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RECENT ALUMINUM ROOF STRUCTURES IN COLOMBIA

Eng. Gabriel Valencia-Clement1

ABSTRACT In recent years, in Colombia, many structures have been designed and built using aluminum shapes. Some reasons to explain this development and some examples of these kind of structures, that were imagined, designed and erected using this material. The structures are grouped according to the use of the buildings in which they are installed: Swimming pools, Malls, Coliseums, and other Buildings. Most of these projects were developed by TECMO LTDA. 1. INTRODUCTION Out of all metallic structures built in Colombia, only a small portion have been made with aluminum. There are some reasons to explain this circumstance, which is the norm all around the world. The first is the cost; the aluminum-alloy structures are much more expensive than structural-steel ones. In Colombia, aluminum shapes are 7 to 10 times more expensive than the corresponding steel shapes. The density of aluminum, is 1/3 of that of steel, which results in lightweight structures, the relative weight of comparable steel and aluminum structures, which varies depending on requirements for stiffness and other factors, usually is between 2.0 and 2.5. For this reason, the final cost of the material for an aluminum structure is about 3 times that of a comparable steel structure. The second reason for the relative poverty of the use of aluminum, is the poor availability of these shapes in Colombia. Finally, it comes down to a lack of knowledge of the material its uses and characteristics among the engineers who are in the habit of using steel and concrete but not aluminum. In Colombia, aluminum alloy products are available in forms of shapes, plates, sheets, bars, pipes and rods. Essentially, all the structural shapes are produced by extruding, in sizes up to 160 mm for profiles and 200 mm for pipes. There are only a small variety of aluminum shapes on offer, and only a few of these are stocked by suppliers. For this reason, we usually design special shapes for a given purpose. Also there are various kinds of castings. The most
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Professor Universidad Nacional de Colombia

commonly used alloys are: 3105-H14 to H18 for sheets and plates, 6063-T5 or T6 for shapes with low loads, and 6061-T6 for typical structural shapes. In the last few years, In Colombia, some people have been developing some projects that include aluminum structures, principally for three reasons: a). Aesthetic: using aluminum alloy shapes, it is possible to obtain excellent aesthetic results, not only in the general conception, but also in details. b) Corrosion: aluminum has high corrosion resistance. c) Price: in some structures, aluminum prices compete with the costs of similar steel structures. As a matter of fact, a glance at the basic components of the total cost of a structure permits us to establish the benefits of the aluminum structures. a) Cost of Material: lower than or equal to that of stainless steel, but 7 to 10 times more than that of structural steel. However potential weight reductions may result in a cost of only 1.5 to 3 times that of structural steel. b) Fabrication Costs: equal to structural steel, lower than stainless steel. c) Transporting and Handling Cost, and Erection Cost: because of its low weight, These costs are lower than both, steel and stainless steel structures. d) Maintenance Cost: lower than most building materials because of his good corrosion resistance. e) Reuse Value: higher than most building materials, because of good corrosion resistance. There is a high percentage of return on used aluminum because of high value of secondary aluminum. When designing structures using any material, one must have in mind all its characteristics, to obtain the best results with it. In the words of J. Peter 1: The engineer who would never think of designing a concrete beam in the same shape as a steel beam has, perhaps because they are both metals, thought of an aluminum beam in the shape of a steel beam... and so have many in the industry. Clearly, steel used like concrete would be expensive and disastrous. Aluminum used like steel is expensive if not disastrous. It is aluminum used like aluminum that can lead to many architectural advances in our times. 2. SWIMMING POOL ROOFS Bogota is sited at 2600 meters above sea level. For this reason, in spite of being located in a tropical zone, near the Equator, its weather is cold. Therefore, a great percentage of the swimming pools built in Bogota, or near the city, have water heater systems and roofs. Because of the corrosion problems of steel in contact with dense chlorine atmospheres, resulting in high maintenance costs, a great percentage of the structures to cover pools are built in aluminum. 2.1. Guaymaral Country Club The Guaymaral, is a country club, situated near Bogota. It has a lot of land for the practice of several sports like golf, tennis, squash, show jumping, etc. It has a swimming pool that is used for both, recreational and competition purposes. PAC Ltda Architects developed the concept design. The construction was made in 1.990. The structure is a spatial (3D) structure type. The members are aluminum pipe sections, with extruded nodes at the bottom layer connections, and welded nodes at the top layer connections. The roof structure is supported in different ways: a) North and south edges: over the vertical members of the facades, which are made in structural aluminum alloy shapes. b) East edge: on a concrete slab, c) West edge: is the more complex support. The architect designed in this zone a solarium that projects out over the facades edge. For this reason, the vertical elements of the facade are interrupted in this zone, (Fig. 2.1b). A beam made with structural aluminum profiles was installed to support the roof. The beam is supported at each end by an aluminum column. The seismic and wind loads are transmitted to the concrete building

through the connections at the east edge. So, the vertical elements of the facades only transmit the vertical roof reactions plus the bending by the lateral wind loads acting over the facades.

Figure 2.1 Guaymaral Country Club, (a) general dimensions. (b) section A-A 2.2. Hatogrande Country Club This club was built in 1994. Inmobiliaria Dann developed the architectural design. The swimming pool roof structure is a vault of lamellar type, with a span of 30 m, designed, fabricated and erected by Tecmo. It is built with aluminum pipe sections. It has a hemispheric lamellar dome at one extreme, and a vertical facade at the other. The structural members are aluminum pipe sections bolt connected. The whole structure is supported by a concrete structure. The horizontal forces transmitted by the dome to the concrete structure produce an important horizontal displacement, which was considered introducing a camber to the aluminum structure to compensate for the dead load deflection. In Bogota it never snows and the hailstones dont adhere to glass and roll easily over it; for this reason, the live load is small.

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Figure 2.2 (a) Hatogrande Country Club. (b) Serrezuela Country Club. On the other hand, the wind load, which is a negative load, is not high, because the maximum 50-year wind speed at this place is 100 kph (60 mph). So the expected vertical deflections produced by live and wind loads are small, (fig 2.2.a).

2.3. Serrezuela Country Club A country club with similar characteristics to the one described above. It has two pools; one for competition and one for recreation. The second is partially covered. Obregn Bueno & Cia developed the architectural design. The roof has two kinds of structures. Some pyramids supported at each corner, and two folded plate structures intercepted in an angle of 90. Pipe section aluminum columns, fixed at the bottom, support the roof structure. These columns working like cantilever beams resist the seismic and transversal wind loads. These columns are located in 5.0 by 5.0-m typical bays, except at the folded plate structure areas, in which, there are two 15.0 by 35.0-m bays, in an L disposal. The structure is covered with monolithic full tempered glass. Rainwater is collected by aluminum channels, running in two ways and drained through the columns. (Fig 2.2b). 2.4. Urban Recreation Center (CUR) Compensar Compensar is a socially oriented Institution that offers not only medical, cultural and recreational services, but also housing subsidies and many other useful services. Its headquarters, located in Bogota, have a recreational center, with tree swimming pools: one for competition; one for diving and the other for children. Of course, because the recreation center is in Bogota, the pools are heated and covered. The competition pool has the standard Olympic dimensions and in one of its sides has tiers, so that the support columns don't disturbe the activities in the pool, they have been placed 45 m apart across the width of the pool and 60 m across the length. The architects, Daniel Motta and Fernando Rodriguez, had a preliminary idea, which consist in the use of an aluminum structure to cover those spans. But the very small inclination of the roof (which leads to a considerable live load due to the accumulation of hail) plus those large dimensions, made this solution very expensive. It was necessary to study new designs to make the project more affordable. The author proposed a combined solution: big external steel frames and a light internal aluminum structure suspended from the steel frames, as we can see in the Fig. 2.3. The aluminum structure is composed of trusses located in two directions, in 15,0 x 15,0 m bays, suspended from the exterior steel frames through the roof. In Fig. 2.3a we can see that the continuity of the bottom cords of the trusses is broken along a central line; this happen because all of them are suspended in these points from the exterior structure. Some facades are built with structural aluminum and tempered glass (Fig 2,3b).

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Fig. 2.3 CUR Compensar, swimming pools building. (a) Interior view (b) Exterior view.

3. MALLS 3.1. Centro Comercial Salitre Plaza In this Mall there are some gardens, only partially covered by glass. The roof structures combining the glass covers, however, were made to be the same size as the gardens, with dimensions between 20 and 30 m, for two main reasons. a) The architect wanted to have the green zones free of columns and b) If the cold night weather of Bogot was found to be disagreeable for people using the mall, the owner could choose to cover the rest of the structure with glass latter. The high humidity of these spaces made it convenient to build the structure with aluminum. The gardens are at the periphery of the mall, so the facades are also closed by glass supported in aluminum structures. The Fig 3.1a shows the aspect of one of these zones. The roof is made by a reticular structure designed with built-up I sections, and a set of tie rods. Spheres interconnect the aluminum tie rods. There are two sets of tie rods: a main set that works with the main built-up I sections, and a secondary set at the 8.50 x 8.50 m bays. The Fig. 3.1b shows the reticular structure for supporting the glass panes.

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Fig. 3.1 Salitre Plaza. (a) Exterior view of a garden. (b) Structural plant. As indicated above, the glass was installed only in a few areas because the architects felt that it would be beautiful to see rain falling on the gardens. The structure was fabricated using painted 6061 T6 aluminum shapes, and stainless steel bolts and aluminum rivets. The connections were made with casting spheres. 4. COLISEUMS. 4.1. Universidad del Norte. This University is located in Barranquilla, a city on the Caribbean coast. The temperature is about 30C (85 F) the whole year, for this reason, in contrast to Bogot, the buildings in Barranquilla often have air-conditioning. The coliseum is a 43.0 x 50.0 m building, covered with 50,0 m span trusses (Fig. 4.1). The owner chose aluminum as the material for the structure, due to its high corrosion resistance. The design loads for roof structures in Bogot are not very high, due to an absence of mechanical installations, (such as air-conditioning and heating systems), and snow; such as in this coliseum roof structure.

However, it was necessary to take into account the mechanical installations and the maintenance footbridge loads, in addition to the lighting, loudspeakers, and other loads. The main structural elements are parallel cord trusses without horizontal tension elements (Fig. 4.1b), designed with built-up sections composed of four L shapes at the top and bottom cords, and C sections on the web elements. All connections are bolted or riveted. Because of the low module of elasticity of aluminum, (3 times less than steel), deformations are usually large. In the present case, because the roof truss doesnt have a horizontal rod, the deflections will have been unacceptable if the structure had been designed as simple supported. Bearing this fact in mind, the connection truss to the concrete column was designed for transmitting horizontal forces in addition to the vertical reactions. In this case, both the concrete structure and its interaction with the aluminum structure were considered in the structural model. The shop truss drawings included camber equivalent to the dead load deformations. To resist the compression loads induced at the bottom truss cord by the wind, we installed diagonal elements connected to some reinforced purlins.

Fig. 4.1 North University. a) Transversal section. b) General aspect.

5. BUILDINGS OF GENERAL USE. 5.1. Lechera la Gran Va This creamery is situated 1100 km from Bogota, near Sincelejo City and Caribbean Coast. The combination of the milk vapors and sea salt make a very corrosive atmosphere, and this was the reason for using aluminum in the roof structure. The concrete columns are arranged to form 18.0-m square bays. The roof structure is composed of: (a) Girders of 63.0 m of total length, with three interior 18.0 m spans and one 4.50 m cantilever on each side, (b) Frames with 18.0 m between supports, located 4.50 m apart. (c) Purlins, designed as continuous beams, supported by the frames at 4.50-m intervals. The 63.0-m girder length is not continuous. They are composed by three articulated sections with some special devices to permit longitudinal displacements due to temperature changes. The girders and frames are built-up sections; the top and bottom cords are double unequal leg angles, with bulbs at the unsupported extreme legs, bolted to a web plate. The girder angles are greater than frame angles, both are extruded with special dies designed for this project.

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Fig. 5.1 La Gran Va. (a) General aspect. (b) Girder. (c) Frame to girder connection. 5.2. Empresas Pblicas de Medelln, EPM In this building there are installed 2 roofs with aluminum structures. One in the central atrium and the other in a cafeteria. A. Central Atrium, Fig. 5.1: a barrel vault with a span of 12 m of span, built with a spatial structure,with spherical nodes, suspended from a steel structure. To establish the structural characteristics that the spheres had to have, the initial design was made using a FEA software, Cosmos/M. The dimensions were changed (thickens, diameter, top hole, etc)and the casting resistance was also changed. We used a non-linear model with geometric actualization, with the stress-strain curve defined for the aluminum casting, evaluated from a tensile essay.

Fig. 5.1 EPM Central Atrium. The struts are connected to the sphere using transition pieces, (Fig. 5.2), welded to the struts extremes. These parts are lathe turned aluminum bars, with an interior threaded hole. The bolts are tightened in the interior of the sphere, to which the cover is installed after all the bolts have been tighten. This system doesnt any erection tolerance, so it is necessary to detail and fabricate the parts very carefully.

B. Cafeteria roof: this is an 18.5 m dome, made with built-up sections. Most of the structure is located exteriorly, so aluminum was selected as the structural material to control rust and corrosion problems. Fig. 5.3 shows a general aspect of the exterior. The zones between arcs are covered with concrete slabs over steel-decks

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Fig. 5.2 EPM Central Atrium, (a) spherical nodes. (b) Stress distribution. The ceiling is made by curved aluminum sheets, riveted to the joists and arches. The central area has a little dome designed for ventilation. Two rings support the radial arches, one near the dome center, and the other at the outer extremes. Both are built-up aluminum box type sections These structures were fabricated in Bogot, and installed in Medelln, a city located 450 km from Bogot. To perform the transportation, it was necessary to fabricate the structure in parts, latter assembled in situ.

Fig. 5.3 EPM cafeteria roof, exterior views. BIBLIOGRAPHY [1] [2] Peter, John. Aluminum in Modern Architecture, Vol I. Reynolds Metals Company, Louisville, Kentucky, 1963. Weidlinger, Paul. Aluminum in Modern Architecture, Vol II. Reynolds Metals Company, Louisville, Kentucky, 1963.

[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Asociacin Colombiana de Ingeniera Ssmica, Normas Colombianas de Diseo y Construccin Sismo Resistente, NSR-98, Bogot, 1998. American Institute of Steel Construction, AISC, Manual of Steel Construction, Load and Resistance Factor Design, 6 Edicin, Chicago, Ill, U.S.A., 1994. Valencia, Gabriel. Estructuras de Acero, Diseo con Factores de Carga y de Resistencia, Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniera, Bogot, 1997. American Institute of Steel Construction, AISC, Seismic Provisions for Structural Steel Buildings, Chicago, Il, 1997. Valencia, G. Pasado y Presente de la Arquitectura Metlica en el Mundo Revista Proa N 400, May 1990 Gaylord, H., Gaylord, C., Stallmeyer, J. Structural Engineering Handbook, 4 edicin, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1997.

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