Structural Research and Design for the Chinese National Pavilion at the World Expo Shanghai

The style of the Chinese national pavilion at the World Expo Shanghai 2010 is unique. It is a fly-over structure like a inverse quadrangular frustum pyramid crown, with spreading layer upon layer at the exhibition hall. Since the roof extends 34. 75m from the concrete tube, the vertical mass distribution is not regular, the floor inertia moment is great, and the first mode of structure is a torsional mode. This paper introduces the structural system, layout, analysis and the primary construction measures of the Chinese national pavilion. For the Chinese national pavilion, four grounded concrete tubes which hold the staircases and elevator halls are used as the vertical and horizontal load resisting structute. The slant columns are set utilizing the inverse trapezoidal shape of building to support the large-span steel girders of floor. In the premise of ensuring the structure safety, the building service function is best satisfied. The influence of the fly-over style and that of the first mode is a torsional mode on the structure are analyzed. The results of the detailed calculation and shaking-table test show that though the first mode is a torsional mode, the structure torsional response is not significant, and the influence on the structural seismic performance is slight. Therefore, the seismic performance of structure is good and the expected seismic targets can be achieved.