Hollow ""Bones"" beams. Replacement of the roof structure in the Hydraulic Laboratory Test Building at Madrid

Abstract

The article explains the design and production problems of 65 precast pretensioned beams, used in the replacement of one roof due to durability problems. According to the original design the new beams show an external slope almost identical to the oldest ones The original beams were manufactured by precast small elements jointed together by postensioning. The shape of each element, was very complicated, with no symmetrical section and curved surfaces with one final appearance very close to the bone skeletal structure of vertebrated animals.