Design of stadium roofs with a given level of reliability

Abstract

The article discusses method for the selecting cross-section of steel rod elements of the roof structure placed above the stands of stadiums. Particular attention is paid to ensuring a given level of structural reliability. An algorithm to determine the actual safety factors for the most critical elements in the roof structure is proposed. Snow load, cross-sectional area of the elements, ultimate stress of the material, settlement of the base, mounting imperfections and defects are considered as the stochastic parameters in calculation of the reliability indicators. All specifications of the distributions for these magnitudes are based on the real experimental data. Since the building regulations do not provide a clear algorithm for calculating the reliability indicators of unique (and any other) building structures, it is possible to apply the proposed methodology both to ensure the design reliability of the whole structure as well as the separate most critical structural elements. It also might be applied to other kinds of spatial steel rod structures whose elements work as trusses. The internal force factor in the elements of such structures is longitudinal force. The method has been tested on the stadium structures of FC Olympic in Donetsk city (Ukraine).