard for connecting welding seams Design of the roof structure is critical due to its long-
between ball joints and tube members. The general view of span, and the design must fully satisfy requirements as
the hangar roof during construction is shown in Fig.2. follows:

1.- Height of hangar roof should not exceed 40m

because of the height limitation over the airport.

2.- Layout and dimensions of the roof structure

should satisfy the technological requirements.

3.- Deformation of roof structure should not

influence the operation of hanging cranes and
Figure 1. Hangar Plan main door.

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 Design and Construction of 306m Span Hangar Roof at Capital Airport
4.- Under different kinds of load, especially when
door is opened, deformation of space grid,
caused by wind suction, should be consistent
with the requirements prescribed.
5.- -Structure should be safe and reliable under the
action of horizontal and vertical earthquake,
because the hangar is located in the seismic
region of intensity 8.
6.- Force distribution should be reasonable for space
grid members and nodes and members should be
easy for processing as well as convenient for
transportation.
7.- Construction cycle and safety should be carefully
considered in the roof lifting scheme.
With reference to above requirements and after
comparing several alternatives, a tripe-layer
pyramidal space grid together with a bolted and
welded long-span space truss was finally selected as
the structural system for the hangar roof.
2. ROOF STRUCTURE DESIGN
Selection of edge beam for space grid over the main door
of hangar is a difficult problem. As the upper support of the
main door, it should satisfy the operational requirements of
the door. Moreover, as the elastic support of the space grid,
it should have sufficient stiffness to ensure rational force
distribution of forces in the entire space grid. Steel
consumption of main door’s edge beam accounts for 40%
of the total and so the selection of its structural scheme
becomes a crucial problem. After comparing several
design schemes, such as diagonal cable, arch, prestressed
steel structure, etc., a two-span box-shaped space truss was
adopted as the edge beam. Figs. 3 and 4 show the plan and
section of the space grid respectively.
Fig 3. Plan of space grid
Figure 4. Section of hangar structure
186
The space truss is composed of truss WJ1, WJ2 and
connected by CWJ1-4 (Fig.5). Considering the
limitation of height over the airport, the height of WJ1
is 15m and the height of WJ2 is 6m. Calculation
shows that force distribution in the space truss is
reasonable and integral stability is available. WJ1 and
WJ2 are parallel-chord trusses and the spacing of
joints is 6m. H-sections, welded from high-tensile
steel plates are used for all members of the space truss.
According to different bearing conditions, sections
widths are selected as 800mm, 500mm, 300mm
respectively.
Figure 5. Edge beam of space grid
Triple-layer space grid is selected as the roof
structure, because of the long span rigidity of the
double-layer space grid is too small and its
deformation cannot satisfy the requirements.
Compared with double layer space grid, the height of
triple-layer space grid can be reduced by 0.8m,
internal force by 27%, deflection by 15%, and steel
consumption by 27%. Diagonal space grid is used in
this project because its force distribution is more
uniform than that of the orthogonal space grid.
Internal forces can be reduced by 40%, and deflection
can be reduced by 45%. All circular tube members are
connected to welded spherical nodes. The height of
the space grid is 6m, the grid of top and bottom chord
is 4.22 3 4.22m, the grid of mid chord is 6.0m 3
6.0m. Imported STK490B grade seamless steel tubes
are used for the members, their section ranges from
102 3 5 to 273 3 16 (diameter 3 thickness, mm). The
size of spherical nodes ranges from 500 3 6 to 800 3
22.
3. DETAI LS
3.1 Connection detail for space truss
Friction-type high strength bolts of large diameter are
used for the connection of WJ1, WJ2 and middle truss
WJ3 (Fig. 6). Diameter of bolt is 30mm (grade 10.9)
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Liu Shutun

with designed pretension of 255kN. Splice is 3.2 Ball bearing support

composed of connecting plate, inside splice plate, Reaction force on the middle column of space truss is as
outside splice plate and web splice plate. Total area of high as 35000kN. Reaction force on side columns is
the splice plate should be larger than that of the master 7000kN. Special steel bearing support is selected in
plate. Bearing capacity of high strength bolt should be order to ensure that such large forces are safely
higher than ultimate bearing capacity of the original transmitted from roof structure to top of the column.
material, i.e. it should not fail first during strong The ball bearing support is composed of the top cover,
earthquakes. External dimension of detail for H- the bearing block and the bottom cover. The bottom
section member should be controlled strictly to ensure cover is contacted with the bearing block by spherical
that steel plates are placed tightly and to have surface. Teflon pad is placed between the bearing block
sufficient bearing capacity of the fiction surface, and top cover as well as the bottom cover (Fig. 8). The
because the number of layer of plate of plate on the friction coefficient between Teflon pad and steel will be
splice point reaches 5 to 7 and are as thick as the steel reduced when load is applied. Load can be transmitted
plates. In order to avoid delayed failure, torsion by spherical surface and the ball bearing support can
moment should be controlled strictly and should not extend and contract freely as well as rotated easily.
be greater than a certain amount. Standard deviation of
torsion moment coefficient should not exceed the
criteria. Petal-shaped connection is used as the
connection of CWJ1-4 and WJ1, WJ2. CWJ1-4 has
oblique H-section members in three-dimensional
space. It is connected outside the joint in order to
ensure the assembly is in the right position, i.e. during
manufacturing in the factory, steel corbel that connects
WJ1 and WJ2 are welded directly to the splice plate.
Space corbels in 6 different directions are welded on
the large gusset plate like a petal (Fig. 7). Special jig
is used during manufacturing in order to ensure the
correct space angle of the corbel.

Figure 8. Ball bearing support

Figure 6. Connection detail for space truss

Figure 9. Hinged support on columns

3.3 Hinged support on peripheral columns

As shown in Fig. 9, the supporting ball joints of space
frame rest through a steel ring on top of a short steel
post. Contact surface between the steel post and steel
Figure 7. Petal shaped detail ring is also a spherical surface to ensure uniform

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 Design and Construction of 306m Span Hangar Roof at Capital Airport

transmission and free rotation. Short steel post is

strengthened by four stiffening plates. Space frame’s
ball joint is connected with the supporting concrete
column through vertical steel plates to resist the
upward wind suction and vertical seismic force.

4. CONSTRUCTION OF THE HANGAR

ROOF
The roof structure was assembled on the ground and
then lifted up by using groups of hydraulic jacks. To
suit the equipment available, the roof was divided into
7 units, i.e. the space truss in 2 units, the middle truss
Figure 12. Construction view of space truss
and space grid in 4 units (Fig. 10).

4.2 Middle truss lifting

Figure 10. Lifting plan for hangar roof
4.1 Space truss
The 306m-long steel space truss is divided in two units,
each 132m in length, and composed of WJ1, WJ2 and
CWJ1-4. The weight of lifting unit is 1137t, using 3 groups
of shear-leg lifting support, with two lifting cross beams
located on the support. 10 jacks are placed on cross beam
near WJ1, and 6 jacks are placed on cross beam near WJ2.
A total of 48 jacks with 48t capacity each are located on 3
groups of supports. The double action hydraulic jacks are
established on the cross beam on top of the support (Fig.
11). The lifting speed and loading on each jack are
controlled by a computer. In this way, relative difference of
elevations between each lifting point can be controlled
within an allowable range, and thus safety and reliability of
lifting unit can be ensured during lifting. Two units of the
space truss are lifted up one after another to their final
position. The construction view is shown in Fig. 12.
Figure 11. Space truss lifting scheme
The weight of middle truss WJ3 is about 410t. It is
lifted on two groups of lifting supports. Two jacks are
placed on the cross beam each carrying 200t. After the
main space truss and middle truss are lifted to the
designed level, these three units are connected to the
middle columns and side columns to form a stable
structure.
4.3 Assembly and lifting of the space grid
The space grid is composed of steel tubes connected
by hollow spherical nodes. The steel tube for members
is of the STK490 grade fabricated in Japan. The
standard tensile strength and yield strength of the steel
are 540N/mm2 and 400N/mm2 respectively.
For the welding of the space grid, high quality
standards and strict quality control are required.
Detailed regulations were drafted by the construction
group to insure welding quality, which includes
examination of the welder, selection of welding rod,
determination of electric current on different working
positions and preheating of the welded metals. Care
has been taken to remove the welding stresses. Ultra-
sonic testing is carried out for all welding seams.
Since the space grid is in triple layers, it is
constructed from sub-assembly units as shown in Fig.
13. For lifting, the space grid is divided into 4 bocks,
72m x 78m each. 12 temporary masts with 24
hydraulic jacks of 40t capacity are erected for each
unit, thus forming 48 lift points (Fig. 14). The jack
will climb up along a steel rope together with the
space grid. Difference in elevation of lifting point is
also controlled by computer which will satisfy the
requirements of the design. Fig. 15 shows the space
grid in the process of lifting.

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Liu Shutun

Figure 13. sub-assembly unit of space grid

Figure 15. Construction view of space grid

By employing lifting technology in construction,

Figue 14. Space grid lifting scheme
about 87% of members are assembled on the ground.
This will create a favourable condition for fabrication
Practice shows that lifting the hangar roof by using
and the quality of welding can be guaranteed.
hydraulic jacks is an advanced technology. Each
According to design, cambering of roof is required in
lifting point should be selected so that the force
two directions, so the grid is divided into 26 units with
distribution of the members in the space grid will not
different heights during assembly on the ground, using
exceed the one specified in the design, especially
a standard dimension pyramid template for each unit.
when tension in a member changes into compression,
Thus, the co-ordinates of the centre of each node can
it must be ensured that member does not fail by
set accurately.
becoming unstable. Lifting equipment is safe due to
The experience grained in the construction of this
uniform loading on each support and stability is
hangar roof shows that it is more economical and safer
ensured by using guyed ropes around the masts. Force
to lift the roof structure in 7 units successively than
distribution in the lifting support is checked during the
assembling the whole structure in one piece at a height.
process of lifting.

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