Look-Out Tower Saarschleife, Germany

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3D model and deformation of the look-out tower in RSTAB (© WIEHAG GmbH)

Look-out tower Saarschleife (© Erlebnis Akademie AG)

Look-out tower with a view to Saar Bow valley (© Erlebnis Akademie AG)

Customer Project

14 November 2017

Germany RSTAB Timber Structures Towers and Masts

Planning, Structural Engineering, Construction	WIEHAG GmbH Altheim, Austria www.wiehag.com
Structural Analysis of Foundations	Ing.-Büro Wolf GmbH Passau, Germany
Architect	Architectural office Josef Stöger Schönberg, Germany stoeger-koelbl.de
Investor	Erlebnis Akademie AG Bad Kötzting, Germany www.eak-ag.de

With the height of about 42 m, the look‑out tower Saarschleife offers a unique view over the landscape of the Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park, into the Saar Bow valley and, if the visibility is clear, even as far as the Vosges Mountains. The tower is the highlight of the tree‑top trail with a length of 1,250 m, which allows for walks up to 23 m above the forest level.

The tower was designed in a semicircle shape to mirror the Saar Bow. The semicircle form was also chosen as an effective way to minimise the impact on the quartzite biotope.

The company WIEHAG GmbH was responsible for the planning, structural analysis and design, fabrication and assembly of the tower. For the structural calculations, the RSTAB software was used.

Structure

There are 9 straight glued-laminated beams arranged rotationally symmetrically about the longitudinal axis of the tower. These are connected by 5 horizontal rings made of steel tubes. The steel tubes are rigidly connected to the main columns about the local z‑axis to avoid lateral deflection of the columns out of the plane. Between the columns, there is a mesh of steel diagonals.

Another stiffening structure consisting of two suspended steel tubes and a stiffening cross is located between both edge columns.

The angle between the columns is 18° in the edge area and 24° in the other areas. The tower has a diameter of 12.22 m, referred to the center of the glulam columns.

The tower can be accessed from the tree‑top trail at the height of about 20 m. A helical ramp with a width of 2.5 m is attached to the inside and outside of the columns and leads up to the viewing platform.

The platform is 6 m wide and consists of steel cantilever beams, protruding to the outside and connected to the timber columns. On the cantilever beams, there are again timber stringers covered by the wooden floor.

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