China has installed its first stainless steel roof over a terminal of a new airport built at an estimated cost of over USD 6 billion in the east China's Shandong Province.
The special kind of 0.5 mm thick stainless material has been developed to withstand strong winds, torrential rain and marine corrosion as Qingdao is a coastal city.
The 220,000 square metre roof, equivalent to 31 standard soccer fields, was built by welding together 16,368 panels, said Cai Wangwang, roofing project manager of the Jiaodong international airport of Qingdao from the China Construction Second Bureau Installation Engineering Co, Ltd.
Over four million screws were used during the installation, with welding lines totalling nearly 500,000 metres, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Compared with traditional roofing alloy of aluminium, magnesium and manganese, a stainless steel roof welded as a whole is more stable and tolerant to windy weather.
The roof is designed to withstand wind as strong as 60 metres per second, Cai said.
At an estimated cost of over 41 billion yuan (USD 6.2 billion), the airport is expected to be operational next year, and handle 35 million passengers and 500,000 tonnes of cargo and mail by 2025.
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