In-Plane Load-Deflection Behavior and Buckling of Pressurized Fabric Arches
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 135, Issue 11
Abstract
This study focuses on the in-plane load-deflection and buckling response of pressurized fabric arches of constant circular cross section. These lightweight portable structural members support tents used for temporary medical facilities, disaster-relief shelters, and military applications. A quadratic Timoshenko beam element is developed for materially and geometrically nonlinear analysis based on a virtual work principle that includes work done by internal pressure due to deformation-induced volume changes. The inability of the arch fabric to carry compressive stress is addressed with a nonlinear moment-curvature relationship that captures the effect of fabric tensile stiffness, internal pressure, and axial load. A corotational formulation and cylindrical arc-length solver are used to permit large displacement analysis and the tracking of postbuckling softening response. A convergence study demonstrates the good performance of the element and the solver. Results of laboratory load tests on a 9.5 m-span semicircular inflated fabric arch are presented, and shown to agree well with the model predictions. Parametric studies are conducted to examine the significance of inflation pressure and lateral restraint on arch deflections and buckling under the action of code-specified snow loads. The numerical studies show that the work done by the confined air significantly increases arch load capacity, and that shear deformations of woven fabrics can significantly reduce arch capacity.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The research reported in this manuscript was conducted under Contract No. UNSPECIFIEDW911QY-05-C-0043 with the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center. The writer is grateful for this financial support. Dr. Hui Zhang, a former postdoctoral researcher at the University of Maine, is acknowledged for contributing general MATLAB code for computing the arch snow loads. Joshua Clapp, research engineer at the University of Maine, is acknowledged for reducing the experimental data and assisting with the FE models of the experiments.UNSPECIFIED
References
ASCE. (2005). Minimum design loads for buildings and other structures, ASCE, Reston, Va.
Bathe, K. -J. (1996). Finite element procedures, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J.
Bradford, M. A., Uy, B., and Pi, Y. -L. (2002). “In-plane elastic stability of arches under a central concentrated load.” J. Eng. Mech., 128(7), 710–719.
Crisfield, M. A. (1991). Non-linear finite element analysis of solids and structures, Vol. 1: Essentials, Wiley, Chichester, U.K.
Davids, W. G. (2007). “Finite-element analysis of tubular fabric beams including pressure effects and local fabric wrinkling.” Finite Elem. Anal. Design, 44, 24–33.
Davids, W. G., and Zhang, H. (2008). “Beam finite-element for the analysis of pressurized fabric beam-columns.” Eng. Struct., 30(7), 1969–1980.
Davids, W. G., Zhang, H., Turner, A. W., and Peterson, M. (2007). “Beam finite-element analysis of pressurized fabric tubes.” J. Struct. Eng., 133(7), 990–998.
Fichter, W. B. (1966). “A theory for inflated thin-wall cylindrical beams.” NASA Technical Note TN D-3466, Langley Research Center, Langley Station, Hampton, Va.
Hampel, J. W., Brown, G. J., and Sharpless, G. S. (1996). “High pressure inflatable structures incorporating highly oriented fibers.” Proc., Twentieth Army Science Conf.
Le van, A., and Wielgosz, C. (2007). “Finite element formulation for inflatable beams.” Thin-Walled Struct., 45, 221–236.
Main, J. A., Peterson, S., and Strauss, A. M. (1994). “Load-deflection behavior of space-based inflatable fabric beams.” J. Aerosp. Eng., 7(2), 225–238.
Main, J. A., Peterson, S., and Strauss, A. M. (1995). “Beam-type bending of space-based inflated membrane structures.” J. Aerosp. Eng., 8(2), 120–125.
MathWorks. (2009). ⟨http://www.mathworks.com⟩ (Aug. 21, 2009).
Molloy, S. J., Plaut, R. H., and Kim, J. (1999). “Behavior of pair of leaning arch-shells under snow and wind loads.” J. Eng. Mech., 125(6), 663–667.
Plaut, R. H., Goh, J. K. S., Kigudde, M., and Hammerand, D. C. (2000). “Shell analysis of an inflatable arch subjected to snow and wind loading.” Int. J. Solids Struct., 37(31), 4275–4288.
Quigley, C. J., Cavallaro, P. V., Johnson, A. R., and Sadegh, A. M. (2003). “Advances in fabric and structural analyses of pressure inflated structures.” Proc., IMECE’03 2003 ASME Int. Mechanical Engineering Congress, ASME International, New York, 19–25.
Stein, M., and Hedgepeth, J. M. (1961). “Analysis of partly wrinkled membranes.” NASA Tech. Note D-813, Langley Research Center, Langley Field, Va.
Thomas, J. C., and Wielgosz, C. (2004). “Deflections of highly inflated fabric tubes.” Thin-Walled Struct., 42(7), 1049–1066.
Turner, A. M., Kabche, J. P., Peterson, M. L., and Davids, W. G. (2008). “Tension/torsion testing of inflatable fabric tubes.” Exp. Tech., 32(2), 47–52.
Veldman, S. L., Bergsma, O. K., and Beukers, A. (2005). “Bending of anisotropic inflated cylindrical beams.” Thin-Walled Struct., 43, 461–475.
Webber, J. P. H. (1982). “Deflections of inflated cylindrical cantilever beams subjected to bending and torsion.” Aeronaut. J., 86(858), 306–312.
Wielgosz, C., and Thomas, J. C. (2003). “An inflatable fabric beam finite element.” Commun. Numer. Methods Eng., 19(4), 307–312.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 135 • Issue 11 • November 2009
Pages: 1320 - 1329
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Jan 31, 2008
Accepted: Apr 26, 2009
Published online: Apr 29, 2009
Published in print: Nov 2009
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.