Present State of Membrane Structures in Japan

Formerly, it was called a tent and now, it is called membrane structure. If saying a tent, it imagines the tent of Bedouin, Mongolia and North American Indian. It became clear from the excavated wall painting that have been covered with the retractable roof of the canvas on the auditorium at the amphitheater in Pompeii and became a topic. These tents were made of the animal skins or fabric woven with the flax plants, and these tents are still used. However, if saying membrane material at present, it says the one to have applied a coating resin to the textile. Because the base fabric of membrane material is a woven fabric, the relation between the stress and the strain is different to the direction of the weaving thread. Moreover, the tensile force must always occur in the membrane surface. From these reasons, because the membrane structure corresponds to the particular building material and the construction method about the Building Standard Law, it must be examined specially that the membrane structural building have the same or any more safety as the provisions which was set to the Building Standard Law. Therefore, the technical standards about the membrane structural building became indispensable. In the paper, the kinds of the membrane materials, which are used for the membrane structural buildings, and technical standards process of the creating for the membrane structure buildings are introduced. Lastly, some of the soccer stadiums for 2002 FIFA World Cup KOREA/JAPAN which be covered with the roof of the membrane structures are presented.