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Timber Stadium Engineering: A feasibility study

In recent years, various types of plate-like timber materials have been introduced to the building industry, offering a wide range of new possibilities. Due to a lack of knowledge on these possibilities, in the Netherlands, the material is not used as often as could be expected. To explore the boundaries of timber engineering, in this thesis, it is investigated whether it is feasible to engineer a stadium structure that is composed of timber elements to the utmost extent. The focus within this feasibility study is on the structural system, the floors and the grandstands. The roof structure is not included, since it appeared that such structures are already common in practice. As a reference, use is made of the architectural design of the Euroborg stadium, which was designed and engineered by BAM Advies & Engineering in recent years. The first part of the thesis provides an introduction to the most important aspects concerning the design and engineering of a stadium structure. Next to that, reference projects are discussed to provide insight in the possibilities of timber as a structural material. The preliminary design is elaborated on in the second part of the thesis. Investigating several structural systems it is found that a timber core system proves to be most beneficial. Decisive factors are the excellent fitting to the existing architectural design and the ease of erection. The proposed cores have a height of 19.22 m and are compiled from 4 walls, having a width of 5 m each, which are made from LVL elements. Analysing various floor products that are available on the market, timber hollow core elements called Lignatur appeared to be most beneficial to be implemented in the design. These span 14.4 m between the front and the back facades of the stadium structure and are supported by glued laminated timber support beams. Accounting for the required free height at the distinct floors, the span-width of these beams is limited to 9.65 m. When the grandstands are concerned, 4-tier elements made from LVL are introduced. Accounting for grandstand elements with an increased riser height the maximum span-width becomes 10.4 m, where vibrations are governing and under the condition that the grandstand support beams are infinitesimally stiff. Accounting for Glulam support beams, the maximum span-width decreases to a certain extent. In the detailed design phase, the feasibility of the proposed structural system is considered more in detail. At first, the structural behaviour lintels that are present in the core walls are investigated. It appears that these comply with all requirements. Evaluating the preliminary design phase, an expert on construction technology posed questions on the erection of timber cores with the proposed dimensions. It has therefore been investgated what structural consequences it holds when the core is divided in storey-high segments. It appeared that several measures are required to transfer the acting stresses at the horizontal joints. A feasible solution is acquired by applying a combined system consisting of glued-in rods and shear plates. Subsequently research has been performed on the distinct connections that are present at the LVL core. Due to the limited dimensions of the LVL elements (max 2.5 m), a large number of fasteners is required to obtain the required wall width of 5 m. The above is considered undesirable, wherefore it was investigated whether the core walls could be compiled from CLT elements, which are available in widths up to 4.8 m. Accounting for the results obtained, it was concluded that the structural behaviour of these elements is less beneficial than for LVL, but that they do comply with all requirements. The CLT core is therefore considered most beneficial. As a final check, the CLT core walls have been checked on buckling between two storeys and on their behaviour under fire conditions. It appeared that the proposed core complies with all requirements. With regard to the research question it is concluded that, from a structural point of view, a stadium of which the structure is compiled from timber elements is a feasible solution. Accounting for the functional requirements and the results obtained in this thesis, the optimal span-width of a timber stadium structure is set to 7.8 m. The results as presented in this thesis are still preliminary, wherefore several recommendations are made to improve the design.