Already more than five centuries the Eusebius Church is the most iconic building of the city of Arnhem. This in stone vaulted cross basilica is built to the example of the dome in the German town of Xanten. Characteristic are the strong profiled pillars, intricate arched construction and the decorated windows. In 1944 the Church completely burned down. The post-war restoration lasted twenty years, but turned out not to be done well. Regularly debris fell down. A new renovation followed. Since some time now the Eusebius Church is again partly protected with scaffolding and fabric for the restoration and to prevent people from being hit by the crumbling stone.
On the scaffolding vertical aluminium tubes are placed on which printed fabric is stressed with elastic rope. The elastic rope is wrapped around the aluminium and laced through rings punched in the fabric. Information was required about the way in which the fabric or its connection rips and at what wind load that happens. It is also important to know the forces on the aluminium tubes. The design must be such that or the fabric or the its connection must be critical but never the aluminum structure.
SIDstudio has carried out tensile tests at the TU-Eindhoven in order to determine for the non-linear calculations the correct properties of the elastic rope and the ring connection in the fabric. With the results SIDstudio has analyzed three fabrics: one with the dimensions (w x h): 8 x 20.7 meters, one 8 x 20.7 meters with an extra supporting rope halfway the span in vertical direction and one 6 x 20.7 meters also with an additional supporting rope halfway the span in the vertical direction. Conclusion is that the aluminium tubes must be connected twice on each 2.3m height level of the scaffolding.