National aviation museum, Ottawa

Abstract

This paper describes various aspects of the design and construction of a new building for the National Aviation Museum, currently nearing completion on a site on the Rockliffe Airport, Ottawa. The museum will house the aeronautical collection now displayed in World War II hangars.The new museum building is shaped like an isosceles right-angled triangle with a short side 161 m long and a clear height of 13.2 m from the floor to the underside of the roof framing. A two-storey wing on the west side contains the public entrances and the administrative offices.The soil at the site consists of a deep layer of preconsolidated sensitive clay underlain by dense glacial till containing boulders, then a layer of dense sand with gravel and boulders. The main columns of the building are supported by 55 m deep piles driven to suitable resistance in the dense sand and boulder layer, while the perimeter columns rest on spread footings, supported on the surface clay layer.The roof structure, which is one of the largest of its kind, consists of a space truss with top and bottom chords staggered with respect to each other and laid on a square grid 3.3 m by 3.3 m. The depth of the roof framing is also 3.3 m.The paper presents details of subsurface exploration and the types of foundations used. The structural framing for the roof as well as the steps involved in the analysis and design of the roof are described. Also presented are details of the fabrication methods, weld testing, and erection procedures. Key words: National Aviation Museum (Ottawa), pile foundations, dynamic testing, structural steel, space truss, welded joint, ultrasonic weld inspection.