STUDY ON SHELL ELEMENT MODELING OF SINGLE-LAYER CYLINDRICAL RETICULATED SHELL

摘要

This paper presents a new modeling method for single-layer cylindrical reticulated shells, including real sized spherical joints based on S4R (ABAQUS) shell elements. The proposed joint model is able to simulate the load-carrying capacity well when the joint is under the combined action of axial force and bending moment. In order to reduce the workload of modeling, all of the joints use the same mesh type and the total number of elements is controlled. Before it is used in models of actual structures, the proposed shell element joint model is tested against some benchmarks. Nine types of joint models are considered and the type that produces results closest to previous experiments and continuum element analysis results is the better choice, however the number of shell elements included in the model affects the calculation time and this is an important limitation. The type of model that is chosen meets both the requirements of precision and calculation time. A reticulated shell model that includes such shell element joints is used in a seismic response analysis, and the results show that the effect of joint stiffness on the seismic response of the structure is large enough to be important.