 Case
Study
Load capacity assessment
of steel masts for the Millennium Dome
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Largest mast-supported, dome-shaped cable
network of its type in the world
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Nonlinear buckling
analysis to assess load capacity of masts
Buro Happold used
LUSAS to assist with its design of the masts for th Millennium
Dome (now renamed The O2) - the largest mast-supported, dome-shaped cable
network of its type in the world. Located on the Greenwich Peninsula
in South East London, the 'dome' was built to house a major exhibition that
was open to the public throughout the year 2000. While all of the original
internal exhibition and associated complex has
long since been demolished, the canopy or shell of the dome still
exists providing protection to the new entertainment development that
has been constructed within it. Roof
and support masts The
roof of the dome is a huge cable net, 320m in diameter and clad in
80,000m2 of tensioned PTFE coated glass fibre fabric.
Twelve steel masts extend from the roof to support a tensioned net of
steel cables, arranged radially on the surface of the dome and held in
place by hangar and tie-down cables. Each
mast is 90m long, octagonal in cross-section and weighs approximately
95 tonnes. Masts comprise longitudinal members of 323mm diameter
circular hollow section and lateral members of 300mm x 200mm
rectangular hollow section. After being manufactured in 6-16m lengths
(where very fine tolerances were used to ensure that they would fit
together correctly) the mast sections were transported and welded together on site
prior to erection. Each mast
is supported on its own tubular welded steel pyramid structure via a
rubber pot bearing with a single locating bolt. As
well as the length of mast components being restricted, the overall
diameter of the masts was also limited by transporation requirements
so a great deal of computer calculation went into verifying their load
capacity. Buro Happold used a
nonlinear analysis
with LUSAS Civil & Structural to assist with the load capacity
assessment of the masts. In addition, since the masts lean significantly,
deflections under self weight and from icing loads also had to be
taken into account. Initial out-of-straightness was also considered. 
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Reference to the use
of LUSAS on this project: Paper entitled "The design and
construction of the Millennium Dome" presented at the
Institution of Structural Engineers on 22 April 1999 by Ian
Liddell, Buro Happold and Peter Miller, Watson Steel Ltd.
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