Study of retractable roof systems and considerations for their safety in architecture

Safety of buildings such as stadiums or pools equipped with a retractable roof should be ensured by proper structural consideration. The retractable roof must be designed for two different situation, open condition and closed condition. In general, structural considerations in immobile roof cannot provide design requirements for buildings which can be moved or retracted by opening the roof. In this kind of structure, since each part of the roof has an independent structure, difference behavior achieve form each movable part due to differences in external loads and load carrying capacity of each movable part. On the other hands, load combinations of wind, temperature affect, possibility of seismic activity and snow can affect in designing process. Another design difficulty for retractable roof is loading condition due to several positions during moving. Ensuring safety during opened and closed conditions, water-proofing at each part, supporting and base structure should be considered in structural scheme.In This paper we describe some basic problems of retractable roof structures and some general safety issues with examples of actual projects. Also we survey the important considerations in structural scheme which should be taking to account for retractable roofs.

Keywords:

Retractable roofs , structural considerations , movable parts , movable condition