Relative static and dynamic performances of composite conoidal shell roofs

Conoidal shells are doubly curved stiff surfaces which are easy to cast and fabricate due to their singly ruled property. Application of laminated composites in fabrication of conoidal shells reduces gravity forces and mass induced forces compared to the isotropic constructions due to the high strength to weight ratio of the material. These light weight shells are preferred in the industry to cover large column free open spaces. To ensure design reliability under service conditions, detailed knowledge about different behavioral aspects of conoidal shell is necessary. Hence, in this paper, static bending, free and forced vibration responses of composite conoidal shells are studied. Lagrange's equation of motion is used in conjunction with Hamilton's principle to derive governing equations of the shell. A finite element code using eight noded curved quadratic isoparametric elements is developed to get the solutions. Uniformly distributed load for static bending analysis and three different load time histories for solution of forced vibration problems are considered. Eight different stacking sequences of graphite-epoxy composite and two different boundary conditions are taken up in the present study. The study shows that relative performances of different shell combinations in terms of static behaviour cannot provide an idea about how they will relatively behave under dynamic loads and also the fact that the points of occurrence of maximum static and dynamic displacement may not be same on a shell surface.