[ Architecture ]
High-strength steel scores
Madrid’ s storied Bernabéu Stadium underwent a major renovation to expand its events list beyond football. Two gargantuan molybdenumcontaining steel trusses, each nearly 180 meters long, support a new, retractable roof. Molybdenum also plays an important role in the stadium’ s shimmering stainless steel façade.
[ Architecture ]
By Max Cooper, Steel Constuction Institute
Home to Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium has long been one of football’ s most celebrated venues. Named after the club’ s influential former player, coach, and long serving president, it has been a fixture of topflight Spanish and European football since opening in 1947. For Real Madrid’ s global fanbase, the stadium is a footballing Mecca. For opposing teams, it is a notoriously intimidating venue, where“ Los Blancos” have staged countless last-gasp comebacks, particularly in the Champions League. As the saying goes,“ 90 minutes at the Bernabéu is a long time …”
Expanding beyond football However, in the modern era of football, a legendary reputation is no longer enough to secure a club’ s place at the top. While the club’ s on-the-pitch success has rarely faltered and support certainly has never waned, there are practical limits to the revenue generated through traditional ticket sales, particularly when a stadium might only host games on a few days each month. With ever-higher player wages and new UEFA rules requiring clubs to be largely self-financed, success now depends on generating sustainable income. To thrive in this new era, the club not only needs to maximize the money being spent on match days but also seek out new revenue streams for when the team isn’ t
Photo: Dreamstime.
playing. Real Madrid’ s top management sought to transform the stadium into a multi-purpose entertainment venue capable of pulling in crowds throughout the year. This transformation was predicated on removing the two main barriers to hosting non-football events: the venue’ s exposure to the elements and the natural grass pitch, which must be kept in perfect condition for games. The two most complex and expensive engineering systems of the renovation, the retractable roof and the retractable pitch, allow the stadium to host a wide array of events, such as concerts, conventions, trade fairs, and even other sporting events, without compromising the quality of the football playing surface.
A convertible roof The retractable roof is the project’ s most striking feature, designed to provide complete control over the stadium’ s internal environment. The primary structure relies on two enormous steel box-trusses, 6 meters high and 6 meters wide, and each spanning 176 meters, that support the entire roof system. The solution depended on high-strength steel: the molybdenum-containing alloy S690QL1. The trusses were fabricated from plate ranging in thickness from 10 to 120 millimeters. The alloy’ s molybdenum content of up to 0.6 % plays a key role in maintaining not only the strength, but also the weldability and toughness of the steel, particularly important for thick plate. The use of S690QL1 resulted in a 40 % weight saving compared to the widely used, molybdenum-free S355 steel. The fact that S690QL1 is nearly twice as strong proved to be critical to the eventual construction sequence. To avoid the significant safety risks and use of temporary structures required for assembly at height, the 1,500-tonne trusses were preassembled in sections on the ground before being lifted into position with heavy-duty cranes. The weight savings made possible by using high-strength steel brought the truss sections within the load rating of the cranes, permitting an erection method that would have otherwise been unfeasible. The roof has two parts: a fixed section covering the stands made from standing-seam aluminum cladding and a movable section covering the pitch. The moving portion shielding the field is comprised of large, inflatable cushions made from a lightweight, translucent technical fabric called expanded polytetrafluoroethylene( ePTFE). It can be opened or retracted in approximately 15 minutes, transforming the stadium from an
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