The influence of different restrained boundary conditions on the stability of steel-concrete composite ribbed shell

The steel-concrete composite ribbed shell is a new type of spatial structure. Different restrained boundary conditions have a considerably influence on the ultimate bearing capacity and stability. Based on the nonlinear finite element method, a numerical model is made by finite element analysis software ANSYS, in which material and geometrical nonlinear are considered. A spherical composite ribbed shell with 40m span, three different section dimensions and two different vector heights is used as an example, in which 4 different restrained boundary conditions are considered, including all fixed, all hinged, node fixed and node hinged. The results show that when the section dimension and span height are the same, the ultimate bearing capacity will be greater as the boundary becoming rigid, and when the section dimension is larger, the ratio of ultimate bearing capacity under different restrained boundary conditions is increasing, while as the span height is greater, the ratio is decreasing. To the instable shape, the influence of different restrained boundary is minor, all the instable modes are extreme point instability, but the trend of load-displacement curves are almost similar, and when the cross-section dimension of composite rib increases, the composite ribbed shell under different boundary constraints has shown higher post-buckling strength. © (2011) Trans Tech Publications.