Title: Stresses in orthotropic, spherical masonry domes

Authors: P. Subrahmanya V. Bhat; M.V. Renukadevi; K.S. Jagadish

Addresses: Department of Civil Engineering, RVCE, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560059, India ' Department of Civil Engineering, RVCE, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560059, India ' Formerly with Department of Civil Engineering, IISc, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560012, India

Abstract: Most of the theories developed for shell analysis assume the material is isotropic. But recent studies on masonry reveal its orthotropic behaviour. Hence, for the better understanding, orthotropic stress analysis following Timoshenko approach for uniformly distributed load is adopted, which is the prerequisite for failure analysis. The axial compression is quite low and not problematic for small spans. The circumferential axial stress will be at its maximum when closer to the boundaries, which is critical for masonry as it is tensile in nature. The study shows about 20% increase in this tension value compared to isotropic case. This becomes especially critical as the radius increases. The flexural tension due to bending along the meridional direction will be generally low for orthotropic case and is partially compensated by the axial compression in the same direction. The maximum stresses have been compared with the strength reported for similar masonry materials used in South India.

Keywords: spherical masonry domes; orthotropic; bending analysis; stress analysis; Geckeler's approximations.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMRI.2022.126580

International Journal of Masonry Research and Innovation, 2022 Vol.7 No.6, pp.650 - 662

Received: 24 May 2021
Accepted: 30 Aug 2021
Published online: 28 Oct 2022 *

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