Casting and installation process of Sakyamuni

The original idea of the Giant Buddha was to use reinforced concrete (concrete) as the main material. However, due to the limitation of concrete itself, it is difficult to meet the modeling requirements of the Giant Buddha, and the effect and cost after completion are difficult to control. Tin bronze was finally chosen as the building material.

The actual casting, processing and installation of the Giant Buddha are mainly undertaken by Nanjing Chenguang Machinery Factory of China Aerospace Department. The project is divided into six stages: the plaster model of the first to fifth giant Buddha (more than five meters high) arrived in Nanjing from Guangzhou by water on September 26th, 1986.

The layout adopts a unique "one-step molding method of numerical control box", that is, engineers and technicians use stereo photography to find out the position of Buddha in space, determine 3900 coordinate points, and enlarge them by computer operation; Following the traditional method, the inner layer was made into wooden boxes in sections, and the outer layer was coated with gypsum, so it was molded as one mold. Under the support of the internal skeleton, the Buddha body is cast into bronze siding in blocks and then fixed with bolts. The main frame is made of steel, and an auxiliary bracket connects the copper wallboard with the main steel frame.

After research and calculation, technicians divided the whole Buddha into 202 panels, with the thickness ranging from10mm to13mm, and made extremely accurate casting molds according to different parts of the Buddha's body. The error of each wallboard casting shall not exceed 3mm.

In order to fully show the solemn virtue of Sakyamuni Buddha and achieve perfect artistic modeling, professional and technical personnel finally overcome many technical difficulties and successfully cast the whole Buddha face at one time. The face of the Buddha statue is 4.3 meters high, 5.8 meters wide, 13 mm thick and weighs 5 metric tons. Pre-installation in the factory is to prepare for the on-site general installation and solve the possible problems in the on-site installation first.

When the giant Buddha was pre-assembled, it was divided into three sections: upper, middle and lower sections. Some copper siding needed to be straightened and trimmed, and preliminary mechanical trimming was also carried out. April 1989 Shipment of copper siding to Hong Kong. However, the Buddha's face is too big and the mountain road on Lantau Island is narrow, so it is very difficult to transport the Buddha's face to Muyu Peak.

Later, with the assistance of the transportation department, after careful arrangement, the face of the Buddha was centered with a big truck, and the other two large bronze siding were finally transported to the construction site. The installation and welding of the giant Buddha can be divided into eight layers from bottom to top, with more than 5 kilometers of welding passes. And the project is carried out in a completely open environment, and its arduousness can be imagined.

In order to ensure that the giant Buddha is not damaged by the huge wind, engineers and technicians use large computers to calculate the wind pressure and strength load of various parts of the giant Buddha's body. The domestic Aerodynamics Research Institute has specially made a test model, and used the wind tunnel of the experimental satellite rocket to carry out all, partial, unidirectional and multidirectional blowing tests on the bronze statue of the giant Buddha.

After more than a year's research and experiment, the best coating was selected from a large number of formulas, which made the surface coloring simple and dignified and not easy to change color due to corrosion.

1989 10 6 13, the last copper wall of the giant Buddha was installed, and a solemn dome ceremony was held that day. This construction took three years, which condensed the countless efforts of believers, artists, technical engineers and others, and the giant Buddha died.

199365438+On February 29th, the "Giant Buddha of the Temple of Heaven" was officially opened.

In August 2000, the "Tiantan Giant Buddha" won the fourth place in the "Top Ten Outstanding Projects in Hong Kong". The top three are all government projects: the expansion project of the champion Lantau Link, the passenger terminal building of the runner-up airport and the convention and exhibition center of the runner-up. If you choose civil engineering, the "Tiantan Giant Buddha" comes first.

The "Tiantan Giant Buddha" combines the essence of ancient and modern Buddhist sculpture art, ancient bronze craft tradition and modern science and technology in one furnace, which is the perfect combination of Buddhist spirit and modern civilization and the solemn embodiment of mankind's lofty ideal of pursuing peace and happiness.