Experimental study on the motion process of radial retractable roof structures

Abstract

In recent years, the use of retractable roofs is increasing to meet the demand of holding big-scale events. This article introduces a class of radial retractable roofs based on the foldable bar structure (FBS) mechanism. A radial retractable roof structure whose moveable section consisted of 6 segments and 6 rigid linkages was designed with appropriate parameters. An experimental study of a radial retractable roof was carried out. A scale model with a 3 metre diameter was constructed to study the roof deflection and vibration during the deployment process under four different load cases. Furthermore, based on the multi-flexible body dynamics theory, an ADAMS-ANSYS co-simulation was applied to simulate the motion process of the radial retractable roof structure. The experimental results were consistent with the numerical simulations. This indicates that the dynamic and fluctuation phenomena of structural behaviour are universal. The structural vibration was increased with the increase of external loads, and the vibration amplitude increased significantly when the roof was starting and braking. With the closing of the movable roof, the deflection of the fixed roof increased significantly. In the motion process, the bending moment of the fixed roof gradually increases, while that of the moving roof varies little. Vertical vibration is significant in the motion process by reason of the complex wheel-rail contact.