Qatar University Grandstand Simulator (QUGS)

Extensive analytical and experimental studies on structural health monitoring and vibration serviceability of stadia are being carried out at Qatar University. One of the main objectives is to develop efficient structural damage detection techniques that are suitable for monitoring of modern stadia. Before the application of the newly-developed techniques to real-life structures, it is important to verify them experimentally in a controlled laboratory environment. For this purpose, a large grandstand simulator has been constructed at Qatar University (QU) which serves as a test bed for the project.

The QU grandstand simulator (QUGS) is still currently under construction. So far, the main hot-rolled steel frame of the test structure has been designed and constructed as in the picture above. The frame was designed to carry a total of 30 spectators with footprint dimensions of 4.2m×4.2m. Several aspects were considered in the structural design of this test structure to guarantee its safety and compatibility with the specifications of modern grandstands. The steel frame consists of 8 girders and 25 filler beams supported on 4 columns. The 8 girders are 4.6 m long, while the length of the 5 filler beams in the cantilevered portion is about 1 m and the length of the remaining 20 beams is 77 cm, each. The length of the two long columns is around 1.65m.

Nonstructural elements of the grandstand simulator including risers, treads, seats, and handrails will be installed during the next phases of construction. In this work, the structure is utilized in its current form (steel frame only) to generate vibration data under several structural damage cases.