Shanghai South Station
Buildings
Bridges - Footbridges
Pylons
The roof structure is composed by 3 major elements:
1. 18 Main beams having a shape of tree branches.
2. Secondary beams: 4 ring beams acting like belts.
3. Bracing: a "bicycle wheel" pattern out lined by interruptions in the sunshade layer and used for the wind bracing layout.
The works for the steel structure started on may 2004, by JiangNan Shipyard. The 18 beams are manufactured in 6 pieces each, using boat construction technology.
They are welded on site and lifted with a special crane relying on a tower, in the center of the station, and moving along a peripheral rail.
One main beam is 160 Tons and 120 m long. SMCC Company has defined and organized the lifting method.
The 18 temporary supports have been removed carefully, using 36 jacks. The deformation in the center reached 140 mm, equal to the theoretical computations.
Thanks to this method, a natural pretension of 17 T has been introduced in the central ring undertension system. It just needed to add 13 T pre-tension (tightening the bolts on 1 mm) to reach the 30 T necessary to keep this element in tension under dissymmetric loads.
