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Proc. of Int. Conf. on Advances in Civil Engineering 2012

Effectiveness of Dome Structures in Reduction of

Stresses under Transverse Loadings
Ashim Kanti Dey1, Chinmoy Deka2
1
Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Silchar, Assam -10, India
Email: ashim_kanti@yahoo.co.in
2
Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Silchar, Assam -10, India
Email: cdekanits@gmail.com

Abstract— In the present study effectiveness of dome shaped transverse loadings in comparison to a conventional flat roof
roofing in reduction of deformations under lateral loading is structure.
discussed. A comparison was made between a flat roof structure The same seismic load combinations were applied to both
and a dome roof structure on deformations imposed under
the flat roof and dome shaped roof frames using STAAD Pro
lateral loading. STAAD Pro software was used to evaluate
software [3]. The values of deformation, maximum bending
deformations, bending moments and shear forces under
different combinations of loads. For the same column and moment and maximum shear force in columns were compared.
beam sizes it was observed that deformation in dome roof It was observed that the structure with dome shaped roof
structure is 30% less than that in flat roof structure. Similar was more effective against transverse loads.
reduction in bending moments and shear forces were also
observed. On the other hand, for the same deformation, the II. METHODOLOGY
sizes of columns were needed to be increased by 40% in the
flat roof structure. The present study concludes that a A. Dome Shaped Structure Concept
considerable amount of material and money can be saved in
choosing a dome shaped roof with a marginal loss in floor Dome shaped structures have been used in ancient times
area and a total loss of the utility of a flat roof. such as the Mughal era with the purpose of lending symmetry
and enhancing the beauty of buildings. Research has been
Index Terms—Dome Shape; Rectangular; Flat Roof; carried out on the effect of wind load on dome shaped
Deformation; Bending Moment; Shear Force; Lateral Load; structures. In a study on the buckling effect of wind load on
Transverse Load. cylindrical tanks with dome shaped roof, it was seen that
there is a low imperfection sensitivity of the tanks for buckling
I. INTRODUCTION loads associated with wind speeds 45% higher than those
Most earthquake-related deaths are caused not directly specified by the ASCE 7-02 standard [4]. The design and
by an earthquake but due to collapse of structures. A structure construction method used for a dome subjected to wind loads
collapses because of faulty construction, improper design has been also studied [5]. It was concluded that the pressure
calculation or impractical loading concept. Failure is also due coefficients obtained using Fourier series formulation are in
to extent of response of a structure under a seismic loading. close agreement with those obtained by experimental work.
It is now observed that a building of moderate height However very limited research works have been reported on
collapses whereas a high rise building does not show any the possibility of use of dome shape roof to resist transverse
distress although both the buildings are located in the same loads.
place. This is because of resonance of frequencies of soil The idea behind the present study originated from the
column layer and the building. Since long people are trying fact that a structure may not collapse by virtue of its shape.
to make their buildings earthquake resistant. As a result, In this respect a dome shaped structure is more stable than a
various earthquake resistant practices are being followed in rectangular frame. During shaking the position of centre of
different regions of the world. Methods like base isolation gravity (C.G) of a rectangular structure is shifted whereas
[1] and friction damped bracing systems [2] have been there is little shift of C.G of a dome. The outer shell of a dome
studied. is under compression in ordinary loading. With a transverse
Traditionally, the focus of the seismic resistant design of load little or no tension is developed in the shell, whereas,
buildings has been collapse prevention with the ultimate aim tension is developed in the outer column of the frame
of saving the invaluable human lives. However, these structure. Reversal of stresses due to load reversal causes
buildings take enough damage that makes them unfit for damage and spalling of concrete. Thus a dome shaped roof
further use after an earthquake. The new goal is to build is supposed to withstand higher loads than a flat roof.
structures that not only avoid collapse, but take no damage With this concept in mind it is proposed to try a structure
when an earthquake strikes and are ready for immediate with dome shaped roof under transverse load. Since the entire
occupancy with little or no economic loss. Following this structure can’t be made dome shaped because of limitation
philosophy, the present study aimed to find out whether a of space and utility, it is proposed to make at least two/three
structure with dome shaped roof would be more resistant to top floors dome shaped. The present analysis has made a

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Proc. of Int. Conf. on Advances in Civil Engineering 2012

comparison of stresses developed in a conventional five

storied frame structure with those developed in a structure of
same dimension but the top two floors being dome shaped.
The dome was created using curved members of radius half of
the smaller dimension of the frame. Fig.1 shows the layout of
the two structures.

Figure 2. Columns selected for comparison (dimensions:

.23 x .23 m)
deformations shown in Table I.
TABLE I. COMPARISON O F D EFORMATION I N SELECTED COLUMNS

(a) (b)
Figure 1. (a) Flat Roof Structure (b) Dome shaped Roof Structure
The floor height was taken as 3m in each frame. The
dimension of the floors in the conventional rectangular
portions of the structures was taken to be 10.5 x 7 m. The
dimension of the 4th floor of the dome shaped roof structure
was kept 9.5 x 7 m. The dimension of the small flat portion at
its top i.e. on the roof was kept 1.5 x 3.5 m.
B. Loading Considerations
A part of the loadings were calculated manually while the
rest were generated using load generator in STAAD Pro. The
various loading cases considered were self-weight, dead load,
live load and seismic load.
i. Self weight (SW) from slabs was calculated to be 4.5
KN/m2 by assuming slabs of thickness 180 mm. The graphs shown in Fig. 3 compared the deformations
ii. Uniform dead load (DL) exerted by walls was calculated along the height of the selected columns. It was observed
as 8 KN/m (floor walls) 3.6 KN/m (parapet wall) by assuming that a reduction of around 30% in the values of deformation
thickness of 125 mm. occurred in columns of dome shaped roof.
iii. The live load (LL) considered in each floor was 3 KN/
m2 and for the terrace level it was considered to be 0.75 KN/
m2.The seismic load (SL) values were calculated as per IS
1893-2002. The parameters considered were: Zone factor ‘Z’
= 0.36, Response Reduction factor ‘RF’ = 5, Importance factor
‘I’ = 1, Rock and soil site factor ‘SS’ = 1, Damping Ratio ‘DM”
= 3, Period in X direction ‘PX’ = 0.6 seconds, Foundation
Depth = 3 m and RC Framed Structure. STAAD Pro has a
seismic load generator in accordance with the IS code
mentioned
iv. The structure was analyzed for load combinations
considering all the previous loads in proper ratio. Seismic
load combination = 1.2 (SW + DL + LL) +SL.

III. RESULT COMPARISON

Analysis was carried out on both the structures. For
comparison vertical columns as shown in Fig. 2 were chosen.
Some of the findings are discussed below.
A. Deformation
The selected columns as mentioned above undergo
© 2012 ACEE 137
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Proc. of Int. Conf. on Advances in Civil Engineering 2012

Figure 3. Comparison of Deformation in selected columns

B. Bending Moment Figure 4. Comparison of Bending Moment in selected columns

Table II shows a comparison of maximum bending
moments imposed in columns of both the structures under
the load combination mentioned above.
TABLE II. C OMPARISON OF MAXIMUM B ENDING MOMENT I N SELECTED COLUMNS

Figure 5. Comparison of Bending Moment in selected columns

TABLE III. COMPARISON O F MAXIMUM SHEAR FORCE IN SELECTED COLUMNS

The graphs shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 compared the bend-

ing moments along the height of the selected columns. It was
observed that around 35% reduction in value of maximum
bending moment occurred in columns of dome shaped roof.

The graphs shown in Fig. 6 compared the shear forces

along the height of the selected columns. It was observed
that around 35% reduction in value of maximum shear force
occurred in columns of dome shaped roof.

IV. PARAMETRIC STUDIES

B. Shear Force It is known that thicker columns undergo less deforma-
Table III shows a comparison of maximum shear forces tion when subjected to loadings. The same principle was
imposed in columns of both the structures under the load applied to the analysis and the columns of the rectangular
combination mentioned above. structure were made larger. An attempt was made to achieve
© 2012 ACEE 138
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Proc. of Int. Conf. on Advances in Civil Engineering 2012

TABLE IV. C OMPARISON OF MAXIMUM D EFORMATION I N SELECTED COLUMNS

(AFTER INCREASE)

Figure 7. Comparison of deformation in selected columns (after

increase)
1. The shape of the dome encloses the maximum amount
of space with the least surface area. And because a dome’s
surface area requires a much smaller quantity of expensive
building materials, the cost savings and efficiencies are
Figure 6. Comparison of Shear Force in selected columns substantial.
the same deformation after increasing the column size. Ac- 2. The construction of steel reinforced concrete domes is
cordingly, the section was increased from 230 x 230 mm to 270 quick, regardless of weather conditions. The process takes
x 270 mm (around 40 mm increase). Table IV shows a compari- place within an air-inflated form that covers equipment and
son of maximum deformation imposed in selected columns stockpiled materials, allowing construction to continue re-
between flat roof structure with larger column section and gardless of weather conditions.
dome roof structure. 3. Domes are ideally suited for structures where open
Fig. 7 shows comparison of deformation along the height spaces are required: They are open span and therefore no
of the selected columns after larger column section was columns intrude on or interrupt valuable available space. Steel
considered in conventional flat roof structure. reinforced concrete domes provide unprecedented flexibility,
especially in buildings requiring a large amount of open space.
V. CONSTRUCTION AND ADVANTAGES The designer has total flexibility in the layout of rooms.
Virtually any size and number of rooms are possible.
New age dome construction applies a patented process
known as airforming [6]. The advantages of such construction
are :

© 2012 ACEE 139

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Proc. of Int. Conf. on Advances in Civil Engineering 2012

CONCLUSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENT
A comparison study was carried out between a conven- The authors wish to thank National Institute of
tional flat roof structure and a dome shaped roof structure on Technology, Silchar. This was carried out as a project under
the deformation, maximum bending moment and maximum its Summer Research Fellowship’12 program.
shear force. These were followed by some parametric study
whereby the column section of the flat roof structure was REFERENCES
increased to obtain the same deformation. The following con-
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