SHELL STRUCTURES

ALANKAR VICHARE SEMESTER 9

 INTRODUCTIO
N
A SHELL STRUCTURE IS A THIN CURVED MEMBRANE OR SLAB USUALLY OF REINFORCED CONCRETE THAT FUNCTIONS
BOTH AS STRUCTURE AND COVERING

THE TERM “SHELL” IS USED TO DESCRIBE THE STRUCTURES WHICH POSSESS STRENGHT AND RIGIDITY DUE TO ITS THIN,
NATURAL AND CURVED FORM SUCH AS SHELL OF EGG, A NUT, HUMAN SKULL, AND SHELL OF TORTISE.

SHELL
STRUCTURES

SINGLY CURVED DOUBLY CURVED

(DEVELOPABLE (NON
SHELLS) DEVELOPABLE
SHELLS)

SURFACES OF SURFACES OF
REVOLUTION TRANSLATION

CIRCULAR CYLINDER CIRCULAR, NON

(BARREL) CIRCULAR CYLINDER

CONES CONES SYNCLASTIC ANTYNCLASTIC

SURFACES OF SURFACES OF SURFACES OF SURFACES OF

REVOLUTION TRANSLATION REVOLUTION TRANSLATION

HYPERBOLOIDS OF
CIRCULAR DOMES ELLIPTIC HYPERBOLIC
REVOLUTION OF
PARABOLOIDS PARABOLOIDS
ONE SHEET

ELLIPSOID OF PARABOLOIDS
CONOIDS
REVOLUTION OF REVOLUTION

HYPERBOLOIDS OF
PARABOLOIDS OF
REVOLUTION OF
REVOLUTION
ONE SHEET
 SINGLE CURVATURE SHELL: ARE CURVED ON ONE LINEAR AXIS AND ARE A PART OF A
CYLINDER OR CONE IN THE FORM OF BARREL VAULTS AND CONOID SHELLS.

DOUBLE CURVATURE SHELL: ARE EITHER PART OF A SPHERE, OR A HYPERBOLOID OF

REVOLUTION.

THE TERMS SINGLE CURVATURE AND DOUBLE CURVATURE DO NOT PROVIDE A PRECISE
GEMOETRIC DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE FORM OF SHELL BECAUSE A BARREL VAULT IS
SINGLE CURVATURE BUT SO IS A DOME.
THE TERMS SINGLE AND DOULBE CURVATURE ARE USED TO DISTINGUISH THE
COMPARITIVE RIGIDITY OF THE TWO FORMS AND COMPLEXITY OF CENTRING
NECESSARY TO CONSTRUCT THE SHELL FORM.

FORMS OF CURVATURE

SURFACES OF REVOLUTION :
SURFACES OF REVOLUTION ARE GENERATED BY THE REVOLUTION OF A PLANE CURVE,
CALLED THE MERIDIONAL CURVE,
Long ABOUT
s AN AXIS, CALLED THE AXIS OF REVOLUTION. IN THE SPECIAL CASE OF
CYLINDRICAL AND CONICAL
SURFACES, THE MERIDIONAL CURVE CONSISTS OF A LINE SEGMENT.
E.G. : CYLINDERS, CONES, SPHERICAL OR ELLIPTICAL DOMES,
HYPERBOLOIDS OF REVOLUTION, TOROIDS.
 SURFACES OF TRANSLATION :
SURFACES OF TRANSLATION ARE GENERATED BY SLIDING A PLANE CURVE ALONG ANOTHER
PLANE CURVE, WHILE KEEPING THE ORIENTATION OF THE SLIDING CURVE CONSTANT.
THE LATTER CURVE, ON WHICH THE ORIGINAL CURVE SLIDES, IS CALLED THE GENERATOR OF
THE SURFACE.IN THE SPECIAL CASE IN WHICH THE GENERATOR IS A STRAIGHT LINE, THE
RESULTING SURFACE IS CALLED A CYLINDRICAL SURFACE.

SURFACES OF TRANSLATION :
IF TWO PARABOLAS ARE SIMILAR, THE SURFACE BECOMES A SURFACE OF REVOLUTION,
CALLED PARABOLOID OF REVOLUTION.

RULED SURFACES :

RULED SURFACES ARE GENERATED BY SLIDING EACH END OF A STRAIGHT LINE ON THEIR
OWN GENERATING CURVE. THESE LINES ARE NOT NECESSARILY AT RIGHT ANGLE TO THE
PLANES CONTAINING THE END CURVES.
 DEVELOPABLE AND NONDEVELOPABLE SURFACES :
SURFACES WITH DOUBLE CURVATURE CANNOT BE DEVELOPED, WHILE THOSE WITH SINGLE
CURVATURE CAN BE DEVELOPED.

IN OTHER WORDS, SURFACES WITH POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE GAUSSIAN CURVATURE (I.E.
SYNCLASTIC AND ANTICLASTIC SURFACES) CANNOT BE DEVELOPED, WHILE THOSE WITH
ZERO GAUSSIAN CURVATURE CAN BE DEVELOPED.

DEVELOPABLE SURFACES (SINGLY CURVED) :

DEVELOPABLE SURFACE IS A SURFACE THAT CAN BE UNROLLED ONTO A FLAT PLANE WITHOUT
TEARING OR STRETCHING IT.
IT IS FORMED BY BENDING A FLAT PLANE, THE MOST TYPICAL SHAPE OF A DEVELOPABLE
SHELL IS A BARREL, AND A BARREL SHELL IS CURVED ONLY IN ONE DIRECTION.
BARREL :ARCH ACTION & BEAM ACTION TOGETHER MAKE A BARREL. THERE ARE MAINLY
TWO TYPES OF BARREL :
LONG BARRELS , ARCH ACTION IS PROMINENT
SHORT BARRELS, BEAM ACTION IS PROMINENT
STRUCTURAL BEHAVIOR OF SHORT BARREL SHELLS:
THESE SHELLS ARE TYPICALLY SUPPORTED AT THE CORNERS AND CAN BEHAVE IN ONE OR A
COMBINATION OF THE FOLLOWING WAYS:
STRUCTURAL BEHAVIOR OF LONG BARREL SHELLS:
THESE ARE TYPICALLY SUPPORTED AT THE CORNERS AND BEHAVE STRUCTURALLY AS A LARGE
BEAM.
NON-DEVELOPABLE SURFACES (DOUBLY CURVED) :
E.G., SPHERE OR HYPERBOLIC PARABOLOID.
THEY ARE MAINLY CLASSIFIED AS : 1) SYNCLASTIC 2) ANTICLASTIC

SYNCLASTIC SHELLS:THESE SHELLS ARE DOUBLY CURVED

AND HAVE A SIMILAR CURVATURE IN EACH DIRECTION. E.G. DOMES
A DOME IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF A SYNCLASTIC SHELL, IT IS DOUBLY CURVED AND
CAN BE FORMED BY ROTATING A CURVED LINE AROUND AN AXIS.
A DOME CAN BE SPLIT UP INTO TWO DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS; VERTICAL SECTIONS
SEPARATED BY LONGITUDINAL ARCH LINES (ALSO CALLED MERIDIANS), AND
HORIZONTAL SECTIONS SEPARATED BY HOOPS OR PARALLELS.

STRUCTURAL BEHAVIOR :SIMILAR TO ARCHES UNDER A UNIFORM LOADING THE DOME

IS UNDER COMPRESSION EVERYWHERE, AND THE STRESSES ACT ALONG THE ARCH AND
HOOP LINES.

NON-DEVELOPABLE SURFACES (DOUBLY CURVED) :

CONOIDS, HYPERBOLIC PARABOLOID AND HYPERBOLOIDS ARE ALL CONSIDERED TO THE
ANTICLASTIC SHELL BECAUSE THEY ARE SADDLED SHAPE WITH DIFFERENT CURVATURE IN
EACH DIRECTION AND STRAIGHT LINES CAN BE DRAWN OF THE SURFACE.
CONOIDS: FORMED BY MOVING A ONE END OF A STRAIGHT LINE ALONG A CURVED PATH
AND THE OTHER ALONG A STRAIGHT PATH.
HYPERBOLOIDS: FORMED BY ROTATING A STRAIGHT LINE AROUND A VERTICAL AXIS.

ANTICLASTIC

NON-DEVELOPABLE SURFACES (DOUBLY CURVED) :

HYPERBOLIC PARABOLOID:
FORMED BY SWEEPING A CONVEX PARABOLA ALONG A CONCAVE PARABOLA OR BY
SWEEPING A STRAIGHT LINE OVER A STRAIGHT PATH AT ONE END AND ANOTHER STRAIGHT
PATH NOT PARALLEL TO THE FIRST.
STRUCTURAL BEHAVIORS:
DEPENDING ON THE SHAPE OF THE SHELL RELATIVE TO THE CURVATURE, THERE WILL BE
DIFFERENT STRESSES.
SHELL ROOFS, HAVE COMPRESSION STRESSES FOLLOWING THE CONVEX CURVATURE
AND THE TENSION STRESSES FOLLOW THE CONCAVE CURVATURE.

TENSION TIE :
WHENEVER THE SHELLS ARE SUPPORTED VERTICALLY AT THEIR EDGES, A TENSION TIE IS
REQUIRED AROUND THE PERIMETER AT THE INTERSECTION OF THE DOME AND THE WALL.
HOWEVER, IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THE TIE WILL BE FUNICULAR FOR ANY SHAPE
OF EITHER THE PLAN OR ELEVATION.
FIG. (A) REPRESENTS A DOUBLY CURVED SHELL WITH NO AXIS OF SYMMETRY, SHOWS A
SPHERICAL DOME SUPPORTED ON A WALL
FIG. (B) THE SHELL HAS POSITIVE CURVATURE AND CONTINUOUS VERTICAL SUPPORT
THE SUPPORT MAY BE A CONTINUOUS WALL OR STIFF BEAMS BETWEEN ADEQUATELY SPACED
COLUMNS. IT IS INTERESTING THAT THE STRAIGHT PARTS OF THE TIE IN FIG. (C) DO NOT
REQUIRE TIES ACROSS THE BUILDING.
THE THRUSTS ARE TAKEN BY SHEAR FORCES THROUGH THE WIDTH OF THE SHELL, AND ONLY
TENSION FORCES EXIST IN THE TIE.
 FOLDED PLATE SHELLS:
•THE DISTINGUISHING FEATURE OF THE FOLDED PLATE IS THE EASE IN FORMING PLANE
SURFACES. A FOLDED PLATE MAY BE FORMED FOR ABOUT THE SAME COST AS A HORIZONTAL
SLAB AND HAS MUCH LESS STEEL AND CONCRETE FOR THE SAME SPANS.
THE PRINCIPLE COMPONENTS IN A FOLDED PLATE STRUCTURE CONSIST OF :
1) THE INCLINED PLATES
2) EDGE PLATES WHICH MUST BE USED TO STIFFEN THE WIDE PLATES
3) STIFFENERS TO CARRY THE LOADS TO THE SUPPORTS AND TO HOLD THE PLATES IN LINE
4) COLUMNS TO SUPPORT THE STRUCTURE IN THE AIR.

CYLINDRICAL BARREL VAULTS:

BARREL VAULTS ARE PERHAPS THE MOST USEFUL OF THE SHELL STRUCTURES BECAUSE
THEY CAN SPAN UPT O 150 FEET WITH A MINIMUM OF MATERIAL. THEY ARE VERY EFFICIENT
STRUCTURES BECAUSE THE USE THE ARCH FORM TO REDUCE STRESSES AND THICKNESSES
IN THE TRANSVERSE DIRECTION.

DOMES OF REVOLUTION:
A DOME IS A SPACE STRUCTURE COVERING A MORE OR LESS SQUARE OR CIRCULAR
AREA. THE BEST KNOWN EXAMPLE IS THE DOME OF REVOLUTION, AND IT IS ONE OF THE
EARLIEST OF THE SHELL STRUCTURES. EXCELLENT EXAMPLES ARE STILL IN EXISTENCE
THAT WERE BUILT IN ROMAN TIMES. THEY ARE FORMED BY A SURFACE GENERATED BY A
CURVE OF ANY FORM REVOLVING ABOUT A VERTICAL LINE. THIS SURFACE HAS DOUBLE
CURVATURE AND THE RESULTING STRUCTURE IS MUCH STIFFER AND STRONGER THAN A
SINGLE CURVED SURFACE, SUCH AS A CYLINDRICAL SHELL.