Roof Design of Pudong Airport T1 Terminal

In 1996, we cooperated with French architect Andrew in the T1 Terminal Project of Pudong Airport and started the design process of the steel roof of the long-span terminal building of East China General Institute. The new structural form of a string-string beam, which was widely adopted later, was introduced to China for the first time in this project. It’s a kind of harmonious rhythm.

This unique space effect makes the terminal building have a strong large space from the exterior to the interior. The dark blue metal ceiling only covers the upper chord of the circular arc of the structure. It is like a deep skydome, with white web rods hanging underneath it, which are connected in series with black pre-stressed steel cables to fully demonstrate the strength of the structure. The roof truss with a spacing of 9m and the longitudinal columns with a spacing of 18m are arranged in a misaligned manner. The beam string system R1~R4 supported by oblique columns on the side elevation of Pudong Airport T1 terminal is used to span the large spaces of the front, check-in hall, commercial dining hall, and waiting hall. The horizontal projection span is 49.3m, 82.6m, 44.4m, and 54.3m respectively.

According to the different characteristics of each span structure, the interior of the T1 check-in hall is equipped with different types of pre-stressed steel cables to maintain the stability of the structural system and resist the influence of strong winds in the adjacent sea. The R1 roof is a horizontal cantilever anti-side + cable wind resistance system. By strengthening the support system in the chord plane of the roof, the entire roof becomes a horizontal cantilever system similar to a cylindrical shell surface. All lateral rigidity is provided by the shear wall on the side of the low elevation. The disadvantage of the semi-open roof is exposed to wind. It is solved by the anti-wind cable set in the middle of the span. The R2 and R3 roofs are the facade cable anti-side + counterweight anti-wind systems. The steel cable set in the glass curtain wall balances the difference in the lateral rigidity of the high-end oblique column and the low-end. The upper chord box section is filled with cement mortar. The counterweight resists the suction force of the wind to ensure that the lower string is not slack. The R4 roof is a space group-cable stable system. The lateral rigidity and wind resistance of the structure are all borne by the oblique-stayed group of cables arranged in an inverted quadrangular pyramid. The arrangement of the group of cables brings new ideas to the interior space of the building. The determination of the initial prestress is to seek a reasonable balance among many factors such as cable tension-lateral stiffness-string beam force-deformation indexed by the tension group. The cable end anchoring node, the connecting node of the cable ball and the steel cable, and the anchoring node under the group cable are all carefully designed to meet the dual requirements of force and beauty.