ARCHDESIGN

Contents
1.

Introduction....................................................................................................................................................2

2.

FreebodyDiagram.........................................................................................................................................3

3.

CalculationMethod........................................................................................................................................4
3.1

ParametricAlgorithm.............................................................................................................................6

3.1.1 Bending..............................................................................................................................................6

Keywords:Arch,Twohingedsemicirculararch,staticallyindeterminate,handcalculations

1. Introduction

The following is an overview of hand calculations regarding a twopinned semicircular arch loaded by a
distributedload,Qk.Thearch,madeoutof5layersof5mmthickcorrugatedcardboard,isusedasapropto
hold up a deployable cardboard shelter, shown in figure 1. Although there is plate action acting within the
triangularfoldsofthearch,forcesaresimplifiedtobeingaxialloadsdistributedalongthelengthofthearchto
thesupports.

Figure1ProposedArch

Figure2Scalemodel(1:10)

2. FreebodyDiagram

Considerthecardboardarchdescribedinsection1.Inorderforsimplificationofanalysisforhandcalculations,
thiscardboardarchwillbeconsideredasasemicirculararchofconstantthickness,pinnedatsupportsAandB
asshownbelow.Itwillalsobeassumedthatthearchwillbeloadedbyauniformlydistributedload,Qkasshown,
ratherthanaseriesofpointloadsgeneratedfromtheindividualtriangularsegmentsshowninfigure1.

Figure3Freebodydiagram

Sincethearchisstaticallyindeterminatetothefirstdegree,thehorizontalreaction,Xa,atthesupportAwillbe
consideredredundant.Duetothis,thearchwillbereducedtoanarchandsupportedbyarollerAwhichis
loadedbyreactivethrustforce,XaasshowninError!Referencesourcenotfound.4

Figure4freebodydiagramwithhorizontalthrust

3. CalculationMethod

Byconsideringthefreebodydiagramsofthearchdescribedabove,stressescanbecalculatedandcomputedat
differentpointsalongthearc.Thearcmaybedividedintosegmentsofdifferentposition,determinedbythe
angle,thuscreatingreleasesforanotherwiseindeterminatestructure.Thethreestaticequilibriumequations
fornormalforce,Ns,shearforce,Vsandbendingmoment,Ms,maythusbedeterminedbyequatingsumof
stressesaroundpointCofsegmentsgenerated(refertoFigure5).

Figure5Freebodydiagramgenerationofsegments

SolvingmomentsaroundpointC,theresultinggeneralequationisasfollows:

M s wr 2 (1 cos ) X A r sin

wr 2
(1 cos ) 2
2

(I)

Thestaticequilibriumequationsinthehorizontalandverticaldirectionsofthearchsegmentyield:

wr wr (1 cos ) Vs sin N s cos 0

(II)

X A Vs cos N s sin 0

(III)

(IV)

SimultaneoussolutionofEqs.(II)and(III)yields

N s X A sin wr cos 2
Vs

wr cos sin X A cos

(V)

ByconsideringonlythecomplementarystrainenergyduetobendingandusingEq.(I),wefind

/2

U 2

EI

M s2
d
2 EI

/2

wr
2
2
wr (1 cos ) X A r sin 2 (1 cos ) d

TheredundantreactionXAmaybedeterminedbyusingtheequation

U
0
X A

(VI)

Equation(VI)yields

2
EI

/2

wr 2
(1 cos ) 2 ( r sin )d 0
wr (1 cos ) X A r sin
2

(VII)

ByintegratingEq.(2.138)andsolvingforXA,wefind

XA=0.4099wr

(VIII)

BysubstitutingEq.(VIII)intoEqs.(I),(IV),and(V),wefindthefollowinggeneralequations:

wr 2
(1 cos ) 2 0.4099wr 2 sin
2

M s wr 2 (1 cos )

N s 0.4099 wr sin wr cos 2

(X)

Vs wr cos sin 0.4099wr cos

(XI)

(IX)

UsingequationsIX,XandXi,bending,shearandaxialforcediagramsforthearchcanbecomputedfordifferent
pointsalongthearch,dependingonrotationangle

3.1 ParametricAlgorithm

In order to efficiently solve these handcalculations, general equations IX, X and XI were scripted into the
parametricmodellingtool,Grasshopper3D.Themathematicalfunctions,definedbyU.D.L(Qk),RadiusofArc
(r)andangleofrotation()werethenusedtogeneratebending,shearanaxialforcediagramsfor7pointsalong
thearc.

3.1.1

Bending

BendingmomentdiagramwerecreatedusingthegeneralequationIXforangles,,of0,30,60,90,120,150
and180Degrees.TheoutputtedbendingmomentdiagramisshowninFigure7.Themaximumvalueforbending
wasfoundtobexxx.Manuallyinputtedcalculationswerealsoconducted(seeappendixA)andwerefoundto
becompliantwiththevaluesobtainedfromtheparametricalgorithm.Thus,thelogicofcomputingbending
momentatvariouspointsbyalteringrotationangle,,isproventowork.Itmaybeconcludedthat,thus,the
followingsetofresultsmaybeutilizedasacomprisonwiththeFinateElementAnalysismodeltobeconstructed
onDIANA.

Figure6GeneralequationforBending

Figure7BendingMoments