THE CONCEPTION OF THE RESISTANCE STRUCTURE

OF THE CITY STADIUM OF CLUJ-NAPOCA UNDER

ACCIDENTAL LOADINGS
PETRINA MIRCEA
NICOLAE SOCACIU
BOGDAN PETRINA
RADU HULEA
RADU ZOICAS
CRISTIAN MOJOLIC
TUDOR PETRINA
ABSTRACT
This study describes the accidental loadings on the structure of the City Stadium of
Cluj-Napoca. The structure is made of reinforced concrete frames with isolated foundations
under columns and continuous under the reinforced concrete walls, with a steel structure
for the roof.
The first part of this study contains the detailed description of the structural
solution, in the second chapter, legal issues according to SR EN 1991-1-7 General actions
Accidental actions. The third chapter contains the analyzing of the reinforced concrete
structure in the case of accidental loading. At this point, the displacements and the
deformed shape of the structure in the case of one structural element collapse were
observed in two cases. In the fourth chapter the influence of an accidental action on the
steel structure of the stadium roof due to a structures element collapse was studied. The
fifth chapter includes remarks and conclusions to this study.
Key words: Accidental actions, reinforced concrete structure, structure of the stadium roof

THE PRESENTATION OF THE CITY STADIUM OF CLUJNAPOCA

The stadium is situated in Cluj-Napoca in the Central Park, on the
south side of the Somes River. The new stadium is under construction now,
it has international standards, will have an approximately 30000 capacity,
will follow all the standards imposed by FIFA and UEFA and also will
follow the codes that rules athletics tracks of A category figure 1, [1],
[10].
The levels on the height will be: two underground levels, ground
level and two stories in the north and south parts and with five stories in the
main parts. The maximum height is 36.60m and at the cornice is 33.60m,
[1], [10].

Fig.1. City Stadium of Cluj-Napoca

Fig.2. Transversal section of the T2

The foundation solution chosen for all parts is isolated foundation
under the columns and continuous foundation under the reinforced concrete
walls.
The isolated foundations are made of a plain concrete part plus an
upper part made of reinforced concrete. The continuous foundations are also
with a part made of plain concrete plus an upper part made of reinforced
concrete. The isolated foundations go to a depth of -5.15m to -6.55m
(measured from the level 0.00) and at -8.05m in the area where the depth of
the underground is bigger. These foundations are connected by reinforced
concrete beams on both directions. The foundations will be placed for all

parts T1 and T2 in the layer of ground called diorite sand with a

conventional base pressure of Pconv = 750kPa and for the parts P1 and P2 in
the layer made of sand and grabble with a conventional base pressure of
Pconv = 450kPa , [1], [10].
The resistance structure of the stadium is made of frames with
reinforced concrete columns and beams (Fig.2.). The slabs are made of
reinforced concrete cast on site, with or without precast under plates (hp =
20cm) and are computed to have adequate horizontal rigidity to undertake
horizontal loading. The slabs contain beams (cast on site or precast). The
stepped slab where the seats are placed lay on oblique frame beams.
On the contours of the underground levels, reinforced concrete walls
are designed that have tie beams on their base and also upper side. These
walls are hydro-insulated with thermo-welded membranes protected with a
Tefond-type layer. In the joint zone special joint pieces are placed. Because
the water level is rather high, the slab on the ground will have a thickness of
25cm, to resist to water pressure. This slab is anchored to the isolated and
continuous foundations. The reinforcement is designed to undertake water
pressure. First, an equalizing layer of concrete will be placed and then the
hydro-insulation made of thermo-welded membranes is realized. At the
joints, special pieces and plastic taps will be placed. The insulation will be
protected with a thin layer of concrete on which the reinforcement of the
slab will be realized. In the columns and walls zones, rigid hydro-insulations
will be realized that will be connected to the membranes. The vertical
insulation will be connected with the horizontal one, developing a sealed
bowl of the underground levels , [1], [10].
The resistance structure of the roof is made of a plane cantilever
truss that covers the seats (Fig.3.). The steel structure for the roof will be
made of parts pre-assembled or assembled on site on the ground or directly
at the position. On the longitudinal direction plane trusses are designed with
the goal to create rigidity for the cantilevers on that direction. The final
cover will be a light one. At the roof level joints are created by placing
simply supported longitudinal elements. The steel structure of the roof is
divided into four parts and the cantilever trusses are placed on the reinforced
concrete frames. The expansion joints are placed in correspondence with the
joints created in the concrete structure. In these joints the longitudinal
elements are simply supported to the cantilevers.

Fig. 3. The steel structure of the roof. Opening from T2

These trusses are made of a column and a cantilever beam. The truss
is fixed in the reinforced concrete column having the section of 1.20m x
0.80m in four points. The joints where created screwed with base plates,
their dimensions where computed according to the corresponding efforts.
The truss is made of four sections in order to be transported and put
together. The longitudinal parts of the cantilever are made of steel plates
welded together in the form of H, the diagonals and the vertical elements
of the truss are made of two U profiles placed face to face and connected
with steel plates. The joints between the four sections are made of SIRP.
The joints between the elements of each section are welded, [1], [10].
The structure was made rigid by introducing diagonals in the roof
plane made of prestressed bars. These are of two types: longitudinal and
transversal diagonals. The longitudinal ones were placed at the end parts of
the truss and in the connection area between the column and the beam, in
the free part of the cantilever and on the lower side of the column. The
transversal diagonals are placed two pieces at each end of roof section,
parallel to the truss. The longitudinal diagonals that arent in the roof plane
are made of pipe profiles for the longitudinal elements and vertical elements
and have prestressed bars as diagonals.
The longitudinal elements of the roof are pinned to the trusses in the
upper nodes and they are also trusses made of pipe-type profiles. Some of
these longitudinal trusses are linked with ties with the lower node of the
main truss, too. For transversal fixing the lower side of the longitudinal
trusses, transversals are used, [1], [10].

PRESCRIPTION ACCORDING TO SR EN 1991-1-7

This chapter contains legal issues for verifying the structure at
accidental loadings according to the code 1991-1-7, and the consequences of
a local collapse of the structure due to a not specified cause [2].
The strategies that need to be taken into consideration are divided in
two main categories: the first category refers to the identification of the
accidental actions (explosions, impact) and implies the design of the
structure for in insuring minimum properties, preventing or reducing the
accidental action (protection measures) and the design of the structure to
undertake the action [2].
The second category implies strategies based on the limitation of the
local collapse by introducing increased redundancy, by prescriptive rules
(integrity, ductility) and by designing the key-element to undertake the
accidental nominal action [2].
On the base of classifying into importance classes, the City Stadium
of Cluj-Napoca is placed in the class 3 that includes all types of buildings
that are in the class 2 of importance but exceeds the number of levels and
the surface limits; all the buildings that have significant admitted number of
participants; the stadiums with more than 5000 places and buildings that
contain dangerous substances and/or processes [2].
According to this analysis a local collapse due to accidental actions
may be accepted with the condition that it doesnt affect the possibility of
emptying the stadium in case of emergency. The structure has to be
designed such as the stability of the entire or a local main structure will not
be affected by a local collapse. The minimum necessary time period for the
structure to survive in the case of an accident will be the one that insures in
safe conditions the evacuation and saving of the persons in the building and
in the nearby zones [2].
The following recommended strategies have to assure for the
building a resistance coefficient big enough to undertake local collapse
without having a disproportioned level of damage. For the buildings from
the class 3 of importance a risk evaluation needs to be made with taking into
consideration all known and not known dangers. According to the code, the
admitted limit of a local collapse is different from building to building, the
recommended value is of minimum 15% from the level surface or 100m2 for
each two adjacent stories figure 4 [2].

Fig. 4. Case of structural element failure

THE DESIGN OF THE REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURE
The accidental analysis described in chapter 2 was made in two
hypotheses, the first case by eliminating the reinforced concrete column
having a section of 90x90cm from axis C from the -1 level, and in the
second case the column from axis D from the ground level having the
section of 120x80cm was eliminated. In this case the displaced shape and
the maximum values from the columns, beams and slabs were studied. In
the first case a difference of 1.1cm in the displacement of the node situated
on the upper end of the column was noted. In the case of the column from
axis D a difference of 1.3cm between the displacements of the upper end of
the column was noticed figure 5, 6, 7.
The analysis of the structure under the influence of the accidental loading
was computed in the case of the special group by using the following
coefficients: 1.00 for dead load and 0.40 for snow load.

Fig. 5. Initial frame deformed shape

Fig. 6. The deformed shape after

column from axis C failure

Fig. 7. The deformed shape after column from axis D failure

THE DESIGN OF THE STEEL STRUCTURE
For the steel structure two accidental actions were studied by failure of
one structural element in each case: an element from the lower part and then
an element from the upper side of the cantilever truss.
The analysis is made according to codes and the effect of the
accidental action has to respect the maximum percent given by the code for
the affected zone.
The effect of the accidental action on the adjacent trusses was
studied by comparing stresses and strains and internal forces in them. As
one may see in the figura 8, 9 and in table 1, the case in which the lower
part of the truss collapse is more dangerous.

a)
b)
Fig. 8. The deformed shape of the steel structure a)of failure of an
element situated on the lower part of the truss, b) the case of an element
from the upper side of the truss

c)
Fig. 9. The initial deformed shape
Table 1: The displacements of the structure in the studied cases
Lower side element failure

Upper side element failure

Initial structure

Maximum
displacement
from adjacent
trusses

UX (cm)

UY (cm)

UZ (cm)

-4.10

9.70

-11.80

-3.10

9.50

-11.50

-3.00

9.60

-8.90

After the verification on the adjacent trusses the fact that those dont
collapse from a point of view of resistance and stability was seen. The
verification of the steel elements was made according to Eurocode 3. In
table 2 the values of the computing force (NE) divided by the portant
capacity (Nd) are given in some characteristic sections of the adjacent
trusses of the collapsed truss. Were taken into account the models with the
failure of lower part of the truss (a), the upper part of the truss (b) and they
were compared to the initial base moment (c).
In figures 10 and 11 the percentage of participation of all the
elements from the adjacent main trusses and one may observe an increasing
of those after the accidental loading from a maximum of 0.4 to a new
maximum of 0.7.

Table 2. The values of NE/ Nd in different sections of the adjacent

main trusses in the case of the considered models
Model Structural
a) Failure of
element from
lower part of the
main truss
0,29
0,14
0,73

Verified
Section
1. T inf 7
2. T sup 5
3. 2U 180

Fraction

b) Failure of element
from upper part of
the main truss

c) Initial
structure

a/c

b/c

0,26
0,17
0,54

0,23
0,11
0,37

1,26
1,27
1,97

1,13
1,55
1,46

0.7

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0.1

0.0

108

Fig.10. The analysis of stresse from the elements from the adjacent trusses
0.4
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.1
0.1
0.0
0.0
108

Fig.11. The analysis of stresses before the producing of the accidental

action.
CONCLUSIONS
The researches on the structure of the stadiumin the case of
accidental actions reflects the fact that when collapsing a key element of the
steel structure of the roof, only the failure of the truss containing that
element occurs. The adjacent trusses have an increase of stresses and strains,
but they dont collapse. For this, the issues presented in chapter 2 are
followed.
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