Q&A on the News
Q: What material is used to cover the Mercedes-Benz Stadium’s angled sides and how are the pieces of that material connected to make the seam waterproof? The roof pedals appear to be designed to move on tracks that would have to be precisely aligned in all axis. Since building foundations settle, how were the tracks designed to be adjusted after settling? It has been reported the pedals weigh a lot (500,000 lbs. each?) How much horsepower does it take to move each pedal?
—Greg Hyde, Newnan
A: The angled sides are made of sloped panels of single-ply panelized ETFE (Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene), a stadium spokeswoman told Q&A on the News via email. The edges of each panel are clamped and sealed per manufacturer's guidelines.
Most settlement of the building, if any, occurred prior to the installation of the rails, the stadium spokeswoman wrote. There was no further settlement required to be considered given the time elapsed and the foundation system installed.
The steel structure of each petal is approximately 1 million pounds, or, 500 tons, each, according to the stadium. Each petal is driven by six motorized “bogies” with two motors per bogie at 7.5-horsepower per motor. Using the formula of 6 x 2 x 7.5 equates to 90 horsepower to drive each petal.
Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
