Building performance monitoring and analysis of a large-span aerogel-membrane airport terminal

Abstract

The utilization of large-span membrane structures as airport terminals has attracted considerable attention due to excellent building aesthetics, reasonable structural behavior and multi-functional applications. Safety and serviceability of such structures are strongly related to temperature effects in comparisons with steel/aluminum structures since temperature can accelerate material creep strain and deteriorate structural behavior. One alternative method to reduce temperature effects is the incorporation of aerogel materials between two membrane layers. This paper thus focuses on temperature effects of a newly-built aerogel-membrane airport terminal and utilizes experimental results to assess corresponding building performance.The aerogel-membrane airport terminal is designed with wind loads of 0.4 kN/m2, snow loads of 0.7 kN/m2 and earthquake magnitude of 7 in accordance with the requirements of building standards and codes. The aerogel-membrane roof is composed of an outer membrane layer and an inner composite membrane layer integrated aerogel material mats. The surface temperature gradients with respect to outer membrane layer, inner membrane layer and indoor air are identified and quantified. The quantified temperature can be used for thermal-structural analysis and building performance improvement in the design process. The calculated thermal performance indexes mean a hot environment in the inner airport space. A further comparative analysis with a two-layer membrane stadium demonstrates that aerogel materials can reduce temperature effects significantly and ensure structural safety. Therefore, the effects of aerogel on the improvement of structural behavior and building performance of a new membrane airport have been validated with experimental results and comparisons.