Temperature Distribution in a Long-Span Aircraft Hangar

Long-span aircraft hangars have features which differ from other large structural systems. The temperature stresses due to temperature variations often greatly impact the mechanical performance of the structure. The paper presents an analysis of the heat transfer processes and factors which influence the temperature distribution. The AMECO-A380 aircraft hangar at the Beijing Capital International Airport was selected as a practical example to illustrate the use of finite volume analysis to calculate the temperature field taking into account meteorological conditions, solar radiation, heat convection, etc. The temperature distribution and the variation of the length of the upper and lower chords of the grid structure roof were analyzed to develop guidelines for the temperature distributions in very large aircraft hangars. The results show that the temperature effect will be large for long-span hangars, and the temperature stresses due to non-uniform temperatures should be analyzed to guarantee the structural safety of large aircraft hangars.