Question about Stanford Torus

>Here are my questions.
>
>1.) How does the rotating torus hull act as a pressure vessel when
>it is bi-sected by a roof of glass? Won't atmospheric pressure blow
>the two halves apart?
>
Glass can carry tensile loadings- or else you can use ties across the
gap to keep the two sides from coming unzipped, and allow the air
pressure to help keep the glass pressed against the inside of the
habitat and maintain the airtight seal.

>I know in pressure vessels here on earth, they try to avoid welds
>wherever possible, instead rolling thick pieces of metal into
>cyinders, spheres, and then making very difficult welds to join the
>thick metal.
>
A technique called stir welding can be used, and gives excellent strength.

>2.) Won't the non-rotating shell and chevrons entail a massive
>reconstruction every time the habitat has to be moved into a
>different orbit, or even if its orbit has to be adjusted with the
>occasional boost?
>
I don't think it's too hard to move.

>3.) Mass is needed to provide radiation shielding. If the shielding
>is attached to the habitat, the structure of the habitat has to be
>upgraded to carry the load under centrifugal force. Wouldn't this
>upgrading be primarily a matter of adding more structural support
>(thicker pressure hull) thus reducing the amount of shielding
>needed.
>
Why don't you pull the figures from www.matweb.com and work out what you
need to do?

> Couldn't an attached shield encompass a thicker pressure
>hull to carry the load of the shielding and then a cavity on the
>outside of the pressure hull to stuff slag into. Wouldn't this
>prevent complications inherent in moving the structure? Or is this
>question a strawman I've put up to solve the problem I've posed in
>question 2?
>
You'd probably be better off having a non rotating shield that avoids
covering the windows.