A preliminary approach to the load and stress analysis of the arc-shaped corrugated steel structure

Abstract

Thin-walled arc-shaped corrugated steel structures, produced by cold forming, have many attractive features. These structures are self-supporting, however, the stress and buckling analysis is complicated due to trans-verse corrugations formed during the arc bending operation. The paper presents the preliminary stage of the analysis of the simplified full-scale model of the arc-shaped structure. Applying load combinations defined by the standards, the preliminary stress analysis was per-formed, the most dangerous load combinations were de-fined, and the maximal allowable arc radius of the structures vault was calculated. Because of the high stress level under the load combination that includes the self-weight, drifted snow load and wind pressure, the wind load was calculated employing CFD simulation software and obtained results compared to values initially defined by standard requirements. The wind action was corrected regarding the simulation results; however it resulted in the insignificant stress reduction in the structure due to favorable effect of the wind load in the combination of actions.