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Abstract

Space grid structures are widely used in the field of structural engineering due to their good mechanical properties and simple construction procedures. This paper reviews the development of space grid structures and mainly introduces the development of space grid structures in China in recent years. Some typical applications of space grid structures are introduced and the technical developments are summarized. It shows that China not only has a large number of engineering applications of space grid structures, but also a rapid development of related technologies. Finally, some prospects for space grid structures are discussed.

Keywords

Space structures grid structures development review

Introduction

Early development

Space grid structures are widely used in the field of structural engineering due to their lightweight, high strength, and easy construction procedures. The origins of space grid structures can be traced back to 1903 when Alexander Graham Bell used triangular cells to assemble space grids (Figure 1).¹ In 1943, the Mengeringhausen Rohrbauweise (MERO) system was proposed, allowing for the commercial use of space grid structures.² Subsequently, a range of products, including the UK’s Space Deck, the US’s Octet, and Canada’s Triodetic system, were proposed.³ Form the 1950s, Richard Buckminster Fuller proposed the idea of synergetic geometry, establishing the theoretical basis for polyhedral dome structures. In 1967, a spherical dome designed by Fuller with a 76 m diameter was constructed for Expo 1967. In 1970, the Grand Roof of Expo 1970 was erected, presenting the impressive spanning abilities of space grid structures with dimensions of 292 m × 108 m.³ Furthermore, the Toronto Skydome, constructed in 1989, employs a retractable roof spanning a maximum of 208 m, enabling switching between its indoor and outdoor modes as necessary.³ In 1994, Mamoru Kawaguchi⁴ invented the suspen-dome system, in which the upper single-layer lattice shell is supported by lower cable-strut systems, and first applied it to the Higarigaoka Dome. For more details on the development history of space grid structures, see Schlaich,⁵ Mungan and Abel,⁶ and Saitoh.⁷

Figure 1.

Space grid structure developed by Alexander Graham Bell.³

The development of the spatial grid structure in China started late compared to developed countries. The first space truss structure in China, i.e. the ballroom of Shanghai Normal University,⁸ was built in 1964, covering an area of 32 m × 41 m. The first influential large-span space grid structure in China is the Capital Indoor Stadium,⁹ which was built in 1968, covering a rectangular plan size of 99 m × 112 m. Some typical early applications (before 1980) of space grid structures in China are listed in Table 1.

Table 1.

Early applications of space grid structures in China.

Name	Years	Structural form	Size (m)/span
Tianjin Gymnasium	1954	Latticed shell	52
Chongqing People’s Auditorium	1956	Latticed shell	46
Shanghai Normal University Ballroom	1964	Square pyramid grid structure	32 × 41
Zhengzhou Gymnasium	1967	Latticed shell	64
Capital Indoor Stadium	1968	Square pyramid grid structure	99 × 112
Shanghai Wanren Gymnasium	1973	Square pyramid grid structure	110

Since the 1980s, China has undergone significant economic and industrial expansion. According to statistics (https://data.stats.gov.cn/easyquery.htm?cn=C01), China’s production of iron and steel grew by approximately 27 times from 1980 to 2022, which met the economic requirements for the development of space grid structures. On the other hand, the technology accumulation of space grid structures provided a sufficient technical basis for their development. The equivalent sandwich plate method was proposed and used to estimate the internal forces and deflections of space grid structures before computers became commonplace.^10,11 The finite element method (FEM) provided effective ways for structural non-linear analysis, stability analysis, dynamic analysis, and construction process analysis. The development of computer-aided design software (e.g. MSTCAD¹²) has reduced the design difficulty of space grid structures. The development in experimental techniques, including joint, member, model, and wind tunnel experiments, provided essential support for the design of complex space grid structures with intricate members, joints, or shapes. For example, the multi-directional loading device for spatial joints at Zhejiang University (Figure 2) provides an effective device for joint experiments subjected to complex loads. Furthermore, various industry standards^13,14 covering the design, construction, and joint configurations have been published, providing effective technical guidance for the applications of space grid structures.

Figure 2.

Multi-directional loading device for spatial joints in Zhejiang University (http://www.spacestructlab.org/yqsb.html).

Various structural forms

Traditional space grid structures mainly consist of space trusses and reticulated shells, usually composed of overlapping cells with regular geometry, and most of them used welded hollow spherical joints. With the technical improvements, China’s space grid structures entered a period of rapid development since the 1980s. Different joint types began to be used,¹⁵ and some typical ones are shown in Figure 3. In particular, the bolted spherical joints became another one of the most widely-used joint types. Compared to the welded hollow spherical joints, its installation is much easier, which is more conducive to construction industrialization. Notable initial applications of bolted spherical joints include the Shenzhen Airport built in 1991 with an area of about 4000 m², and the Guangdong Provincial People’s Stadium built in the same year covering an area of about 7000 m².¹⁶

Figure 3.

Typical joint types: (a) welded hollow spherical joint, (b) bolted spherical joint, and (c) Coherent welded joint.

Various structural forms have also been developed and applied. Composite space grid structures replace the upper steel bars with reinforced concrete slabs to reduce steel consumption. A typical application of composite space grid structures is the roof of the dining room in Jiahe Coal Mine, constructed in 1980 with a size of 21 m × 54 m.¹⁷ Triple-layer space grid structures have the advantages of larger rigidity, larger load-carrying capacity, and smaller peak force compared to traditional double-layer ones. In the construction of Guangdong Provincial People’s Stadium, a partial triple-layer space grid structure was used, achieving a relatively low steel consumption (about 22 kg/m²) compared to similar structures of that time.¹⁶ Similarly, the four-bay hangar at Beijing Capital Airport, built in 1996, used the triple-layer space grid structure to provide sufficient span and load capacity for the aircraft parking and maintenance requirements.¹⁸ Prestressed space grid structures improve the structural mechanical properties by offsetting part of the load of the grid structure with high-strength prestressed cables. Based on different configurations of cables, they can be classified into four types of structures: prestressed grid structures (e.g. the Henan Xinxiang Power Plant Coal Shed built in 2003¹⁹), cable-stayed grid structures (e.g. the Huanglong Sports Centre Stadium in Zhejiang province built in 2000²⁰), truss string structures (e.g. the canopy of the Beijing North Station built in 2009²¹), and suspen-domes (e.g. the Beijing Olympic Badminton Hall built in 2008²²). Furthermore, a number of special forms of space grid structures have been developed to create special shapes, such as the flat trusses “bird’s nest” of the National Stadium and the polyhedral space lattice structure of the Water Cube of the National Aquatics Centre.

Growth trends

According to incomplete statistics, by the end of 1997, about 9000 space grid structures covering a total area of about 10 million m² had been built in China.¹⁷ By the end of 2002, the annual area of space structures reached about 2.5 million m², of which space grid structures accounted for about 13%.²³ In particular, the 1992 Asian Games showed an intensive application of space grid structures in China, with 11 out of 13 new large-scale venues using space grid structures.²⁴ Lan et al.²⁵ outlined the development of space grid structures in China, noting its rapid growth in the decades leading up to 2006. Dong²⁶ provided an objective overview of the growth of China’s space structures until 2010, stating that China had become a “big country” of space structures. Liu²⁷ reviewed the applications of space grid structures in China in 2013 and pointed out that space grid structures had become commonly-used traditional structural forms after 30 years of development.

In the last decade, despite the innovation of structural forms of space structures, space grid structures are still the most widely-used structural forms in the design of long-span roofs in China. The size and span records have been constantly updated, and the architectural shapes are gradually enriched and the functions tend to be diversified. This paper mainly reviews the recent developments and applications of space grid structures in China in different application scenarios to show the technological developments. The application scenarios of space grid structures include, but are not limited to: industrial buildings, coal storage structures, transport hubs, stadiums, and culture and exhibition centers. It is worth noting that only a small part of the projects that are available in the literature are mentioned in this paper.

Industrial buildings

Industrial buildings are mostly single-storey planar structures with regular rectangular geometries, and are mostly assembled by simple circular hollow section members and ball joints. The roofs of industrial buildings are characterized by their large size, which is supported by column networks. Recently, some industrial buildings of more than 100,000 m² have been built in China, and most of them are implemented by planer square pyramid grid structures (Figure 4). The departmental assembly factory of Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), built in 2015, where the C919 jet was assembled, covers an area of about 297 m × 96 m. The Great Wall Motor Xushui factory, built in 2016, has a total workshop area of about 440,000 m². The Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC) Ningde factory, which is completed in 2019, has a total workshop area of approximately 140,000 m². The Tesla Super Factory in Shanghai, completed in 2019, has a total workshop area of approximately 157,000 m². The Audi FAW new energy vehicle project in Changchun province, built in 2022, has a total workshop area of approximately 130,000 m².

Figure 4.

Planer square pyramid grid structures (Tesla Super Factory in Shanghai; https://www.jfdaily.com/wx/detail.do?id=140300).

Coal storage structures

To avoid the wastage and environmental pollution caused by outdoor coal piles, a large number of coal storage structures have been built in China. To satisfy the space requirements of the long-arm coal piling and coal digging machinery, the general characteristics of coal storage structures are large spans, large areas, and large heights.¹⁹ According to the summarized in Luo,¹⁹ the spans of coal storage structures before 2006 are mostly within 120 m and were mostly implemented by two-layer space grid shells. Typical applications include the Henan Yadiankou power plant Coal Shed, built in 2001, using a three-center latticed shell measuring 108 m × 90 m (Figure 5), and the Henan Xinxiang power plant Coal Shed, using a pre-stressed latticed shell measuring 88 m × 108 m. The deployable integral lifting construction technology was adopted in the Henan Yadiankou power plant Coal Shed, which removes some of the structural components during the lifting process to make the structure deployable, so that the structure can be assembled on a lower platform. The spans of some coal storage structures in China have exceeded 200 m. To achieve such large spans, these structures are often constructed using tension truss structures. The largest coal storage structure in China until 2022 is the Shougang Jingtang iron&steel company Coal Shed built in 2020 (Figure 6). The span of the structure is 245 m, which is the largest in the world at the time when it is completed. Some recent large-span coal storage structures in China are listed in Table 2.

Figure 5.

Henan Yadiankou power plant coal shed.

Figure 6.

Shougang Jingtang Iron&Steel Company Coal Shed (http://ydyl.china.com.cn/2020-10/28/content_76851668.htm).

Table 2.

Applications of space grid structures in Large-span coal storage structures.

Project name	Years	Structural form	Size (span × length)
Guodian Ningxia Fangjiazhuang Power Plant Coal Shed²⁸	2021	Prestressed spatial truss	229 m × 254 m
Shougang Jingtang Iron&Steel Company Coal Shed	2020	Prestressed spatial truss	245 m × 650 m
Jining Liangshan Coal Shed	2020	Cylindrical latticed shell	(103 + 103) m × 660 m
Yudean Coal Terminal Dry Coal Shed²⁹	2017	Four-span cylindrical latticed shell	(4 × 108 m) × 211.7 m
Jiaozuo Danhe Power Plant Dry Coal Shed³⁰	2018	Prestressed spatial truss	219 m × 230 m
Datang Wangtan Power Plant Coal Yard Dry Coal Shed³¹	2016	Prestressed spatial truss	208 m × 285 m
Inner Mongolia Huadian Wuda Cogeneration Co.³¹	2015	Cylindrical latticed shell	128 m × 165 m
Inner Mongolia Baotou Third Thermal Power Plant³¹	2015	Cylindrical latticed shell	110 m × 220 m
Inner Mongolia Baotou First Thermal Power Plant³¹	2015	Cylindrical latticed shell	110 m × 165 m
Datong Coal Mine Group Tashan Pithead Power Plant³¹	2014	Cylindrical latticed shell	148 m × 266 m
Baotou Donghua Cogeneration Coal Shed³¹	2014	Cylindrical latticed shell	110 m × 365 m

Terminals and railway stations

Airport terminals and railway stations are important transport hubs and often sever as city landmarks. They are characterized by large spans, vast areas, and novel shapes through free-form surfaces. Over the past few decades, the size of terminals and railway stations in China has continued to increase to meeting the growing demand for transport. In particular, some terminals have been built with lengths exceeding 1000 m. Typical large-scale terminals and railway stations with space grid structures built in China in the last decades are listed in Table 3. The Xiong’an High-Speed Railway Station (Figure 7), the largest railway station in Asia, completed in 2020, used a single-story orthogonal steel frame structure with a plan size of 355 m × 450 m and a maximum span of 78 m.³² The ribbed H-beams are used as the main structural components to achieve a concise architectural appearance. The Beijing Daxing International Airport (Figure 8), completed in 2019, was the largest terminal in the world at the time. The roof is made up of a combination of irregular free-form surfaces, with a space grid structure supported by giant C-shaped columns. Specifically, the C-shaped columns and roofs form an integrated mega-grid structure to increase the load-bearing capacity. The terminal has a total area of approximately 800,000 m² with a maximal column spacing of 188 m and a maximal cantilever of 47 m.³³

Table 3.

Applications of space grid structures in large-scale terminals and railway stations.

Project name	Years	Structural form	Size
T3 of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (under construction)³⁴	–	Prestressed spatial truss	970 m × 520 m with a span of 145 m
East terminal of Xi’an Xianyang International Airport (under construction)³⁵	–	Square pyramid grid structure	1242 m × 832 m with a span of 72 m and a cantilever of 25 m
T4 of Urumqi Diwopu International Airport³⁶	2023	Curved latticed shell	696 m × 238 m
Hangzhou West Station³⁷	2022	Spatial truss and square pyramid grid structures	325.7 m × 245 m with a span of 78 m
T3 of Lhasa Gongga Airport³⁸	2021	Spatial truss	About 88,000 m² with a span of 80 m
T3 of Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport³⁹	2021	Square pyramid grid structure	About 167,000 m²
Qingdao Hongdao Railway Station⁴⁰	2021	Square pyramid grid structure in center and spatial truss on the sides	262 m × 345 m with a span of 65 m
Xiong’an High-Speed Railway Station³²	2020	Spatial steel frame	355.5 m × 450 m
T2 of Chengdu Tianfu International Airport⁴¹	2020	Square pyramid grid structure	1285 m × 531 m supported by column network spacing 12 m × 18 m and 18 m × 18 m
Jinan East Station⁴²	2020	Spatial truss	406.6 m × (122–156) m
Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport⁴³	2020	Square pyramid grid structure	About 478,000 m² supported by column network spacing 36 m × 62 m
Xiangyang East Station⁴⁴	2019	Partial triple-layer square pyramid grid structure	192.5 m × 65.5 m
Beijing Daxing International Airport Terminal³³	2019	Space grid structure supported by giant C-shaped columns	1114 m × 996 m with a maximal span of 188 m.
T2 of Haikou Meilan International Airport⁴⁵	2019	Spatial truss	750 m × 405 m
T2 of Ningbo Lishe Airport⁴⁶	2019	Square pyramid grid structure and space truss	420 m × 150 m
Weifang North Railway Station⁴⁷	2018	Bi-directional folded spatial truss	194 m × 350 m with a span of 54 m and cantilever of 39 m
T2 of Guangzhou New Baiyun International Airport⁴⁸	2018	Square pyramid grid structure	643m × 295 m with a span of 54 m and a cantilever of 18 m
T2 of Changchun Longjia International Airport⁴⁹	2018	Square pyramid grid structure	650 m × 375 m
T3 of Wuhan Tianhe International Airport⁵⁰	2017	Square pyramid grid and spatial truss	1214 m × 262 m with a span of 122 m
Urumqi High-Speed Railway Station⁵¹	2016	Square pyramid grid structures	343 m × (152~252) m with a span of 75 m
T2 of Xinzheng International Airport⁵²	2015	Square pyramid grid structure	About 480,000 m² with a span of 90 m
T4 of Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport⁵³	2014	Spatial truss	251.7 m × 297 m
T3 of Shenzhen Baoan International Airport⁵⁴	2013	Square pyramid grid structure	1128 m × 640 m with a span of 96.2 m
Hangzhou East Railway Station⁵⁵	2013	Spatial truss	285 m × 516 m

Figure 7.

Xiong’an High-Speed Railway Station.³²

Figure 8.

Beijing Daxing International Airport.³³

Hangars

As ancillary facilities to the airports, a large number of hangars have also been built in China with the construction of airports. Different from normal factories, hangars always need a large space that is sufficient for multiple aircraft parking, and also large load-bearing capacity to withstand the equipment in the aircraft maintenance process. The space grid structure is the most commonly used structural form in hangars. To improve the load-bearing capacity, the construction of the hangar grid structure has also been accompanied by innovations to the traditional double-layer grid structure. The A380 maintenance hangar at Capital Airport completed in 2008, used a three-story square pyramid grid structure which covered an area of 115.0 m × (176.3 + 176.3) m.⁵⁶ A notable recent application of space grid structures in hangers is the Southern Airline Hangar at Beijing Daxing International Airport, completed in 2019, which used a new structural form combining W-shaped trusses and space grid structure (Figure 9). Benefiting from innovations in structural forms, it achieved the largest hangar in Asia, with a remarkable span of 222 m and a size of 405 m × 100 m.⁵⁷

Figure 9.

Southern Airline Hangar at Beijing Daxing International Airport.⁵⁷

Stadiums

Since the 1990 Beijing Asian Games, China has hosted a series of international events, represented by the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games. This has necessitated the construction of numerous large-scale outdoor stadiums and indoor gymnasiums throughout the country. Several outdoor stadiums with sizes over 200 m and indoor gymnasiums with spans over 100 m have been built. Some typical large-scale stadiums built in the last decade in China are listed in Table 4. One of the most significant structures was the National Stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which is designed as a bird’s nest-type grid and has a plan size of 332 m × 296 m. Q460 high-strength steel was employed for critical structural elements.⁵⁸ The Water Cube of the National Aquatics Centre adopts a new polyhedral space steel frame structure with a cube shape of 177 m × 177 m × 29 m. The ETFE membrane is used as the maintenance structure to achieve a light and transparent appearance.⁵⁹ The Shenzhen Universiade Sports Center Stadium, built in 2010, is a single-story folded space grid structure with an internal tensioned membrane, measuring 285 m × 270 m in plan and with a maximum cantilever of 68.4 m.⁶⁰ The Xi’an Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium (Figure 10), built in 2020, used a combination of double- and triple-layer ribbed type latticed shells with a diameter of 204 m and a span of 136.6 m.⁶¹ The 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games exemplifies an intensive application of space grid structures in stadiums. The Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium (Figure 11), built in 2016, used a complicated space grid structure, presenting in the shape of a lotus flower, with a size of 333 m × 285 m and a cantilever of 52.5 m.⁶² The swimming venue in Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre (Figure 12), built in 2021, used a latticed shell with a size of 600 m × 360 m and a maximum span of 160 m, and twisted rectangular steel tubes were applied to form the free-form surface.⁶³

Table 4.

Applications of space grid structures in large-scale stadiums.

Project name	Years	Structural form	Size
Changsha International Sports Centre Gymnasium (under construction)⁶⁴	–	Vertical spatial truss and square pyramid grid structure	252 m × 203 m with a span of 114.1 m × 145.1 m
Chengdu Dong’an Lake Sports Park Stadium⁶⁵	2021	Plane truss and single-layer latticed shell	diameter 295 m with a cantilever of 45 m
Swimming venue in Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre⁶³	2021	Latticed shell	600 m × 360 m with a span of 160 m
Nanhai District Sports Centre Stadium⁶⁶	2021	Spatial truss	220 m × 375 m with a cantilever of 30 m
Jinqiang International Event Centre Stadium⁶⁷	2021	Spatial truss	126.7 m × 109.7 m
Kaifeng Sports Centre Stadium⁶⁸	2021	Spatial truss	Diameter 269 m with a cantilever of 30 m
Kaifeng Sports Centre Gymnasium⁶⁹	2021	Spatial truss	79.2 m × 88.8 m
Xi’an Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium⁶¹	2020	Double- and triple-layer ribbed type latticed shell	diameter 204.6 m with a span of 136.6 m.
Tianshui Sports Centre Swimming Gymnasium⁷⁰	2019	Double-and triple-layer latticed shell	104 m × 90.6 m
Zhengzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium⁷¹	2019	Square pyramid grid structure and spoke-type spatial truss	291.5 m × 311.6 m with a cantilever of 54.1 m
Pixian Sports Centre Gymnasium	2018	Aluminum latticed shell	192 m × 65.5 m
Chongqing Banan Gymnasium⁷²	2018	Spatial truss	109.2 m × 126 m
Suzhou Sports Center Gymnasium⁷³	2018	Spatial truss	120 m × 135 m
Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium⁶²	2016	Spatial truss and latticed shell	366 m × 338 m with a cantilever of 52.5 m
Sichuan Daying Gymnasium⁷⁴	2015	Suspend-dome	Diameter 113.8 m
Ordos Sports Centre Gymnasium⁷⁵	2014	Spatial truss	156.8 m × 126.6 m
Xining Haihu Sports Centre Stadium⁷⁶	2013	Spatial truss and folded latticed shell	Diameter 273 m with a cantilever of 39.5 m
Xining Haihu Sports Centre Gymnasium⁷⁷	2013	Ribbed spatial truss and single-layer folded latticed shell	112 m × 112 m

Figure 10.

Xi’an Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium.⁶¹

Figure 11.

Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium (http://www.hangzhou.gov.cn/art/2023/3/14/art_1229633982_59076475.html).

Figure 12.

Swimming venue in Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre (https://www.hangzhou.com.cn/hzyyh/content/content_8256738.html).

Sports stadiums sometimes need to meet the demand for “outdoor on sunny days and indoor on rainy days,” and retractable space grid structures have been developed in large sports stadiums. Typical applications of space grid structures in retractable roof structures in China are listed in Table 5. The earliest large-span retractable roof structure in China was the Huanglong Centre Tennis Stadium in Hangzhou, built in 2005, which used a hybrid system of single-layer grid shell and tensioned string beam, with a diameter of 86 m and a maximum open area of 21 m × 36 m.²⁰ The largest retractable roof structure in China is the Textile City Sports Centre Stadium in Shaoxing (Figure 13). Its size is 260 m × 200 m, with a retractable roof area of approximately 98.3 m × 119.4 m.⁷⁸ The Q650 high-strength steel was used for the low chord components of the fixed part of the roof, providing sufficient stiffness and load bearing capacity for the operation of the movable part.

Table 5.

Applications of space grid structures in retractable roof structures.

Project name	Years	Structural form	Size
Jiaxing Culture and Arts Centre⁷⁹	2021	Spatial truss	Diameter 40 m
Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Tennis Stadium.⁸⁰	2017	Spatial truss	Diameter 135 m
Textile City Sports Centre Stadium in Shaoxing.⁷⁸	2014	Latticed shell	260 m × 200 m
National Tennis Stadium.⁸¹	2010	Double-layer latticed shell in movable part and triple-layer latticed shell in fixed part	Diameter 140 m
Ordos Dongsheng Stadium.⁸²	2008	Spatial truss	268 m × 220 m
Nantong Stadium⁸³	2006	Arch-supported latticed shell	Arch span 262 m
Shanghai Qizhong Sen Stadium⁸⁴	2005	Spatial truss	Diameter 144 m
Huanglong Centre Tennis Stadium²⁰	2005	Latticed shell and string beam	Diameter 86 m

Figure 13.

China Light Textile City Sports Centre Stadium in Shaoxing (https://www.szhzty.com/industry/146.html).

Culture and exhibition centers

With the abundance of cultural and recreational activities, a large number of cultural and exhibition centers have been built in China in recent years, including theatres, museums, art galleries, and exhibition halls. The National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), built in 2007, is now one of the landmarks in Beijing, using an elliptical latticed shell structure with elliptical dimensions of 142 m × 212 m and a maximum height of about 46 m.⁸⁵ Various cross-section forms, including H-type, T-type, and slab-type, were adopted in NCPA to achieve the architectural appearance. During the construction of NCPA, the bolted spherical joint grid structure was used as the temporary construction support system for its good mechanical properties and reusability. Some recent applications of space grid structures in culture and exhibition centers are listed in Table 6. Specifically, cultural and exhibition center buildings sometimes used irregular geometries to match specific themes, and space grid structures have shown the ability to create various complex shapes. For example, the Qingdao Phoenix Sound Theatre (Figure 14), completed in 2018, used a combination of tub truss and grid structures to construct the shape of a phoenix, with a plan size of 226 m × 115 m and a maximum span of 64 m⁸⁶; the Suzhou Grand Theatre, built in 2020, features a 330 m long irregular ribbon shape by a space grid⁸⁷; and the Xinjiang Grand Theatre (Figure 15), completed in 2022, used a tube truss structure to construct a complex shape modeled on the Saussurea involucrata, with a base diameter of 108 m and a height of 78.8 m.⁸⁸ The Nanjing Niushou Mountain Usnisa Palace built in 2015 is the largest aluminm alloy grid structure in China in terms of span (Figure 16),⁸⁹ with a free-form surface, a maximum span of 130 m, and a maximum cantilever of 53 m. Many large-scale international exhibition centers have also been built in recent years. The National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai; Figure 17), built in 2014, used a spatial truss structure and formed a four-leaf clover shape by four monoliths of individual buildings. Each building has a planar size of 341 m × 270 m, and the largest span is 108 m.⁹⁰ The Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center (Figure 18), completed in 2019, consists of 19 halls with a total exhibition area of approximately 400,000 m². The halls are connected by an indoor corridor with about 1,800 m in length, creating a regional micro-environment of a super-large space.⁹¹

Table 6.

Applications of space grid structures in culture and exhibition centers.

Project name	Years	Structural form	Size
Hangzhou Grand Convention and Exhibition Center (under construction)⁹²	–	Spatial truss	510 m × (210~250) m
Xinjiang Grand Theatre⁸⁸	2022	Spatial truss	Base diameter 108 m and height 78.8 m
Huaizhou New City International Convention Centre⁹³	2021	Spatial truss and single-layer latticed shell	Diameter 150 m
Wanzhou Grand Theatre⁹⁴	2021	Spatial truss and folded square pyramid grid structure	300 m × 117 m
Suzhou Grand Theatre⁸⁷	2020	Spatial truss and square pyramid grid structure	Long ribbon shape with a length of 330 m and a maximum width of 30 m.
Shandong International Convention and Exhibition Centre⁹⁵	2019	Spatial truss	520 m × (370~520) m with a span of 70 m
Hainan Nanhaihua Island Qijian Museum	2018	Aluminum latticed shell	125 m × 42 m
Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center⁹¹	2018	Spatial truss	About 400,000 m² composed of 19 standard exhibition halls
Qingdao Phoenix Sound Theatre⁸⁶	2018	Spatial truss and square pyramid grid structure	226 m × 150 m with a span of 64 m and a cantilever of 24 m
Ningxia Wuzhong Yellow River Culture and Exhibition Centre⁹⁶	2017	Spatial truss	Crescent-shape with a length of 725 m and a maximum width of 92 m
Yanqi Lake International Convention & Exhibition Center⁹⁷	2017	Spatial truss	Diameter 183 m with a span of 84 m
Nanning National Convention and Exhibition Centre⁹⁸	2016	Spatial truss	234 m × 157 m
Changsha International Convention and Exhibition Centre⁹⁹	2016	Beam string structure and spatial truss support	207 m × 163 m × 4 with a span of 81 m
Shennong Grand Theatre¹⁰⁰	2016	Spatial truss	120 m × 220 m with a span of 120 m
Kunming Tien Lake International Convention and Exhibition Centre¹⁰¹	2015	Single-layer latticed shell and spatial truss	Circular shape with an inner diameter of 1200 m, outer diameter of 1600 m, and width of 190 m.
Nanjing Niushou Mountain Buddha Palace⁹¹	2015	Aluminum latticed shell	250.4 m × 111.8 m
China Harbor Museum¹⁰²	2014	Spatial truss	240 m × 120 m
National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai)⁹⁰	2014	Spatial truss	341 m × 270 m with a span of 108 m and a cantilever of 40 m
Chongqing International Expo Centre¹⁰³	2013	Aluminum latticed shell	1500 m × 800 m

Figure 14.

Qingdao Phoenix Sound Theatre.⁸⁶

Figure 15.

Xinjiang Grand Theatre (http://www.cces.net.cn/html/jjh/621/638/content/6446.html).

Figure 16.

Nanjing Niushou Mountain Usnisa Palace.¹⁰³

Figure 17.

National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai).⁹⁰

Figure 18.

Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center.⁹¹

Applications in special structures

In recent years, in addition to the roofs of large-span structures, space grid structures have been applied in many special scenarios. The 697 m wide Cao’e River Gate used a double arch spatial truss (Figure 19).¹⁰⁴ It converted the bending forces in traditional flat gates into three-dimensional forces, saving over 30% in material consumption and over 40% in energy consumption. The Sun Valley steel structure for the Expo 2010 Shanghai used a tree-shaped single-layer latticed shell as the support for the upper cable and membrane structure, with a maximum upper dimension of 90 m × 70 m (Figure 20).¹⁰⁵ The Canton Tower, completed in 2011, is one of the tallest buildings in China with a total height of about 600 m. The external skeleton of the Guangzhou Tower adopted a hyperbolic space grid structure composed of concrete-filled steel tubes.¹⁰⁶ The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST, Figure 21), built in 2016, is currently the largest single-aperture radio telescope in the world, with a diameter of 500 m and a total reflecting area of over 200,000 m². The aluminm alloy grid structure is applied in FAST as one of the main components of the back support of its reflective surface.¹⁰⁷ The National Speed Skating Oval for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Games used a giant spatial truss with a planer size of 226 m × 153 m as the support system of the pre-stressed cable net.¹⁰⁸ The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), expected to be completed in 2024, is a spherical structure with a diameter of 35.4 m located about 700 m underground. A single-layer latticed shell with stainless steel is used in the structure.¹⁰⁹

Figure 19.

Double arch spatial truss structure used in Cao’e River Gate.

Figure 20.

Sun Valley steel structure for the Expo 2010 Shanghai.

Figure 21.

Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST).¹⁰⁷

Conclusions and prospects

Based on the above review of the development and application of spatial grid structures in China in recent years, the following conclusions can be drawn. First, there has been a more flexible application of space grid structures, which can be applied to various scenarios and can be used to achieve complex shapes. Second, the application of space grid structures in China has produced a number of firsts in Asia or the world in terms of size and span.

The following aspects can be considered in future studies. In terms of structural design, design concepts based on multi-scale refinement simulation, reverse engineering and artificial intelligence can be considered. In terms of structural form innovation, new space grid structures based on new materials and processes can be developed. In terms of manufacturing and construction, the standardization of grid structure products and the automation and intelligence of manufacturing can be further promoted. In terms of application scenarios, the concept of low-carbon development can be integrated by combining structural design and energy management, creating a comfortable ecosystem for human life.

Footnotes

Author’ note

Yu Xue is now affiliated to Beijing University of Technology.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Key Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52238001) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52108182).

ORCID iD

Yaozhi Luo

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Recent development and engineering practices of space grid structures in China

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Early development

Various structural forms

Growth trends

Industrial buildings

Coal storage structures

Terminals and railway stations

Hangars

Stadiums

Culture and exhibition centers

Applications in special structures

Conclusions and prospects

Footnotes

Author’ note

Declaration of conflicting interests

Funding

ORCID iD

References