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Browsing by Author "Goh, Julian Kok Seng"

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    Analysis of Pressurized Arch-Shells
    Goh, Julian Kok Seng (Virginia Tech, 1998-11-19)
    A pressurized arch-shell structural component made of flexible material is considered. The component is inflated with high internal pressure. The behavior of similar types of structures, such as a pair of leaning pressurized arches and pressurized arch-supported membrane shelters, has been investigated in the past. More recently, several types of pressurized structures have been incorporated as part of the framework for a variety of structural systems. Particularly, the U.S. Army has been investigating the use of large lightweight and transportable pressurized arch-shell structures to be used as maintenance shelters for vehicles, helicopters, and airplanes. The formulated equations using thin shell theory are applied to a pressurized arch-shell component. A numerical investigation based on the Rayleigh-Ritz method is utilized to determine the behavior of arch-shells under various types of loading. The types of loading include a uniformly distributed vertical load representing snow, a wind load, and a horizontal side load distributed along the arc length. Deflections, stress resultants, and moments at various locations are computed for two types of shapes: circular and non-circular arch-shells.