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Manchester Victoria Station roof problem


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The problem appears to be heavy rain....now who would have expected heavy rain to hit Manchester, .....apparently not the designers of the roof, such a new concept...... a roof over a railway station....If only the Victorians had known how to build them......ohh ...but they did.. and they rarely fell down in heavy rain, even Manchester heavy rain..

 

Stephen

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The problem appears to be heavy rain....now who would have expected heavy rain to hit Manchester, .....apparently not the designers of the roof, such a new concept...... a roof over a railway station....If only the Victorians had known how to build them......ohh ...but they did.. and they rarely fell down in heavy rain, even Manchester heavy rain..

 

Stephen

six years on the platform at piccadilly tells me different roof panels falling out onto platforms 10&11 were a regular occurance in the winter plus lots of leaking panels 

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The station roof at Victoria is made up of large plastic bowed panels. I can't remember which plastic but they are flexible.


 


They are all angled so water should just run off. Obviously, the water runs off quicker the steeper the slope but near the apex (of the roof) the sheets are nearly flat so water is not “in a rush” to move off – especially on the upper part of the panel where the panel's apex form a plane that is nearly level.


 


Water weighs a lot. 1 litre = 1 kg. 1m cubed = 1 tonne. Etc.


 


If the water falling out of the sky is coming down quicker than the water can leave a panel then “weight” will build up. This weight (combined with the force of the water hitting it) will deflect the panel allowing more water to “stay” for longer.


 


Before you know it, there is enough water (weight) to “pop” the panel downwards allowing a huge amount of water to accumulate.


The pictures, on the BBC website, show this.


 


If enough weight is allowed to continue to accumulate, then catastrophic failure will follow.


 


 


Kev.


 


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Please remember the stuff used in the roof at Manchester is the same stuff that has been used very successfully for over a decade at the Eden Project in Cornwall - a place not exactly known for being the driest bit of the UK.

 

I would also suggest that a load of water being released by what amounts burst balloon, onto people bellow is likely to be a lot safer than shards of glass.

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we have "HARD WATER" up north.

 

 

hat ,coat, umbrella.... leaving

 

Pedant mode on:-

 

oh no you don't!, take a line from the Severn to the Wash,

above the line, 95% soft; below the line, 95% hard.

 

Pedant mode off.

 

:onthequiet:

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Please remember the stuff used in the roof at Manchester is the same stuff that has been used very successfully for over a decade at the Eden Project in Cornwall - a place not exactly known for being the driest bit of the UK.

 

I would also suggest that a load of water being released by what amounts burst balloon, onto people bellow is likely to be a lot safer than shards of glass.

 

The Eden project's roofs hexagonal"panels" are actually pillows with air pumped in thus keeping the "outside" shape intact - even if a heavy load is added.

 

Being hit by half a tonne of "whatever", from 40m is gunna hurt do damage.

 

 

Kev.

 

(Edited to add "hexagonal".)

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If a proper roof had been built in the first place befitting a grand old railway station this would have not happened . I despair with some of the new buildings that are being thrown up these  days 

 

Like I said its been used very successfully at the Eden project and I don't recall that suffering as a result - so just because you don't like the style of something doesn't automatically mean its a rubbish design. True the designers may have underestimated the rain loading and thus the thickness / strength of the polymer required but that does not mean the principle behind its use in a station roof is unsound.

 

In fact one of the advantages of using this material is its lightweight nature meaning less heavy duty supports are required making it possible to have bigger unencumbered spaces with grater light penetration.

 

Besides the Victorians didn't always get things right. The station building at St Pancras may well look lovely but its internal design was so bad that when people started demanding running water in their rooms, a mere 20 years after it was built, it was found impossible to run the necessary pipework and bring it up to the required standard. Its only in recent decades, with the help of all sorts of fancy tricks like microbore pipes ands macerators that it has been possible to add these features and bring the building back into use as originally envisaged.

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The Eden project's roofs hexagonal"panels" are actually pillows with air pumped in thus keeping the "outside" shape intact - even if a heavy load is added.

 

Being hit by half a tonne of "whatever", from 40m is gunna hurt do damage.

 

 

Kev.

 

(Edited to add "hexagonal".)

 

The 'pillows' used at Manchester Victoria are the same - they are supplied with air connections as there is always some leakage and this system enables the pressure to be maintained, the only real differences are the 'pillows' at Manchester are rectangular / square and possibly a bit bigger than those used in the Eden project.

 

It is of course possible there was a fault in the pressure maintaining kit which contributed to the ability of water to collect in such large quantities

 

I take your point about the quantity of water though.

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