Performance Analysis of Single and Double-Layer Barrel Vault Shells: Effects of Shell Thickness and Structural Behaviour

Single-layer and double-layer barrel vault shells under different shell thicknesses will be assessed for the effect of local buckling to be studied via FEM simulation. Due to the advantages of a barrel vault in terms of architectural and structural points have been well established, it now demands an equally precise level of analysis for best performance and durability. The thickness of the shell impacts its resonant behaviour, hence without an estimate about how thick a given layer will be, one cannot hope to design and implement such units in any useful way. In this paper, the FEM is used to analyse single and double-layer barrel vault shells with various thickness configurations. Within the context of this study, displacement magnitudes and directions, shear stresses, membrane stress, moments per unit width (Mx, My, Mxy), and principal stresses within the plane of the elements, etc are performance measures. The results are obvious in distinguishing between the performances of several types of single or double-layer shells and under varied thickness requirements. Thicker shells are often preferred to provide smaller displacement and stress distributions, especially for double layers. A double-layer shell always behaves better structurally than that in the single-layer class and is capable of resisting shear forces as well as membrane stresses more effectively. These findings further demonstrate that thickness in shell design and optimization for the barrel vault structure cannot be neglected. Clearly, the improved stability and alleviated stress peaks of thickening double-layer shells suggest great potential for practical application in some complicated or even extreme building designs.