Comprehensive overview of space frame engineering

As a form of steel structure, the struts can be made of a variety of materials.This structure appeared in Europe before the Second World War, but the real large-scale application came after the war. At that time, the space frame structure replaced the reinforced concrete structure in many occasions with its factory production, on-site installation, convenient construction, labor saving and other advantages.

The vigorous development of the space structure is due to its series of advantages. The first is that the grid can play a spatial role, because all the rods can participate in the work and have good mechanical performance, its stiffness and integrity are better than the general plane structure, and can effectively withstand a variety of asymmetric loads, concentrated loads and dynamic loads. The overall force of all the bars in the grid also shows its excellent anti-seismic characteristics under earthquake action. Secondly, the production and installation of the space structure is more convenient. Rods and nodes can be produced in the factory, so that the on-site workload is reduced to a low level, and there is no need for complex technology, which is convenient for the construction of the grid frame industrialization, in addition, China has also created some simple and effective installation methods in the construction of the grid frame, and there are professional construction teams for installation.
In China, the first space structure was first used on the roof of the ball hall of Shanghai Normal Fan University in 1964, the 31.5m×40.5m size of the grid welded with Angle steel, which set off a new page in the history of China’s spatial structure. After more than 20 years of development, the space structure has been spread all over the country and has become a main form of roof structure.
Because the construction of the space structure is more complex than the general plane structure, because it can not play a spatial role before being assembled into a whole, the space structure has been gradually promoted in the large-span stadium, and a variety of installation methods have been used in the construction, and a series of installation technologies with Chinese characteristics have been created. For example, Shanghai Stadium local assembly, overall lifting, high-altitude displacement installation methods, in the 1970s, there were divided production, high-altitude slip assembly, local assembly, overall lifting and other installation methods. The improvement and innovation of these methods have played a strong role in promoting the further application of the grid frame on the large and medium span roof.
In the 1980s, when Tangshan was rebuilt after the earthquake disaster, the seismic performance of the grid was considered to be better than that of the general plane structure. In Tangshan gear factory joint workshop, Tangshan locomotive and rolling stock factory, bus assembly workshop and other projects have adopted tens of thousands of square meters of space structure. Entering the 1990s, large-scale space structures in industrial plants are more common, and their scale is also rapidly increasing.

The load of the space structure is uniformly transferred. When bearing the load, the space space structure can transfer the load to all the members, which bear the load, and distribute the load evenly to the support of the space structure. The construction is fast and convenient, and the space structure is an assemblable component, which greatly reduces the difficulty of construction and shortens the construction period. Construction equipment can be installed in the space structure itself, reducing the installation of auxiliary construction trouble. The structure has high strength and large load. The space structure has more fixed ends, and in general, even if the occasional damage to the components will not necessarily cause the destruction of the entire structure. Because the space structure mostly has a fixed regular pattern, it can give people a sense of impact visually. The large-span space structure has high installation efficiency and obvious installation advantages. In the case of limited engineering site, the space structure can not only assemble the whole roof on the ground but also to some extent.
The main construction methods of space structure include high-altitude bulk method, block or strip installation method, integral jacking method, high-altitude slip method, and “folding expansion” integral lifting method.
High-altitude bulk method: High-altitude bulk method refers to the construction method of assembly units or direct connection with rods and nodes at a high-altitude design position. This kind of method in the construction stage of the rod and node positioning accuracy requirements are higher, the general installation sequence is: four sides to the middle installation, the middle to both sides installation and the middle to the four sides installation.