Thin-Walled Composite and Plastic Shells for Civil and Industrial Buildings and Erections

Abstract

Commercial production of synthetic resin has begun at the beginning of the XX century. In 1950s in the USA, small-span dome roofs, scanner assemblies and spherical hangars for radars made of plastic began to appear. Later, invention of reinforced plastics gave a possibility to use them in thin-walled shells for civil and industrial buildings. The subject of the paper associates with today’s renewed interest in thin shells. The modern theoretical base of strength analyses of composite structures give a possibility to design different structures and buildings. The possibility of the application of composites as the basic elements of thin-walled shell structures of industrial and civil purpose are illustrated by the concrete examples. The paper presents information on the well-known composite shells of positive Gaussian curvature in the form of spherical and umbrella domes or with more complex middle surfaces and presents materials that are absent in other publications. The paper contains 9 figures and 15 references.

The perspectives of application of thin-walled plastic and composite polymer shells in civil and industrial architecture

“…In the papers, 5,6 early stage of using of plastic and polymer shells in a building branch was described. For example, the Fuller’s domes (1950s, USA) with coverings for subsidiary industrial premises with load-carrying plane elements from sheets of plywood, bitumen board pasted over with foil or plastic, the three-layered plastic dome of the exhibition hall in Bergamo (Italy) with 25 m diameter, 9 m rise, and with full 5 cm thickness consisting of sheeting made from GRP with the 3 mm thickness and the middle lay from foam plastic, a study single-family house for polar areas (1959, USSR) designed by engineer Bodyanskiy from prefabricated components, and the umbrella foam plastic dome of 18 m in diameter over the building of the market in Saint-Ouen (1960s, France) are presented in these papers.…”

“…At the same time in the northern areas of the USA, functionally claiming scanner assemblies and spherical hangars for radars made of plastic began to appear. 5 Dome coverings were made from GRPs with geodesic scheme of equipartition with 35–40 m in diameter. During the 1960 and early 1970s, the domes with lager diameters began to be erected.…”

“…At present, about 50 Futuro shells remain. A high-mountain inn for mountain-skiers in Dombay (Russia) was made in the form of an ellipsoid of revolution 6 having Futuro as the prototype. A shell of 8 m in diameter was assembled from 16 segments with the help of bolts.…”

“…Protective shell is a self-bearing three-layered or one-layered GRP smooth or umbrella dome. 6 Umbrella dome consists of components of the same type joined between themselves with the help of bolts (Figure 15). The joints are sealed by glass fabric on elastic special mastic.…”

“…The Langdon Park Station won the Best Regeneration Project award at the British Construction Industry awards in 2008. 5,7 But the buildings of large dimensions made of plastic composite materials are rare at present.…”