O’Hare Airport, Chicago

A cantilevered canopy was added to O’Hare International Airport near Chicago. The structure is approx. 20 m deep and allows the suspension of a 12 m high post-tensioned cable facade made of glass. The prestressing is only introduced by the cables, i.e. no springs or other elements are necessary to achieve a permanent prestressing. Not least since the attacks of 11 September 2001, the protection of public buildings against terrorist attacks has been a primary concern of the respective building owners.

Finite Element Analysis for High Bomb Resistance

For the O’Hare extension, extensive studies were carried out to investigate the load-bearing capacity of glass structures. These studies showed that the point-supported glass supports developed by Werner Sobek had the best load-bearing behaviour. A finite element analysis and a realistic test proved that the facade under investigation could withstand a powerful bomb blast.