project

Cabledome of Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida

Membrane
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General information

  • Location address
    St. Petersburg, Florida
  • Location country
    United States
  • Year of construction
    1989
  • Year of dismantling
    2024
  • Year of replacement of membrane
    2025
  • Short description of the replacement or dismantling
    Tropicana Field, home of MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Florida, is enclosed by a 32.000m² Geiger Cabledome. The 210m diameter structure, clad in the original 1989 PTFE-coated fiberglass, was damaged in October 2024. Hurricane Milton struck the Tampa Bay region with winds nearing 200km/h, causing failure of 18 of 24 fabric membrane roof panels. A new tensioned fabric membrane roof was designed, fabricated, and installed in 2025.
  • Name of the client/building owner
    City of St. Petersburg
  • Function of building
    Stadia
  • Degree of enclosure
    Fully enclosed structure
  • Climatic zone
    Tropical - hot and wet all year
  • Number of layers
    mono-layer
  • Type of application of the membrane
    covering

Description

The roof consists of 24 panels which are clamped to the cabledome’s radial ridge cables and perimeter compression ring and are tensioned by a mid-panel radial valley cable from the center node of the dome to the perimeter compression ring.
PTFE-coated fiberglass was selected for the new roof tension membrane, matching the original design. PTFE-coated fiberglass offered suitable strength, durability, favorable daylight transmission, and building code compliant fire performance.
The membrane installation sequence was analyzed and evaluated for construction wind loads at critical stages. Temporary circumferential restraint cables were introduced for construction. These temporary elements limited circumferential displacements of the Cabledome’s ridge cables until neighboring panels were installed, significantly reducing membrane stresses throughout the erection sequence. Final tension membrane tensioning was performed after all roof panels were fully installed by jacking the valley cables.

Description of the environmental conditions

Material of the cover

  • Cable-net/Fabric/Hybrid/Foil
    Fabric
  • Type (code)
    Serge Ferrari GF 7000 PTFE-coated fiberglass

Main dimensions and form

  • Covered surface (m2)
    32

Duration of use

  • Temporary or permanent structure
    Permanent

Involved companies

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