Встановлення закономірностей напружено-деформованого стану скляного купола

Two thin-walled glass domes in the form of a spherical segment with a truncated apex have been considered in this study. The task addressed relates to the lack of experimentally confirmed data on their stressed-strained state and fracture mechanisms, which compromises the reliability of numerical models and limits practical application. This paper reports experimental results from testing glass dome models subjected to uniformly distributed loading, as well as and their numerical verification using the finite element method implemented in Siemens Simcenter Femap with NX Nastran (USA). The deformation behavior, ultimate load levels, and brittle explosive failure mechanism with crack initiation in the apex zone were identified. The maximum experimental vertical displacement reached 3.1 mm, while the discrepancy between numerical and experimental results did not exceed 12.9%, confirming the adequacy of the numerical model. The results made it possible to identify tensile stress concentration zones and demonstrated consistency between numerically predicted critical regions and the experimentally observed failure pattern. This was achieved through a combined approach integrating controlled laboratory testing and detailed spatial FEM analysis. The results are attributed to the predominantly membrane behavior of the dome and local stress concentration in the load application zone. The findings could be applied in the design of transparent dome structures as well as annealed and additively manufactured glass shells intended for special operating conditions, including prospective hermetic modules for extraterrestrial environments such as Mars