SCIA User Contest 2020 Flipping Book

178 WALIBI SINGLE-CAR FAMILY COASTER Wavre , Belgium ENGINEERING COMPANY Krekon Raadgevende Ingenieurs B.V. R. Verbrugge B.Sc. B.Ed Julianalaan 1 a, 5591GA Heeze (NL) www.krekon.nl ARCHITECT Walibi België OWNER Walibi België GENERAL CONTRACTOR Jora Vision CONSTRUCTION PERIOD 2017 - 2018 As part of a multi-year master plan and a €100 million investment, Compagnie des Alpes is re-imagining its Belgian Walibi theme park as a collection of “worlds”, each with an immersive theme for its landscaping, attractions, restaurants and shops. The main attraction in a Tropical theme, called Tiki-Waka, is a single-car family coaster that reaches heights of up to 20 m and speeds up to 55 km/h. For aesthetic reasons, the station building of this roller coaster was to be made of real Robinia wood, seemingly tied together with ropes. This requirement presented a challenge. How to construct something which looks ramshackle, but isn’t. The station has been designed using Robinia wooden tree trunks crossing each other. Supported by results of laboratory tests carried out in the cooperation with the Technical University Eindhoven, the analysis model was created in SCIA Engineer. The eccentricity, resulting from the crossing wooden members is taken into account in the model. The real challenge in this project was the team with participants from all over Europe; the theme park designer from the Netherlands, the client and the main contractor from Belgium, the architect from France, the timber contractor from Poland, the wood supplier from Hungary and, of course, KREKON as a structural engineer from the Netherlands. All this together with a wide variety of 3D CAD and CAE software including a specific cost-based software for wooden elements created a digital Babylonian work environment. However, thanks to the experienced professional engineers and craftsmen from all over Europe, the project was brought to a successful end. SPECIAL PROJECTS 4