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General Information

Other name(s): Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof
Beginning of works: 1904
Completion: 15 November 1906
Status: in use

Project Type

Function / usage: Railroad (railway) station
Architectural style: Neo-Baroque

Awards and Distinctions

2015 entry  

Location

Location: , ,
Part of:
Coordinates: 50° 4' 13.79" N    8° 14' 37.29" E
Show coordinates on a map

Technical Information

Dimensions

track hall total length 190.00 m
span lengths 25.45 m - 3 x 17.50 m - 21.05 m
number of spans 5
total width 99.00 m

Refurbishment of the platform hall of Wiesbaden main station

Task

The Wiesbaden main station, which is a listed building, consists of the station building with transverse platform and the platform hall, which is directly adjacent to the transverse hall. The platform hall is a more than one hundred year old steel construction with five hall aisles. It was designed in 1904 by the Royal Railway Construction Department in Wiesbaden and built in 1905-1906 by Gutehoffnungshütte Oberhausen, Sterkrade plant.

Over the past decades, significant damage has occurred to the hall structure and facades due to deteriorating roofing and drainage systems.

While the coating of the steel structure in the front section of the hall was still encountered in relatively good condition, corrosion was more advanced in the rear section of the hall towards the exit. The arch trusses had localized rusting. In the riveted box columns, considerable loss of cross-section due to leaf rust was observed in the area of the column bases. After exposing the column bases, scar-like severe rusting was discovered, particularly in the area of alternating moisture penetration at the level of the platform surface. The last column axles in front of the hall exit were less protected by the roof and showed the greatest damage. In places, the column walls were rusted through at the base points. The structural inspector's report recorded a total of 42 structural safety-relevant damages for the five hall aisles.

The task was therefore to refurbish and upgrade the platform hall. The steel supporting structure of the roof, which is over a hundred years old, had to be reinforced and provided with new corrosion protection. The roof cladding and roof drainage as well as the glazing of the elevated lanterns had to be renewed. All construction work had to be carried out while the station was in operation.

In the course of the task, the general planning of the work phases 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 was to be provided, the contract also included the structural design for the work phases 2, 3, 4 and 6.

In all renovation measures on the hall roof, the concerns of the protection of historical monuments were always to be taken into account. This applied to both the design implementation and the materials to be used.

Description of the construction

The track hall extends longitudinally over 20 bays, each 9.50 m long, for a total of 190.00 m, and transversely over five ships with spans of 25.45 m – 3 x 17.50 m – 21.05 m, for a total of 99.00 m.

The five ships are spanned by barrel roofs with apexes of equal height. Saddle-roofed glazed lanterns sit on top of the barrel roofs, providing light intake and ventilation. Outside the lanterns, the barrel roofs were covered with cross-span wood sheathing with bituminous sheeting and aluminum lamination. The timber planks rested on steel purlins spanned in the longitudinal direction of the hall and designed as tanner beams.

The main supporting structure of the track hall is a riveted steel structure, which has the typical construction features of the time. In the transverse direction of the hall, under-span arch girders have been arranged in the 21 axes, which are supported in the four inner axes B to E by clamped box columns and in the outer axes A and F rest with roller bearings on the outer walls made of sandstone. The arch girders of naves 2 and 4 are flexurally rigidly connected to the columns. The two connections of the arch girder in ship 3 and the connections of the arch girders in ships 1 and 5 to the respective inner support in axis B and E, respectively, are articulated.

Also in the longitudinal direction of the hall, the supports are restrained in axes B to E. In the end bays 1 and 20, longitudinal frames were designed by means of flexurally rigidly connected ledgers at the level of the column heads. In the other bays, the longitudinal ledgers are hinged to the column heads. Bracing is provided in every other truss bay to brace the barrel roofs in the longitudinal direction.

Choice of building materials

A material report on the old steel structure showed that the existing structural steel had approximately the strength properties of an S 235. For material testing, test specimens were taken from the arch trusses, purlins, columns, longitudinal frames and the diagonals of the lanterns. These were subjected to chemical analyses, and tensile tests and notched bar impact tests were also carried out.

As part of the roof renewal, all purlins were replaced with new rolled sections of material grade S 235. The lanterns were rebuilt according to the old design. Angle and U-sections were used for the new components, as in the original construction. In order not to change the appearance of the old steel structure, it was decided to replace profiles only with profiles of the same type and, if possible, not to enlarge the visible surfaces of the profiles.

The lanterns received new roof glazing with laminated safety glass, and the lantern longitudinal walls were clad on the outside with lamellar aluminum sheets that match the original appearance.

The existing roof sheathing and roof drainage were completely replaced. The new roof cladding is a double-skin insulated metal cladding with trapezoidal sheet metal as the supporting shell and standing seam aluminum sheets as the covering shell.

The new roof cladding is a double-skin insulated metal cladding with trapezoidal sheet metal as the supporting shell and standing seam aluminum sheets as the covering shell.

Since a large part of the old steel structure could be reused, especially for the main supporting structure, only 1,400 t of new steel were required. In the course of a sustainability assessment, the steel structure of the hall roofs and the entire refurbishment measure can be certified as having a positive life cycle assessment.

Special engineering service

The basis for the renovation design of the hall roof was a detailed recalculation of the existing structure. In order to be able to calculate and strengthen this as accurately as possible, various preliminary investigations were first carried out. In addition to the material expertise on the old steel structure, the surveying of the hall structure with measurement of the column head displacements and the uncovering of foundations, this also included a wind tunnel investigation on the model to determine the wind loads, since the roof shape of the hall does not correspond to a regulated design.

Due to detailed examination of the damage to the steel structure on site with measurement of the cross-sectional losses caused by rusting and the meticulous planning work in the office with the aid of all as-built documents, it was possible to carry out the necessary structural recalculation. This showed that the old cross-sections of the main load-bearing structure, which consists of under-spanned arched trusses, box columns and longitudinal frames, are stable even under the loads applicable today. In this way, the main steel support structure of the riveted arch trusses could be saved. The planning thus provided for the complete main supporting structure to be retained in its existing condition and provided with new corrosion protection.

It is worth mentioning the imperfection approach adopted for the verification of the supports of the arch trusses. Since notable column head displacements were found during the measurement of the hall, the skew to be applied was calculated back from the measurement results. The pre-torsion from the measurement results, for example, was 1/277 in the transverse direction of the hall as the arithmetic mean of the 20 measured values in the arch plane. Since the ratio between the pre-torsion from geometric and structural imperfection is 1:1 according to the commentary on DIN 18800, twice this value was used as the basic value: 2 x 1/277 = 1/138.

The main design was also verified for structural conditions. It was assumed that the entire roof of a hall aisle is opened one after the other. For these different states of the entire building, wind pressure coefficients were specified in the wind assessment.

The condition for carrying out the main measure was to maintain unrestricted railroad operations and all passenger traffic within the station. Thus, the contractor's work was not to interfere with train traffic or station operations.

The contractor's work was not to interfere with train traffic or station operations.

The renovation design put out to tender provided for the work on the hall roof to be carried out one ship at a time over the entire length, starting at the western ship 5. Since the demolition of the old roof, the corrosion protection work on the arched trusses and the erection of the new roof structure had to be carried out while the railroad was still in operation, the installation of a working platform one ship at a time at a sufficient distance above the contact wire of the overhead line was an ideal solution here.

In order to use the time for preparing the tender documents for the main measure on the construction site, among other things, the rehabilitation of the column bases was to be started early in an advance measure. In addition to the column base reinforcement with corrosion protection up to the lower edge of the longitudinal beams, this advance measure also included the renewal of the window and natural stone facades of the outer longitudinal walls in axes A and F. With this planning during construction, a significant shortening of the overall measure was achieved. Among other things by this and by providing a checked static calculation for the hall roof with the award of contract to the contractor, the renovated platform halls could be completed one year earlier than originally planned.

Explanatory report by Wihermüller & Vogel Ingenieure for submission to the Ulrich Finsterwalder Ingenieurbaupreis 2015

Participants

Initial construction (1904-1906)
Architecture
Metal construction
Renovation (2010-2013)
Owner
Structural engineering
Material assessment report
Wind analysis (expert report)
Checking engineering
General contractor
Steel construction
Steel connections
Scaffolding
Project management

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Relevant Publications

  • About this
    data sheet
  • Structure-ID
    20023195
  • Published on:
    01/10/2006
  • Last updated on:
    21/04/2016
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