This article was originally published in the fourth quarter 2020 issue of PanStadia and Arena Management.
Key Takeaways
- A secondary steel system connects directly to the cable net structure masts
- Complex interactions between two structures were greatly simplified
- The stadium features the largest cable-net supported ETFE cushion enclosure in the world
Overview
The new home of the Las Vegas Raiders, Allegiant Stadium, is making its mark in the sports arena. The 65,000-seat domed stadium is within sight of the Las Vegas strip and ready to welcome patrons. Enclosure Engineering expert, Soheil Mohammadi, leveraged the team’s experience on this phenomenal project.
“Under the direction of Soheil Mohammadi, Senior Specialty Structures Engineer, Walter P Moore leveraged their team’s experience on membrane enclosures on specialty structures and developed a secondary steel system that connects solely to the masts of the cable net structure.
This developed a beam-and-girder system across each bay of the cable net. The system decouples the secondary steel system from the cables of the cable-net truss and attaches to the rigid masts of the truss, thereby simplifying the interaction and movements between the two structures.
‘Vector Foiltec’s design and delivery were divided into five phases starting with design assist where the overall concept, cushion sizes, and structural system were defined,’ Alexander Jafari, VF Director of Business Development, told PS&AM. ‘This was followed by the design process where our highly experienced in-house team turned the architect’s vision into a feasible solution.
‘To mitigate any delivery risk, both the ETFE and steel system were delivered six months ahead of their scheduled installation. This allowed VF to use the pre-installation phase to start coordinating logistics and building mechanisms. All of these components and pre-planning were factors in an accelerated completion of the ETFE roof. Aside from the normal constraints, the installation of the ETFE roof began right before Covid-19 was shutting down project sites throughout the country and continued as uncertainties grew and new challenges were placed to keep everyone on site safe.’
An Integrated delivery approach between Enclosure Engineering and Construction Engineering allowed Walter P Moore to provide modeling, engineering, and connection design services in an integrated approach that addresses the challenges of fabricating and supporting an ETFE enclosure onto a cable-net structure with complex geometry and large movements. This one-of-a-kind roof system is the largest cable-net supported ETFE cushion enclosure in the world.”
