University of Tennessee Thompson-Boling Arena

The Thompson-Boling Arena is a 24,500 spectator multipurpose arena for basketball with support facilities, offices, and a restaurant. The riverfront arena structure incorporates a cast-in-place post-tensioned concrete frame with seating, supported by precast concrete risers resting on cast-in-place post-tensioned concrete raker beams.

RRJ was retained by the General Contractor to initially review and analyze the precast concrete riser design for static live and dead loads in combination with dynamic crowd loads. The review was expanded to the project plans and specifications for quality and adherence to industry standards and to provide litigation assistance for the contractor’s claims for extras and delays.

Upon review of the original contract drawings, issues arose regarding the overall volume change behavior of the risers and the forces that would be induced into the bearing connections. After construction started, additional problems developed concerning construction delays, cost overruns, and non-constructability of the cast-in-place post-tensioned concrete raker beams. Additionally, the architectural drawings lacked proper details and dimensions to construct portions of the building correctly, contributing significantly to the cost overruns and delays.