The Shougang diving platform uses 4,100 tons of steel and goes more than 20 meters underground. Is the big chimney next to it a nuclear power plant?

The news that Chinese player Gu Ailing won the championship excited countless people. In the women's freestyle skiing finals on February 8, she performed an amazing 1620 twist and won the full house's applause. The Shougang Ski Jump against the blue sky, white clouds and "big chimney" is also eye-catching.

This diving platform is so beautiful, like a flying ribbon or a large glass slipper. Plus, there are several large chimneys with a steampunk style next to it. It is full of beauty. No wonder. It was called "the best venue I have ever skated on" by athletes such as Gu Ailing. Those "big chimneys" were once thought to be nuclear reactors by well-known American entrepreneur Marc Andreessen. As a result, they were criticized by netizens at home and abroad and made a big joke.

In addition to the creative location and beautiful shape, the internal strength of this big diving platform is also quite extraordinary! According to Canadian athlete Evan McEachern: "When I stepped on it, it didn't feel like skiing on a 'metal frame'. It was more like being in a ski park." So why can the Shougang Big Jump reach this level? kind of effect? What is the "chimney" next to it used for?

The reason why athletes can have the feeling of competing in a park is that the Shougang Big Diving Platform is the world's first permanent big diving platform, while other big diving platforms are temporarily built with steel frames, which are very sturdy. The degree and stability are naturally different. The big diving platform is located in the northern area of ??the Shougang Old Industrial Park in Shijingshan District, Beijing. Its design is inspired by the "flying" ribbons in Dunhuang murals, so it is also named "Snow Flying Sky".

If viewed from a distance, the platform looks like a "glass slipper". The entire Shougang Big Platform competition venue consists of three parts: the track, the referee tower and the grandstand area. The main structure of the track is a steel frame, 164 meters long, 34 meters at its widest point, and 60 meters at its highest point. It is divided into four parts: the sliding area, the take-off platform, the landing slope and the finish area.

The amount of steel used in the big diving platform reached 4,100 tons, which is equivalent to the tonnage of a large warship. These high-end steel materials are all produced by Shougang. In particular, the referee tower uses self-developed Q460 grade fire-resistant and weather-resistant steel. It is a kind of low-alloy high-strength steel that can resist fire and cold, as well as atmospheric corrosion. It is very suitable for this kind of outdoor facilities.

This magnificent diving platform looks like it is standing on the ground. In fact, its steel frame has penetrated more than 20 meters underground, and is then welded up bit by bit. The construction is very difficult. For this reason, Shougang also An expert group composed of three generations of old, middle-aged and young welders was specially established, and finally completed the large platform welding project with high quality.

It would be quite wasteful to build such a large jumping platform if it is only used for one project. In fact, the Shougang Big Jump can be used not only as a freestyle ski jump but also as a snowboard jump. However, the slopes of the track surfaces in these two events are different, which requires that the large platform can be adjusted to change the surface according to different competition events. For such a large steel frame, it is quite difficult to achieve this.

In order to meet this requirement, the Shougang Big Jump adopts variable slope technology. In the ramp area of ??the large platform, which is about 36 meters long, 13 meters wide and with a maximum height difference of about 3.5 meters, which is the take-off area for athletes, about 1,100 modules are used and are made of building blocks to make the track curved. Changes occur and switch to a different race track within 48 hours.

In order to implement the concept of low-carbon and environmental protection, the big diving platform also made full use of some legacy buildings in the original industrial zone of Shougang, such as cooling pumps, air separation towers and oxygen plants, and converted them into ventilation systems. station, office area, parking lot, audience service building, etc. The four iconic "big chimneys" next to it are of course not the reactors of the nuclear power plant, but the four cooling towers of the original Shougang Power Plant.

In fact, whether it is a thermal power plant or a nuclear power plant, a circulating cooling water system is needed to condense the steam after the turbine has done work into water to complete a complete power cycle. If the power plant is built on a river or seaside, it can use river water and seawater for cooling, but many inland power plants (including some foreign nuclear power plants) do not have such conditions, so air cooling towers are used.

When the warm water flows out from the turbine condenser, it enters the cooling tower under the action of the pump, flows from top to bottom, and exchanges heat with the air flowing from bottom to top. At the same time, some water is evaporated, thus bringing The heat is taken away, and large clouds of fog are formed, which look exactly like "smoking" from a chimney.

Nowadays, Shougang Power Plant has become a park, but these four large hyperbolic cooling towers still stand, as if telling the story of the past era. The Shougang Ski Jump makes full use of the artistic effect produced by these four towers. After the athletes jump up, they complete their actions against the background of the cooling tower. Modern ice and snow sports contrast with the ancient factory buildings of the industrial era.

Now everyone knows what these four "big chimneys" are, right?