Analysis of concrete shallow funicular shells of rectangular plan

Abstract

Analysis of concrete shallow funicular shells of rectangular plan with simply supported boundary conditions under static loads is performed using the Ritz method. Double Fourier series with the unknown constant coefficients are assumed for the displacement components of the shell and their unknown coefficients are determined such that the potential energy of the shell becomes minimum. The solution is presented in a simple form and is suitable for practical applications. The responses of rectangular–plan concrete shallow funicular shells including deflections, strains, internal forces, internal moments and stresses could be easily determined using the proposed semi-analytical method. The Ritz method results are verified against the finite element method results.

Keywords

• concrete shallow funicular shells
• ritz method
• finite element method