When Côte d'Ivoire and Portugal meet for a group stage match in the FIFA World Cup on June 15, everyone's attention will be on Didier Drogba and Cristiano Ronaldo. Few of the 46,000 present or the millions watching the game on television know that the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium providing the setting for the superstars' showdown was an extremely challenging structure that could not have been built without the help of Tekla software. 

Tekla software has been used in the structural design and construction of the stadiums of the FIFA World Cup taking place in South Africa between June 11 and July 11. Of the ten arenas for the world's most watched sports event, three have been modeled using the Tekla Structures 3D BIM (Building Information Modeling) software. 

A total of five completely new stadiums were built for the Cup. Two of them, the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit and the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, were modeled using Tekla Structures. In addition, the modeling of the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, renovated for the Cup, was made with Tekla software. 

"The Cup stadiums are large and structurally challenging buildings in which attention has been paid to appearance. Building them without the help of 3D BIM software would have been very difficult," says Risto Räty, Executive Vice Presidentof Tekla Corporation. 

Roof structure of main stage challenged construction 

All the new stadiums built for the Cup are fabulous creations, but the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth really stands out, thanks to its fantastic roof structure. Completed this year, the stadium is one of the main stages of the Cup. In addition to the group-level matches, also one of the semi-finals and the match for third place will take place there. The individually shaped white roof structure, made of teflon-coated fiberglass, is held up with 36 steel girders. The total weight of the curved beams supporting the futuristic structure is nearly 2,500 tons. 

"One of the most interesting parts of the project was the compression ring. To make the 3D model, we had to duplicate the model and simulate the deflection so the compression ring could be fitted properly after the girders erection," says Daniel Barbeau at CadMax, who was responsible for information modeling. 

The complex nature of the structure put the Canadian steel detailers, CadMax, and Tekla Structures software to a test. Seamless coordination of the 4,200 drawings required for the erection of the stadium between project parties was an additional spice in the job. Membrane designer and connections engineer Birdair was located in Buffalo USA, the steel detailers of CadMax were in Québec, Canada, the part manufacturers in Kuwait, the structural engineers in Germany, and the contractors in South Africa. Despite the tight schedule, the stadium was completed well in time before the games, last summer. The CISC (Canadian Institute of Steel Construction) in Québec awarded CadMax's modeling of the steel structure of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium as the best project in 2009 outside of Québec. 

BIM software as key to success 

Tekla Structures was also used in the renovation of the 44,530-seat Royal Bafokeng stadium, named after the Bafokeng people who live in the area. The South African company Pinnacle Projects was responsible for the modeling. 

"The erector stated to us on one of our many site visits, that he would not have been able to erect this structure without the 3D model," says Tommy Mulherron and Oscar van Rensburg of Pinnacle Projects, the company responsible for the structural design. 

In listing the benefits offered by Tekla software, Mulherron mentions accurate amounts of building materials and the faultless fabrication process of structural parts facilitated by accurate model drawings. The same information model was utilized both in steel shops and the site. In addition, through the information model the project management was always up to date with the progress of the work. 

According to Mulherron, the project was unique as a whole, and the success in the demanding job did not go unnoticed: The Southern African Institute of Steel Construction picked the renovation of the Royal Bafokeng Stadium as the winner in their Technical Excellence category. 

The third stadium modeled using Tekla Structures was the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, completed last year for the event. It was modeled by the South African company Mondo Cané, a user of the Tekla Structures software since 1999. The Web Viewer model they created was utilized by architects, detailers as well as fabricators. The steel structure of the stadium weighs approximately 1500 tons and 90% of the super structure was made from tubular sections that required accurate profiling. 

“The project was split between two fabricators so we separated the model into various phases and assigned different assembly marks per phase. We used cloning effectively to reduce the amount of work”, says Rob Chalmers who was responsible for detail design and workshop drawings. 

Even if the capacity of the Mbombela stadium is 43 589, the word ‘mbombela’ literally means many people together in a small space' in local SiSwasi language. 

Bird's Nest and Wembley also modeled using Tekla Structures 

The FIFA World Cup stadiums are not the first sports arenas modeled using Tekla software. For instance, the Bird's Nest stadium built as the main arena for the Beijing Olympics two years ago, and the Wembley Stadium renewed in 2007 in London, were both modeled using Tekla Structures. Other buildings modeled with the software include the world's highest building, Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and thirteen of the pavilions of the Shanghai World Expo currently underway. 

"Tekla Structures is used across the world in the most demanding construction sites possible. This is highly indicative not only of the quality of the software, but also of the international recognition of our competence," says Risto Räty of Tekla. 

Stadiums modeled with Tekla software in the FIFA World Cup

Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit

Year of completion: 2009

Seating capacity: 43,589

 

Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth

Year of completion: 2009

Seating capacity: 46,082

 

Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg

Year of completion: 1999, renovated in 2010

Seating capacity: 44,530