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10/29/2009
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SEAA Project of the Year 2008 Category II
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P201V – US Navy Helicopter Hangar
Norfolk, VA
US Navy Bases are challenging places to work at the best of times, but when you can feel part of the ‘war effort’ it can be very rewarding.
The new helicopter hangar, designated P-201V, was an urgent operational requirement and consequently came with a tight construction schedule. The handover date was cast in stone so careful pre-planning was the name of the game. Erecting 240 ft clear span trusses introduced an element of risk which had to be carefully managed.
Our agreed erection schedule encompassed ten weeks. We were erecting a 60 ft high hangar which covered 28,000 square feet of column free interior space and included 560 tons of structural steel. The hangar would accommodate three large helicopters.
Buckner Companies was no stranger to the Norfolk Virginia Navy Bases having completed a string of projects with Mortenson Construction……P-268, P-526, P-705, P-707 and SDVT-2. Dealing with an AISC Advanced Certified Steel Erector, Mortenson’s Senior Project Manager, Kendall Nielsen, commented that “Buckner are professional and responsive to the coordination and pre-planning required.”
The hangar design had a uniqueness and complexity of its own. The structural steel frame included a 240 ft clear span prismatic header truss with five 100 ft planar trusses providing secondary roof support.
Horizontal bracing and lateral load collection system was integrated in the bottom chord of all roof trusses. A three inch deck on open web joists completed the roof framing.
The office/shop was an ordinary moment frame structure, structurally isolated from the hangar bay.
Vertical lift fabric hangar doors (VLFD) with operable mullions allow unhindered access for aircraft. The VLFD systems require careful integration with the structural frame and tight erection tolerances exceeded AISC requirements. It was another feather in Buckner’s cap when the door installer commented that “this was the easiest installation he had ever done with no recourse to the steel erector.”
Erection of the hangar presented particular challenges with the assembly and lifting of the two large header trusses. The trusses were 240 ft long and weighed 110,000 pounds and 140,000 pounds respectively.
Congratulations to everyone that participated in making this project a successful one.
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