Shells in the form of algebraic ruled surfaces on a rhombic base

Abstract

One of the promising objects for application in architectural and construction practice are analytically determined structural shapes in the form of thin elastic shells with a median surface in the form of algebraic ruled surfaces on a rhombic plan on the basis of various curves. In particular, this study considers three surfaces with identical framework forming lines of superellipses using framework curves that have the appearance of waterline, midships section, and main buttock lines - lines that have been initially generated and used in shipbuilding. The shapes of structures on a rhombic base were considered. The study contains geometric modeling of such structures, creation of finite element models and their computation. A comparison of the values characterizing the stress-strain state for three different shapes with the same span and lifting arm (variant designing with optimized choice) has been carried out. From the theoretical point of view, the possibility of generating three different surfaces on the same frame seems to be an interesting result. From the viewpoint of strength analysis, one of the three obtained shells was chosen as it has the most uniform stress distribution, which is the most economical in terms of material cost.

Keywords

• thin elastic shell
• static structural analysis
• superellipse
• finite element method