Finite Element Analysis of Conical Shell Foundations

摘要

In this paper, the conical shell foundation is investigated. The two components of the interacting system; the soil and the shell foundation, are modelled using the finite element method. In this study, 8-node isoparametric degenerated shell element with five degrees of freedom at each node is used. The soil-structure interaction between the shell elements and the supporting medium are modeled by representing the soil medium by certain analytical equivalent such as Winkler model with both normal compressional and tangential frictional resistances. A parametric studies have been carried out to investigate the effect of some important parameters on the behaviour of shell foundations. Three parameters are considered which are: semi-vertical angle, conical shell thickness and vertical subgrade reaction. Comparison between the results obtained by the present analysis and those obtained by other investigations are made. The present analysis shows satisfactory results when compared with those obtained by other studies with largest percentage difference of 2.5% in the value of the vertical displacement.