Closure to “Membrane Forces and Buckling in Reticulated Shells”

Abstract

The paper presents methods for the analysis of framed structures which behave primarily as shells. Questions of membrane forces, analogous elastic properties, and buckling criteria are treated. The collapse of a 307-ft span reticulated dome in Bucharest in 1963 is investigated, and it is shown that the analyses presented in the paper gives a buckling load which is only approximately one-fifth of the critical load expected by the original designers, but which indeed agrees within 10% with the actual load at failure. Analyses of other important reticulated domes are also given.