The Airplane Hangars of Pier Luigi Nervi: Digital and Scaled Models

The paper presents a complete study of the work done by Pier Luigi Nervi for the design and construction of a series of concrete hangars between 1935 and 1940. This research is enclosed in the framework of the exhibition entitled "Pier Luigi Nervi, il modello come strumento di progetto e costruzione" that gathers researches from Università degli Studi di Bologna, Università di Roma Tor Vergata and Politecnico di Milano. The exhibition was used as a starting point for a general discussion about the meaning of the logical passage that leads engineers and architects from physical scaled models to numerical structural models. The Politecnico di Milano contributed to re-writing the first experiences of Pier Luigi Nervi and Arturo Danusso in the structural modeling. Scaled models, nowadays substituted by finite element methods, were widely used in the past, for the understanding of the structural behavior of complex structures. Unfortunately, many of these masterpieces have been destroyed during the years (as happened to the two original models tested by Pier Luigi Nervi and reproduced for the exhibition). In the last part of the paper, based on numerical results, the structural behavior of these hangars is deeply discussed, underlining all the principal strengths and weaknesses of these complex structures.