Consulting in the science of buildings, structures and environment
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Overview
The City of Manchester Stadium was built as a venue for the 2002 Commonwealth Games after which it became the home of the Manchester City Football Club. The stadium has a seating capacity of 38,000 for the athletic games, and then converts to seat 50,000 for football. The roof is supported by pre-stressed cable nets and fully covers spectator areas for the football configuration.
RWDI conducted wind tunnel tests on a 1:400 scale model of the stadium to determine the following:
- Wind loads for the structural design of the rafters supporting the roof.
- Wind loads of the design of the exterior envelope of the stadium (cladding.)
- Wind tunnel testing and analyses examined two configurations of the roof -the football and athletic configurations.
- The wind environment around the stadium in terms of pedestrian comfort and safety.