Trimble, a global offshore construction technology company, said eight of the 12 stadiums that will host the 2018 World Cup in Russia have been constructed using its Tekla Structures software.

Tekla Structures is an advanced building information modelling (BIM) tool, which allowed the designers, contractors, and construction organisations behind the stadiums to complete high quality work. Each stadium constructed for the World Cup has its own unique, spectacular structural details. 

These stadiums located in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Saransk, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Sochi, and Kazan, are all now ready to welcome football fans.

Moscow’s Spartak Stadium will seat up to 45,000 spectators during the big game. Thick-walled pipes were used in the construction, which made it possible to reduce metal consumption by 1.3 - as a result, the roof weighs a relatively lightweight 8,500 tonnes. With Tekla’s 3D model files working together with automated production, the project flowed smoothly from the drawing phase to the manufacture phase.  

Saint Petersburg Stadium, designed by architect Kisho Kurokawa, will seat 67,000 spectators while hosting seven World Cup 2018 matches.

The stadium’s structural features include a roll-out field and 286-m-wide retractable roof. After 10 years of construction, the project was taken over by Kurganstalmost, a Russian specialist in enterprise manufacturing steel superstructures of bridge spans.

Trimble pointed out that using Tekla Structures, it was able to identify potential collisions and avoid unnecessary work at the construction site, resulting in quick compliance with Fifa requirements.

According to Kurganstalmost, the use of BIM technology was critical, especially given the tight schedule.

The oval-shaped Mordovia Arena, located in Saransk, will be hosting four matches and seating up to 44,000 spectators. The base of the stadium is composed of 88 interlinking consoles 40 m high with a span of 49 m.

Belenergomash, Mordovia Arena’s steel fabricator, also produced complex 60-m metal structures with an accuracy of up to 10 mm, and a large number of welded joints. With BIM technology, Belenergomash’s specialists were able to streamline their workflow and ensure productive communication among different divisions, it stated.  

Volgograd Arena, which will host four matches and seat 45,000 people, features a unique cable-stayed roof and openwork wicker-themed façade. The stadium’s technical complexity made it necessary for supply and construction to work closely to ensure optimal accuracy in both manufacturing and assembly, said a spokesman for Trimble.

In order to manage such a difficult task, the right technical equipment was needed. Tekla’s BIM technology integrated all available information about the facility’s construction into one information-packed 3D model, he stated.

Data could be transferred straight from the model to machine, allowing more flexibility and more accuracy, as well as significantly reducing production times, said the spokesman.-TradeArabia News Service