Minnesota vikings dome collapse (video)

youtube ^ | 12/12/2010 | kdigital

[Signalman]

youtube video showing roof collapsing under weight of snow. (Was Algore in town?)

[ninergold3]

Hubby says this is the second biggest collapse in Minnesota this year - right after Brett Farve.

[omega4179]

Word is, the stadium was intercepted the same play it got sacked.

[digger48]

I see a new Billion Dollar stadium in the MN taxpayers future.

[Lysandru]

How in the F&^% does one build a domed stadium in Minneapolis and not give it a roof sturdy enough to take 16 in. of snow?

[nascarnation]

We had a similar system in Indy with the Hoosier/RCA dome.
It’s probably the lowest cost approach to a closed stadium, but this snow collapse is a risk factor. Happened at the dome in Pontiac, Mich also.

From a pure cost effectiveness standpoint, it may be the best solution. These aren’t that expensive to repair and don’t happen very often, kind of like getting a flat tire.

[pillut48]

Why did the articles about this say that the thing was deflated on purpose to *prevent* collapse??

[bigbob]

The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome - - it should come as no surprise that the collapse began on the left...

[FrdmLvr]

HA! I’ll have to tell my hubby that one!

[Shady]

And NOW it collapses? oh HAHAHAHAHAHA!

[lacrew]

Its deflated before for snow or wind, like a half dozen times.

[earlJam]

Same engineering firm that designed the Interstate bridge that collapsed a couple of years ago?

[driftdiver]

How long has this thing been up? I think this is the second time they’ve had a problem with it.

BTW they had 20” of snow in a very short time.

[Sawdring]

I was in the dome when it collapsed the last time. We had a big rain shower and part of the dome opened up and drenched those below. The roof started to sag and people were panicking but it stayed up.

[lacrew]

Its deflated before for snow or wind, like a half dozen times.

[BwanaNdege]

It looks like it was an inflatable roof. Perhaps maintenance let the pressure differential get so low that the roof would not hold the snow load.

A roof designed for 20lb snow load should hold about 3 feet of wet snow. My shop building here in the NC mountains is designed for 35lb snow load.

The air pressure difference would have to be about 0.15 psi, if my calculations are right.

Hey, Viking fans out there. Is there normally a strong air flow OUT of the building when walking through the doors?

[dfwgator]

So are they going to get it fixed before the next game?

[terycarl]

We had a similar system in Indy with the Hoosier/RCA dome. I live in Indiana and it was pracrical to put that type of roof on a building here....but in Minnesota???? Also, there are heated cable systems which are relatively inexpensive and very efficient

[fish hawk]

Speaking as just a lowly lifetime carpenter, once again you see the idiocy of high paid architects in action. One would think that who ever designed this dome would have taken in snow lode. For crying out loud, it's Minnesota people. You figure the heaviest snow in past history and than project that sometime in the future, it might get a worse storm and build it to those specifications. My whole life as a carpenter has lead me to the conclusion that Architects have wet dreams and then put them down on paper. I was once given a difficult assignment to build but the details on the print were not specific. I built it using common sense and later the architect stopped by and actually said to me: I wondered how you were going to do that. Yeah, it came out nice. true story.

[MplsSteve]

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