All the chords of the truss-arch are brace-connected to each other by diagonals (355 mm) and posts (273 mm), with the exception of the two bottom-chords these are connected by only straight members (355 mm) at 4.135 m, forming a Vierendeel-system. After spending an awful lot of taxpayers money the company after 16 years of unsucessfully trying to build a prototype eventually run into insolvency. The concept was to build airships as cargolifters for loads up to 160 tons. The top chords (diameter 559 mm) are at 3.441 m centres and the bottom chords (559 mm) at 2.0 m centre. Airships is an old concept, invented in Germany, revitalized by the Company Cargolifter AG in Berlin in the mid 90s. The arches of the cylindrical part have a structural height of 8 m and span over 225 m. The structure has been designed using steel grade S355. In addition, this solution is suitable to avoid excessive wind turbulence. The shape of the building is oriented closely on the clearance diagram for two airships. Both doors form a semi-circle in plan and a quarter-segment of a circle in elevation. The central part is of a cylindrical shape consisting of five steel arches at 35 m centres – each of the four bays being covered with a textile fabric – and at both ends of the building are the doors which consist of two fixed and six moving elements. The structural concept distinguishes two main parts of the building. Currently, the detailed design is taking place and most of the building structure should be ready in 1999. With a span of 210 m, a height of 107 m and a length of 363 m it will be the largest hall in Germany. The site is an airfield in Brand, about 50 km south of Berlin. In the middle of 1997 the CargoLifter AG commissioned the design for an airship hangar in Germany to house two new airships. This airship allows transporting a pay-load of 160t over a distance of up to 10’000 km with a speed of 80-120 km/h. Currently, a new generation of airships (helium filled, carbon fibre structure, length 260 m), the CargoLifter CL-160 is prepared. But the global market and ecological needs require the search for new forms of transportation. CargoLifter will also be active in the humanitarian aid sector.Six decades ago the golden age for the airships – succeeded by airplanes – seemed to have died forever. Airships are also super effective in transporting loads to out-of-the-way regions where ground and sea transportation is impossible. It will be especially efficient for transporting large components that usually need to be disassembled and then reassembled after transportation which is very time-consuming and costly. Market studies have shown that the future belongs to airship transportation. Thus, CargoLifter is not only an airship project, but rather a logistical innovation. The CL 160 will be able to exchange its cargo from an altitude of about 100 m with the help of specially developed load exchange process. The key advantage of an airship in the CargoLifter transport system will be its ability to operate as a flying crane without landing. When it is finished, CL 160 will be 260 m long, 65 m in diameter, 550000 cubic meters in volume, and will be able to fly at the speed of 90 km/h. Engines, fuel tanks, flight deck and crew cabin are integrated in the keel. However, the aluminum keel is attached to the bottom of the envelope, which takes on freight and distributes the weight of the payload along the entire length of the envelope. The envelope is not stretched over the rigid structure (as it was with the Zeppelins) and maintains its shape through its internal pressure. CL 160 belongs to semi-rigid airships, also known as keeled airships. The target of CargoLifter is CL 160 which will be able to carry loads with a volume of 3200 cubic meters (50m x 8m x 8m) and weighing up to 160 tons, over a maximum distance of 10000 kilometers. Unlike their hydrogen-filled predecessors, these airships are filled with the non-flammable gas helium, which makes this “lighter-than-air” transport safe. The company has already built three airships – Joey, Charly, and CL 75 AirCrane. The picture of the full-size hangar can be taken at the distance of no less than one kilometer away from it. It is 360 m long, 210 m wide, 107 m tall, and contains 5.5 million cubic meters of air. The dimensions let us get the idea of how really huge the hangar is. This is a hangar where CargoLifter AG produces dirigibles, majestic airships that came into life as Zeppelins, named after their inventor, Graf Ferdinand von Zeppelin. Not far south of Berlin one can see a fantastic-movie picture: a giant building is standing and sparkling in the sun.
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