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Broadwell Cable Harness System

Broadwell Cable Harness System

Broadwell’s cable harness system is a netting of cable that goes over the entire fabric envelope and attaches to the dome foundation. It covers the entire dome, distributing the forces acting on the fabric of the dome evenly across the entire structure.

The Broadwell cable harness reinforces the fabric envelope, taking stress off of the fabric and increasing its safety factor. In fact, fabric reinforced with a cable harness experiences only 7% of the forces that fabric without a harness experiences. This lengthens the useful life of the fabric envelope. 

Pulleys adjust the cable harness system as forces act on the dome, thus constantly maintaining even force distribution. Other domes that have only a few cables to reinforce the fabric do not distribute forces evenly, and don’t provide any reinforcement to the fabric corners of the dome. A major reason Broadwell has a perfect safety record is due to the extra safety and durability that the cable harness provides. 

Photo Apr 03, 6 46 51 AM
strength of air dome
softwareimage
CableHarness

How Do Our Domes Perform In Snow?

Many dome companies do not even engineer their domes to withstand the weight of any accumulated snow, contending that all snow will slide off the dome. However, every dome has a nearly flat surface on top, which will always accumulate snow. One of the widely accepted air dome industry methods for protecting a dome when a heavy snow fall is predicted is to increase the internal pressure of the dome. Fabric alone cannot handle nearly as high internal pressures as fabric supported by the cable harness system. Thus, air dome pressure in Broadwell’s domes can be higher than any dome without our cable harness system, creating a much more rigid and strong structure capable of handling much higher snow loads.

When it comes to wind, domes without our cable harness will experience tremendous movement, often causing internal hang lights to sway violently. The video to the left shows this happening to a dome without a cable harness system. It also shows the wind tunnel tests we conducted on our cable harness design.

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Dome Components

Pool Dome

Our domes are comprised of various mechanical elements. Click on the following links to learn more about what pieces make up our domes: