Abstract
The paper describes the planning, analysis & design of a multi-layered space frame hangar recently built at Mumbai for Air India to service two 747-400 airplanes at a time - one docked in ‘tail-in’ and the other in the ‘nose-in’ position. A unique feature of the hangar is that the docking systems and cranes are suspended from the space frame itself. The design involves a main three-layered pin-jointed space frame strengthened by the addition of two rigid-jointed layers to form a five-layered front girder with a clear span of 129.384m. The front girder is designed to act as a portal along with the two end columns of steel 25m high which are supported on concrete pedestals of 4.5m height. Weighing 65 kg/m2, this long span space frame hangar is believed to be the lightest of its class with suspended docking systems and cranes. The paper also briefly describes the hoisting technique employed to lift the hangar roof weighing 1100 tons, in one piece, using twelve PSC centre hole jacks.