Opera House, Copenhagen: Outstanding Roof Structure

Hans Exner, Senior Chief Consultant, Rambpll Denmark A/S, Virum, Denmark. Contact: [email protected]

Introduction
The Opera House (Fig. 1) in Copenha-
gen has received the 2008 Internation-
al Association for Bridge & Structural
Engineering's Outstanding Structure
Award, principally in recognition of
the innovative design of its roof. "This
award is the big one in our world of
structures."
The roof of the Opera House is one
of the largest canopy roof structures
in the world. with hort:zontal dimen-
sions of 158 m x 90 m-about the size
of three football pitches. An innovative
design was developed for the roof to
ensure the necessary strength, stabil-
ity and dynamic response, whilst at the
same time appearing light and slender.
The main construction concept for the
roof structure is taken directly from
modern steel bridge design.
Keywords: Opera House, Copenhagen;
Ostrac; roof: cantilevered. Fig. 1: Opera House, Copenhagen

Archite ctural Re quirements

the cantilever roof as a closed steel Outside the box structures along the
The roof has been erected as two box, the flexural as well as the torsion- three edges of the roof, truss girders
separate roof structures - the east al rigidity is significantly higher com- ate affanged to support the outer roof.
roof and the west roof. The architects pared with that of a traditional lattice This solution is advantageous in that it
required that the west roof should roof structure. It is the same technique can accommodate the building toler-
include a large cantilevered roof, sized as used in steel bridge designs, where ances in bolted connections between
78 m x 90 m (Fig. 2). The canopy roof the large torsional stiffness is used, for the box structure and the sirders.
should only be supported on ten foyer example, in cable-stayed bridges with a
columns, located around the curved central cable plane.
Static Analysis
foyer, and on four supports located on The plate thickness is very thin in re-
the interior concrete walls along the lation to typical bridge design, being The roof was designed for wind, snow
fly tower. This leads to the roof being limited to 6 mm in the main part of and dead loads. as well as stresses from
cantilevered on three sides-32 m to the cantilevered structure and only temperature and settlements of the
the west and27 m to the north and the foyer columns.The wind load was based
increased to 15 mm in the region near
south. The maximum cantilever length on results from wind tunnel tests.
the foyer columns.
is 43 m from the corner foyer column In the design of a cantilevered roof, it
to the outer roof corner. The roof structure (Fig. 3) could not be
is certainly of high importance to mini-
designed as a closed box over the total
Furthermore, the architects have decid- mrze the steel weight, which leads to the
area because of differential tempera-
ed the structure should have a smooth tures. but it was divided into a section adoption of a hollow box structure.flhe
outer surface and the smallest possible made as a box and the remaining sec- plate thickness of 6 mm, evaluated as a
depth. Normally, the depth of a canti- tion made of a number of girders. minimum from a fabrication point of
levered structure will be one-tenth of view, is extremely thin for such a large
the maximum cantilever span, but the The outer ring beam forms the inner structure. Hence, in order to provide
roof of this building is 30% less than closure of the box, and the radial sufficient strength and stiffness to the
this with a maximum depth of 3 m. beams are designed so that the flaring roof structure. a slenderness ratio blt of.
of the beams can absorb the horizon- approximately 70 was required, which
Technical Challenges tal axial stress from the box structure. determined the distance between the
The foyer balconies are supported by troughs. To analyze stability problems
When the depth is decreased by 30"/", vertical hangers, which are anchored in the slender plates, it was necessary
the stiffness of the structure is reduced in transverse beams spanning between to develop new comprehensive for-
substantially. However, by constructing the radial beams. mulas for biaxial stress combinations.

118 Structures Worldwide Structural Engineering International 212009

 shear stresses from the large torsional
moments in the structure.
In order to perform the complex
static analysis, two different three-
sup dimensional (3D) structural analysis
programmes were used, including a third
programme to cope with the geometry
(see Flg. 3). This is an early example of
the now more common use of detailed
3D analysis in building design.

Dynamic Behaviour
The increase in torsional stiffness of a
box section compared with truss gird-
ers is beneficial for the dynamic behav-
iour of the structure, and thereby for
the limitation of the dynamic amplifi-
cation of the vertical wind loads.
For large structures with predominant
mode shapes involving global deflec-
tions, it is important to consider the
cross-correlation of the wind when
calculating the dynamic response. The
cross-correlation takes into account
that the wind is not acting with the same
pressure all over the structure at any
SUP
given time. A wind tunnel test was car-
ried out, and it showed that construct-
ing the cantilever roof as a closed box
Cantilever beam girder reduced the dynamic wind load
Out of the box N to an acceptable level, and therefore
damping devices were not required.
RB : ring beam
FS : foyer column
RAB: radian beam
II
[--i: Box construction
w : Roof over loyer area
Differential Temperatures
ROB: roller bearing
SUP : support on concrete wall
"The committee made special men-
rlr

tion of the fact that the structure

Fig. 2: PIan of the cantilevered roof moves in response to internal and
external temperatures, which is very
innovative."
One of the main challenges in the
construction of the large roof was to
accommodate the differences in tem-
perature between the cantilevered
roof portion and the portion of the
roof over the foyer. The maximum
temperature difference occurs dur-
ing wintertime, with the cantilevered
roof portion subjected to ambient
external temperatures and the foyer
roof subjected to heated internal tem-
peratures. Such large differential tem-
peratures are not typical for bridge
structures.
In a continuous plate, temperature
differences of this magnitude will lead
to normal stresses in the thin plates of
Fig. 3: Roof structure the same order of magnitude as the
critical stresses. Therefore, it was nec-
including post-critical stresses and not roof. The box solution proved to be essary to integrate the box structure
only initial buckling stresses. The for- an optimal solution, because of the with a system of truss girders over
mulas have led to significantly lower use of stress in both directions of the foyer area. The cantilevered part
plate thicknesses of the cantilevered the plates in combination with the of the roof forms a horseshoe around

Structural Engineering International 212009 StructuresWorldwide 119

the foyer area, and in winter, this The design and corrosion protectton
horseshoe will contract and there- brings ideas and skills of steel bridge
fore compress the structure over the construction into building design -
foyer from the outside. The approach to be adapted to the different
was to locate as few girders as pos- geometrical and functional
sible in the North-South direction constraints of the building deviating
and place roller bearings between from those of a bridge.
the cantilevered box portion and the The innovative unification of
foyer girder portion of the roof. The bridge and building principles
roller bearings can release the differ- has not been reahzed before on a
ential horizontal deformations in the similar scale.
North-South direction and can trans-
fer compression/tension forces in the
vertical direction. SEI Data Block
The result of the temperature load case
Client, donor and builder:
is that the structure over the foyer will A.P. Moller and C. McKinney Moller
be squeezed in the North-South direc- Foundation, Copenhagen, Denmark
tion, the girders will deflect horizon-
Owner:
tally and the entire foyer roof structure
Danish National Theatre
will move towards the east.
Fig. 4: Opera interior Architect:
Henning Larsen Architects,
Surface Treatment Copenhagen, Denmark
canteen, archives, stores and techni-
cal plant rooms. Structural Design:
The closed steel box is protected Ramboll Denmark. Virum, Denmark
against corrosion by an internal air de-
Conclusion Main Contractors:
humidification system, eliminating the
E. Pihl & Son A/S, Copenhagen,
need to paint the internal surfaces of
the hollow box section. This principle The Opera in Copenhagen owes its Denmark
of corrosion protection has been used iconic shape to the cantilevered roof, Structural Steel /r):
successfully on steel bridges for more greeting and protecting everybody ar-
Auditorium 350
than 35 years. To our knowledge, the riving at the building. The roof has an
extraordinary span and slenderness. Its Foyer 1000
Opera House represents the first ap-
plication of this principle to a building elegance was enabled by its structural East roof structure 1200
structure (Fig. a). principles founded on the following West roof structure 1800
principal means:
Fly tower 1000
Facts The main box steel structure has
1500
Miscellaneous
high bending and torsional strength
The Opera House in Copenhagen and thereby reaches out to its far Concrete (m3):
was opened on 15 January 2005. It corners, with an economical use of Cast in place 26 000
was designed and built within a very material. Precast elements (2500 pieces) 9000
short time schedule of four years. The The stiffness of the box structure
ensures against wind-induced vibra- Total cost
Opera has a total area of 41 000 m2, of
(USD million): More than 400
which 7000 m'is accessible to the pub- tions as well as visible deflections.
lic. It comprises one main auditorium The arrangement of the box in the Service date: January 2005
for 1500 people, a foyer, the stage plus outdoor and the truss beams in
five side and rear stages, a small stage the indoor parts of the roof ensure l'{ote: This structure was featured in
for 200 people, six major rehearsal unconstrained movements with SEI Feb. 2005 issue (Pg. 16-20) where
rooms, individual rehearsal rooms, low stresses at varving outdoor a nlore detailed description of some as-
dressing rooms, offices, workshops, a temperatures. Dects can be found.

I20 StructuresWorldwide Structural Engineering International 212009