The Influence of Various Types of Bracing on Force Distribution in Braced Barrel Vaults

Abstract In this paper the authors analysed four single-layered braced barrel vaults with different types of bracing. Each braced barrel vault covered the area of 20 m × 28 m and was made from steel hollow sections. The static-strength analyses of the structures were conducted using the Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis program, taking into account self-weight, glass cover, snow load and wind load. In the case of wind load, wind pressure perpendicular to the longitudinal wall was determined in accordance with the EN 1991-1- 4 standard. However, the standard does not specify how to calculate wind pressure perpendicular to a gable wall for braced barrel vaults. For this reason, two variants suggested by the authors of this article were analysed for this direction of the wind. The influence of the type of bracing on force distribution in a braced barrel vault and on material consumption was analysed. The impact of the gable wall boundary conditions on force distribution in the braced barrel vault was also evaluated. Both the bracing type and the boundary conditions had an impact on the force distribution in the analysed braced barrel vault.