Experimental and numerical investigation on the temperature field and effects of a large-span gymnasium under solar radiation

Abstract

The temperature distribution of large-span spatial structures with different roofing materials shows non-uniform under solar radiation. However, in the structural design specifications, it is generally assumed that the temperature change is a slow and uniform process. In this paper, the temperature distribution of the roof and steel structure of an 82 m-span gymnasium under solar radiation is experimentally investigated using infrared thermometry. A simplified simulation method for the temperature field of the steel structure is proposed and verified by experimental data, which can effectively consider the effects of transparent and non-transparent roofing materials. The results show that the temperature distribution of the roof is more non-uniform than steel structure, and the impact of roofing materials should not be ignored, with a roof temperature difference of 19.4 °C in the initial analysis. The feasibility of the numerical method is verified by the experimental results, with temperature errors ranging from 3.8 % to 23.1 % for the steel structure. In addition, a parametric analysis of the steel structure is performed, and its thermal behavior is calculated under uniform and non-uniform temperature loads. The research method and conclusions can provide valuable references for further research on the temperature field of large-span spatial structures.