ELT design progress: the Dome structure

Leo Colussi; Marco Mattietto; Riccardo Terrassan; Marco Colussi; Stefano Stanghellini; Maximilian Kraus

doi:10.1117/12.2562591

13 December 2020 ELT design progress: the Dome structure

Leo Colussi, Marco Mattietto, Riccardo Terrassan, Marco Colussi, Stefano Stanghellini, Maximilian Kraus

Proceedings Volume 11445, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VIII; 1144509 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2562591
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2020, Online Only

Abstract

The Dome of the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is under construction at Cerro Armazones, in the Chilean Andes. It is constituted by a concrete pier, with an 86 m diameter concrete wall, and a rotating enclosure on it; the maximum height is about 80 m. The Dome will protect the 40 m class optical telescope, inside it, and must withstand wind speeds of over 40 m/s, as well as strong earthquakes. The whole structure is seismically isolated at the base, for an overall seismic mass of about 35000 t. The rotating enclosure main elements are a truss steel structure, having a base ring and a series of arch girders. It has a hemispherical shape to enhance the aerodynamic behavior and it weighs close to 6500 t. Two slit doors allow the telescope observation, guaranteeing a 42 m wide and 64 m long opening. The enclosure’s Azimuth Rotation Mechanism is constituted by 36 trolleys, installed on the top beam of the concrete pier, on a diameter of 86 m. Cladding covers the Dome structure and it is designed in order to provide proper thermal insulation and to withstand the harsh environmental site conditions. A windscreen, made of four permeable panels, having 42 m span and 10 m height each, protects the Telescope during observation and controls the airflow around it, together with a series of 89 louvers, placed both on the rotating and the fixed part of the Dome. In the Auxiliary Building, which is a ring surrounding the pier, technical rooms to operate and maintain the telescope are hosted. A custom HVAC system controls the temperature with a ±2 °C precision inside the Telescope chamber having about 300000 m3 volume.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Leo Colussi, Marco Mattietto, Riccardo Terrassan, Marco Colussi, Stefano Stanghellini, and Maximilian Kraus "ELT design progress: the Dome structure", Proc. SPIE 11445, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VIII, 1144509 (13 December 2020); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2562591

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