PROJECTS

Hindu Dome

Owner: Hindu Community, Avondale
Contractor: Raivel Precast Ltd.
Consultant: Peters & Cheung Ltd.
Completed: June 2002

Raivel Precast Ltd was awarded a contract to construct seven precast concrete domes for the new Hindu Community Centre in Avondale, Auckland.

The largest of these, a 5.3m diameter dome needed to be cast in two halves, each weighing 6.6 tonnes. Peters & Cheung were commissioned to advise on the structural requirements for lifting and placing the half-domes into position. We carried out a finite element analysis of the dome to determine the reactions in the lifting hooks and the additional reinforcement required for the lifting operations. A computer programme was written to generate the nodal coordinates for the base and compound curvature dome for the finite element model.