Nonlinear behaviour of shallow concrete arches with elastically restrained supports

摘要

This thesis investigates the effects of elastic restraint at the supports on the behaviour of shallow concrete arches, and the time-dependent effects of shrinkage and creep of concrete on the nonlinear behaviour of shallow arches.The nonlinear behaviour of shallow circular arches with elastic rotational restraints at each support and subjected to a uniformly distributed radial load is firstly investigated. A virtual work formulation is used to establish both the nonlinear equilibrium equations and the buckling equilibrium equation for shallow arches. The analytical results show that the effects of the stiffness of the rotational restraints on the prebuckling and buckling response are significant.An analytical model is developed for the in-plane elastic stability analysis of shallow parabolic arches with horizontal spring supports subjected to a uniformly distributed vertical load. A parametric study is undertaken using the proposed analytical model. It is found that the effects of the stiffness of the horizontal springs on the prebuckling response, buckling load and buckling behaviour of arches are significant.An analytical model is developed to simulate the time-dependent behaviour of shallow concrete parabolic arches with horizontal spring supports subjected to a sustained loading, and in particular to investigate creep buckling. The time-dependent buckling load and the critical time (or age) of the arches are calculated by using an iterative process based on the proposed model. A systematic parametric study is undertaken, and the results show that the various parameters have a profound effect on the time-dependent buckling load and the prebuckling life of arches.Both short-term and long-term experimental investigations of shallow parabolic tied concrete arches are described and used to validate the analytical models. For the short-term tests, three concrete arches were subjected to a uniformly distributed vertical load and were loaded to failure. For the long-term tests, seven concrete arches were subjected to sustained service loads. The instantaneous and time-dependent deflections were recorded throughout the period of loading, together with the distribution of the horizontal thrust at the supports. Comparisons between the experimental results and the analytical predictions using the analytical models are made to verify the accuracy of the theoretical models.