Corrugated shells: An algorithm for generating double-curvature geometric surfaces for structural analysis

M. Lai;S. R. Eugster;E. Reccia;M. Spagnuolo;A. Cazzani

2022-01-01

---

Abstract

Analysis of corrugated shell structures is an interesting problem in Structural Mechanics, which has many practical applications in Civil Engineering and Architecture. Thanks to corrugation, these structures have a remarkable feature: the wavy (undulated) shape in their edge provides significant enhancements in their structural behaviour, increasing the bending stiffness at the edge and allowing for a non-negligible reduction of its thickness. Moreover, looking at the non-linear behaviour, domes corrugation plays a relevant role in instability phenomena, such as the influence of imperfections and increasing resistance to snap-through. A problem in the study of such kind of shells is the definition of mathematical and geometrical model and the construction of a suitable mesh to perform FE analyses. The aim of this paper is to find an automated way to generate a double-curvature geometric surface that can be used both in static and in non-linear stability analyses of such corrugated shell structures. A method to generate a NURBS surface, suitable for a parametric FE analysis from a geometrical model expressed in a parametric form, is proposed and applied to a shell inspired by the well-known dome designed by Pier Luigi Nervi in 1959 for the roof of the Palasport Flaminio in Rome.