A rope-net support system for the liquid scintillator detector for the SNO+ experiment

The detector for the SNO+ experiment consists of 780 000 kg of liquid scintillator contained in an acrylic vessel that is surrounded by water. A mechanical system has been installed to counteract the 1.25 MN of buoyant force on the acrylic and prevent the vessel from moving. The system is a rope net, designed using a Finite Element Analysis to calculate the amount of stress on the acrylic induced by the ropes, hydrostatic pressures and gravity. A dedicated test was performed to measure strains in the acrylic arising from the complex geometry of the knots in the rope system. The ratio between measured and FEA calculated strains was 1.3.