Stability of Large Span Single Layer Two-way Grid Cylindrical Shells Strengthened with Cables

On the basis that the natural lighting of a structure would not be affected and the consumption of steel minimised, a 60-m span cylindrical reticulated shell with a single-layer two-way grid is investigated in this paper. The rigidity and bearing capacity of this structure are improved by cables on the internal and external surfaces and combinations of posts and cables on the external surface. The parameters that influence the stability of this reticulated shell, i.e. the arrangement, strength, and pre-stress of the cables, as well as the boundary conditions, initial geometric imperfections, and asymmetric load distributions will be investigated. Characteristic responses such as the structure buckling mode, the development and distribution of plasticity, and the mechanism that causes structural instability will be revealed, and the validity of the ten types of cable arrangements proposed will be verified; on this basis the effect that material non-linearity has on the stability of a reticulated shell will also be investigated.