Field Experiment of Ice Dome Spanning 20∼30 Meters

Aiming at the realization of a large ice shell to be used for a variety of architectural facilities in winter, experimental studies of ice domes spanning 20∼30 m have been carried out at Tomamu since 1999. Two field studies of a 20-m-span ice dome (17-m base diameter and 6.5-m height) were developed in 1999–00. These test domes showed a high structural efficiency, so in the winter of 2001 the experimentation was taken a step further by carrying out a field study focusing on both the construction and creep test of a 30-m-span ice dome (25-m base diameter and 9.2-m height). Based on the findings from these studies, it can be concluded that the application of an ice dome spanning 20∼30 m should be feasible.