The behaviour of thin spherical shells under a variety of load actions

Tooth, Alwyn S (1964) The behaviour of thin spherical shells under a variety of load actions. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

The subject matter of the thesis concerns the analytical and experimental investigation of the elastic behaviour of shell structures, in particular that of spherical shells, under axi-symmetric, asymmetric, and unsymmetric load systems. Chapter I presents a critical survey of the relevant literature in the form of a dissertation. In view of the lack of a survey of this type it was felt desirable to present this in considerable detail so as to provide an up-to-date reference of the shell field. The survey clearly shows the need for an analytical procedure capable of handling all types of unsymmetrical load systems, and also establishes the lack of published experimental work. The paucity of the latter is most surprising in relation to the voluminous literature on the analysis of simple symmetrical load cases. The plan of the research undertaken was, in consequence, designed to fill these gaps. Chapter II presents a unified analytical approach based on the linear concepts of the shallow shell theory in which all load actions are considered as built up of the four basic actions of radial and tangential load, bending and twisting moments. Their evaluation is to the author's knowledge the first presentation of the unified approach to the analysis of such a complete range of load actions. Further, analytical consideration is given to the correlation of this unified shallow shell approach with the general shell theory. It is shown that neglecting certain second order terms the general shell equations reduce to those of the shallow shell. The chapter culminates in the presentation of an Influence Line Method which, utilizing the permissibility of superposition in linear analysis, provides a ready approach to the solution of any type of unsymmetrical load action. In Chapter III a number of load actions are analysed by means of the Influence Line Method, These examples, in the main, have been selected from a range for which conventional theoretical solutions are available. It is shown that good agreement is obtained in all cases between the Influence Line and conventional solutions. The experimental investigations are described in Chapter IV covering the examination of the four basic load actions and certain selected composite actions. Some seventy tests were carried out covering a variety of radial and tangential area and ring loads, bending and twisting moments, and their combinations, applied directly to the continuous shell and to rigid inserts Incorporated in the shell wall. The experiments were carried out on shallow shell models of 60in radius, of 1/4 , 1/2 and 1 in thickness and on a complete spherical shell 13ft. in diam. which was a 1/10 scale model of the Dounreay Nuclear Reactor Containment Building. The experimental and theoretical results are compared and fully discussed in Chapter V. It is generally shown that good agreement la obtained, fully substantiating the proposed analytical methods and their underlying concepts. Chapter VI summarizes the main findings of the investigation regarding the basic aspects and their application to design analysis. A Bibliography and Author's Index is provided in Chapter VII, followed in Chapter VIII by eight appendices giving the details of analyses considered in the thesis.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Adviser: A ST Thomson
• Keywords: Civil engineering
• Date of Award: 1964
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1964-73768
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 14 Jun 2019 08:56
• Last Modified: 14 Jun 2019 08:56
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/73768