When it comes to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, each of us will be proud of it. On July 13, 2001, when the President of the International Olympic Committee, Mr. Samaranch, announced in Moscow that Beijing would become the host city of the 2008 Olympic Games, 400,000 people gathered across Tiananmen Square to celebrate the exciting news.
2008 is exactly the 30th year of China's reform and opening up policy. In such a period, China ushered in the Olympic Games, which is undoubtedly an affirmation of China's opening up policy, but also an opportunity for the world to better understand China, so during the preparation for the Olympic Games, China has always pursued the concept of humanistic Olympics, green Olympics, and scientific and technological Olympics. Use scientific and technological elements to add luster to the Olympic Games. In particular, the construction of Olympic venues is a fierce collision between science and technology and the Olympic Games. During the construction of the venue, the meticulous and hard-working spirit of the engineers made the Beijing Olympic venues full of vitality.
Since the reform and opening up, China's economic strength and science and technology have developed rapidly. It was highly recognized by the International Olympic Committee and successfully applied for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. After the successful Olympic bid, the next preparations are very important. The construction of venues is one of the most important aspects of preparing for the Olympic Games.
The construction of Olympic venues is not limited to conventional facilities such as sports fields and stands, and the types will be more diverse. It also includes a variety of buildings such as the Olympic Village, the Media Village, and cultural amusement facilities. Since the 1990s, the construction of Olympic venues has paid more attention to scientific and technological and environmental protection factors.
Among the Beijing Olympic venues, the most impressive and highest-profile is the National Stadium - the Bird's Nest.
In China, starting from the ancient architect LuBan, the traditional construction industry has always been a master with apprentices. As the saying goes, "a master makes a master disciple". However, due to the "advanced" design concept of the Bird's Nest, many of the problems faced in the construction are unprecedented and unique. Such a huge project, according to the standards commonly used in the international architectural community, the construction period should be 6-7 years, and the start of construction is only four years and seven months from the opening date of the Olympic Games. And the "Bird's Nest" is the world's largest span of steel structure, in the world, there is no answer that can be referred to.
Among them, the part with the largest building load capacity requires a special steel called Q460. At that time, the 110 mm Q460E steel that could meet the design requirements could only be produced by a few foreign steel giants. Is the "bird's nest" steel imported or produced by yourself?
At the critical moment, Wuyang Iron and Steel Company, which has long been engaged in the development and production of special steel, decided to produce itself, and they organized more than 30 backbone engineers to upgrade and develop. However, after two large-scale experiments of strength and toughness, they have not been able to meet the requirements of the indicators. So the company decided to break the traditional process and use unconventional raw materials. As a result, the quality of the steel is improved by one notch compared to the original. Successfully developed 110 mm Q460E steel, which is a wonderful stroke for the history of China's independent research and development of special steel.
With steel, all that's left to consider is how to stitch them together and assemble them. Again, this is a thorny issue.
Especially in the later stage, the columns are denser and denser, and the construction space is getting smaller and smaller. Coupled with the bad weather in Beijing at that time, it was undoubtedly a big challenge to take into account the thermal expansion and contraction of the material.
Pan Minxiang, a technician in charge of welding the "Bird's Nest" project, told us that the thickest steel plate that had been dried before was 40 or 50 mm thick, and now the 110 mm thick plate is still the first contact. This is a huge challenge that has never been greater than ever. But after more than five months of groping, a new welding method was applied to the "Bird's Nest" construction site. This method is to first heat the steel plate to 150 degrees, which cleverly solves the problem of different expansion of steel due to uneven heating in the welding process.
One difficulty after another, the use of technical means have been able to overcome, which is undoubtedly gratifying. But just six months after the nest began construction, new problems arose. The Bird's Nest project received a work stoppage. The reason for the shutdown is not that there is a problem with the construction plan, but that a large-scale "slimming" is needed. Li Xinggang, the Chinese designer of the National Stadium, analyzed the reasons and said:
Carrying out a "slimming down" is the result of the relevant departments' thoughtful grasp of the overall situation of the Olympic Games. For the staff of the stadium construction, it is worried, the opening day of the Olympic Games has been approaching step by step, and at this juncture, the construction plan will be greatly modified, which is really worrying about the progress of the project. In this regard, Tan Xiaochun, the commander-in-chief of the National Stadium Project, has a deep understanding: it stopped when I received the notice in early July, in fact, in June, I have already let the wind blow, saying that you have stopped driving piles, some of which have to be changed, at that time, I was very worried, the time dragged on for a long time, and the fact was also delayed for half a year.
It is in line with the concept of science and technology, green Olympics, government departments have also put forward new requirements for the construction of Olympic venues, can not spend too much money and manpower, to save the funds for urban construction and infrastructure construction. As a result, the bird's nest stopped working for half a year and began to rectify. During this period, the China Architectural Design Institute revised the construction plan of the venue.
After the modification of the bird's nest construction plan, great cost savings were saved, and finally the bird's nest was completed as scheduled. First of all, the roof of the Bird's Nest building is saddle-shaped, the steel structure adopts a large number of box-shaped components welded from steel plates, and the cross-arranged main truss forms a special architectural shape of the "Bird's Nest" together with the secondary structure of the roof and the façade. Secondly, the design of the bird's nest structure is strange and novel, and the Q460, which builds a steel structure, also has many unique features. This is the first time in China that Q460 specification steel has been used in building structures, which is unique before and is independently developed by China.
In addition, the design of the bird's nest also fully considers the high and new technologies represented by information technology, including new materials and environmental protection. In the design, it fully reflects the epochality and advanced science and technology of the Olympic venues, making it a window to display China's high-tech achievements and innovative strength.
In the case of such a tight construction period, China's technical personnel can use scientific and technological means and the support of national economic strength to break through difficulties again and again, which is enough to show that under the reform and opening up policy, China has accumulated a lot of money and has the ability to hold an Olympic event. The successful construction of the Bird's Nest not only gave the world a new understanding of China's science and technology, but also showed the style of a big country.
After many years, bird's nest has been selected as the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and is currently being carefully renovated and renovated. I hope that this time, the Bird's Nest can use science and technology and humanistic care in the Winter Olympics, and use its strong tolerance to shine again.